Reading the latest issue of Jazz Research Journal on a train the other day made for an enjoyable and stimulating journey. What an interesting range of pieces! From Rhythm Changes's very own Nick Gebhardt on jazz memories and how we write the music's histories on, the journal stops in intriguing places through each article. I particularly like Ken Prouty's exploration of Miles Davis's use of silence in his solos--Prouty times each solo and shows that Davis might leave as much as 50% of a solo completely tacit. Also, Eileen Hogan's discussion of the official reception of early jazz in the new Irish republic of the 1920s and 1930s--as one speaker in the Irish government put it in 1936, displaying the deep distaste for this black American music: 'if we want jazz we can get it via England in the very best possible form'!

Prof George McKay
Director, CCM Research Centre
University of Salford
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