Doo-What?

Doo-wop, that's what! 

I've had a life-long love affair with doo-wop music, and I've long been dreaming of an all-time top five doo-wop tracks. It was a near impossible task, considering the hundreds of solid classics to choose from, not to mention the thousands (and the rest) of less well known gems, but finally, I have them. But like all top fives, it's by no means fixed, and I might change it in the flicker of a streetlamp.

What is it about doo-wop that gets me every time? Perhaps it's the sheer purity of it. What could be simpler or more direct than five kids singing their hearts out under a streetlamp, on a street corner, somewhere in a big, smokey old city? It's honey-drippingly romantic, heartfelt, raw and essentially urban. On top of that it often grooves, rocks, moans and sighs - just like love itself; the subject of which is never far from its central theme.

Like jazz, or abstract expressionist painting for that matter, it is a truly home-grown American art form. Nowhere else in the world had the gospel and church singing scene, the youth culture or the record labels that created the perfect set of conditions for its birth on the street corners of cities like Pittsburgh and Philly. Come to think of it, nowhere else in the world had that many street corners...

I love it.

If you're not hip to doo-wop, I don't want to scare you off, so I've gone for five beauties from the slightly more mainstream side of the street. The more esoteric and out-of-tune stuff can come later...

No.1: The Clovers - Devil Or Angel

Ever been in love with someone who buys you cherry cupcakes one minute and sets fire to your old teddy bear the next? Then this ones for you. An exemplar of the genre with all the key ingredients: sliding harmonies, high camp vocal fills, and of course it Smells Like Teen Spirit, too. Enjoy...

No.3: The Willows - Church Bells May Ring

There are two ends to the doo-wop spectrum; the wistful and ballad-like, and the joyful up-tempo. This one is bang on the latter, Tony Middleton's exuberant vocals letting us know what life's all about (yes he of the genius northern soul track 'To the Ends Of the Earth'). Plus them crazy bells - try not to let the daft video detract from the utter coolness...

No.3: Dion and the Belmonts - I Wonder Why

Some doo-wop groups remained under the streetlamp on the corner, others hit the big time and went under the spotlight. Dion and his crew were one such group. Pure class...

No.4: The Jarmels - The Way You Look Tonight

ANYTHING by the Jarmels is ACE. I'm one of the lucky ones who has their stuff on vinyl (picked up whilst rooting in record stores at the Cork jazz festival). If you think the singing is good, just wait 'til the soaring middle 8...

No.5: The Five Satins - In The Still Of The Night

Lovely footage showing the Satins in all their understated glory (shame about the square audience though, who would be smoochin' up if they were human). Philly DJ Harvey Holiday once introduced this track by saying "...and this...my friends...is as good...as it gets". Which just about sums it up...

Eduardo Paolozzi Film

...a link to the trailer for forthcoming film on Paolozzi, in which I say "discontinued Airfix kits". I've always wanted to say that in a film. Hijack Paolozzi Trailer

In order to still feel Eduardo's titanic presence, go and look at his self portrait/ Newton After Blake, at the entrance to the British Library, near St. Pancras:

What's On The Desk (2)

This is a design studio, and that means stuff lying about the place, much of it has no apparent use. Or does it? The recently opened Then-Now Show at the Aram Gallery is proof that you don't want to go throwing stuff away. My 'then' pieces were resting in the loft, dutifully not thrown away by my good parents. They were made over 20 years ago and came out of their wraps as if nothing had happened, to stand, blinking slightly, under the scrutiny of the the 2011 London design community, on Zeev Aram's hallowed floors.

Other things, great and small, dropped out of that loft. I mean - what do you do with a set of Trumpton (or Camberwick Green, or whatever the hell it was) snap cards? You can't throw them away; to much of a vintagey, stomach-warming colour palette. You certainly can't play snap with them with your kids; that would be like, totally weird. I guess you can just enjoy the postures of the baker and the policeman (no riot shield!) as they look up at god knows what. And the cooky automotive styling that would look pretty good on the modern road, with a Nissan badge and battery power unit...

Poem for Tuesday

This is a very short one and was inspired by listening to McCoy Tyner and Sonny Rollins in my lunch break. Here goes:


Where there's jazz, there's hope.

What's On The Desk?

Things get put together, then taken apart, then put together again; new things getting formed. And things drift around in the studio; today on one desk I noticed a jazz cut-out image that I must have hoarded years ago, and a storm petrel that used to promote the idea of smoking. I think I remember reading that that the name 'petrel' comes from the fact that the bird pats its feet on the water when looking for fish. A diminutive coming in turn from St. Peter, who once walked on water.

Here's a quick one to cement the marriage of these two images:

Stan Getz

Blew things that were so beautiful,

That if you listened carefully,

You could hear a seabird dancing on the waves.

                                                            Keech 2011

the THEN - NOW Show

This is a design show at the Aram Gallery that I'm taking part in. More details, including who else is in it here.

Close To The Bone

My Band is called Close To The Bone - you may just be able to work out why...

This is some artwork for our next gig at the Highlander. You can see (and hear) more of us at ReverbNation here.

The Highlander is an excellent venue. It is run by a great chef and DJ who has a real passion for jazz and new and experimental music. We like to bring different musicians into the band whenever we do the gig, as well as try out new material. On 26th Feb we'll have two rising stars of the British jazz scene; Scot Chapman on drums and Adam King on bass. The full line-up will be: Paul Tucker (trumpet), Craig Stallwood (keyboards), Adam King (bass), Scott Chapman (drums) and myself on trombone/ vocals.

Recent Photographs

Study of a Bottle

These were all taken with the camera in an iPhone 4. Standard settings, some with and some without flash. No photoshopping allowed, apart from a bit of cropping to get the detail at this resolution on two of them. All were taken using the top of the washing machine as a background and a single T5 (overhead fluorescent strip light) as the light source. To cut the tech. jargon - just in the kitchen. There are six images in all - click on 'read more' after the one below if you want to see the set.

Study of a Glass Of Water 1

The English Elm: Help Required

Ulmus procera,

I Love you,

With your leaves so broad and green.

But since them bastard beetles came,

You are hardly ever seen.

Shadowy cliffs,

As Betjeman said,

And Constable loved them well.

If we don't act now they'll ALL be gone,

Oh f***ing, bloody hell!

                                          Keech

However, help is at hand here. And I must be right, because Stephen Fry says so too.

But don't leave it too late. And try to read to the end of this linked article, where Carol Anne Duffy's lovely poem to the elm can be found.

Greetings 2011

It's all about the old and the new. This is a column detail in the 15th century architectural masterpiece that is Fotheringhay church, Northamptonshire. It was taken with an iPhone 4. Hand-cut ancient stone and hand-held modern technology; the two work pretty well together for me. And the new year is also about hope. What could be more hopeful than sunlight coming through a beautiful window?