Amsterdam Russ

Absolutely love this from British jazz musician, John Surman - 10 minutes of jazz dance pleasure! Well, wish I could dance to this sort of stuff in the style of the jazz dancers who thrived on the London scene in the 80s and 90s!

Coltrane does it for me - although not anywhere near as keen on his more free-form/experimental works. Just love this interpretation of Mongo Santamaria's Afro Blue from the series Jazz Casual. This whole episode featuring the classic John Coltrane Quartet is fantastic!

Two marvellous sets thoroughly enjoyed by a very receptive and appreciative crowd. Big thanks to both you and Lynne for coming over and giving Amsterdam a huge musical treat. Loved every minute of it.

Looking at legit releases, I think you'd have to look at the major soul labels, and Motown in particular. Its output was released in many countries worldwide meaning that any given 45 could have been issued in every one. Then you'd have to look at the releases of any of those 45s across all of those markets. Basically, a Motown 45 could have lots and lots of releases.

Have to agree - they epitomise the summer as do the swifts, which I just love hear screaming through bright sunshine and cloudless skies. They're my soundtrack to summer. Come on all of you guys - get a move on! I'm a bit concerned though. Considering current attitudes to migrants coming through Greece, will they be allowed to enter the UK?

Yesterday on Facebook, a friend on the Greek island of Lesvos posted up a freshly-taken pic of a group of swallows, which means that they're on their way…

One posted in Sales not long ago...

Picked up a copy in lovely condition not so long ago for quite a bit less than that.

You mean like this Levine-created boy band?

Pretty bootleg!

Brilliant gospel mover from Marie Knight - recorded 1955. The similarities in style and vocal delivery between Marie and Sister Rosetta are very apparent. They made for a very exciting match.

Been thinking holiday thoughts recently and we decided that in spite of the huge, huge immigration problem the island has faced this last year we'd go back to Lesvos.

That's a stunner!

Sure it's not a clip of your copy he uploaded to YouTube?

Nope, mine doesn't jump.

I meant to pick up on this earlier; your statement that the term predates the music. If this is true then you are not talking about a music-centric cultural movement in the slightest, which means we're talking about completely different things. To take the leap that the term "Northern Soul" existed before soul music came along means that it could only have been used in the context of geography. For example, the music that is made/played by those souls/people/cultures in the north. Or, the spirit/culture of people who are geographically in the north. For example, those people really have northern souls. Basically then, we come back down to the differences between adjectives and nouns as well as the context in which the term might be used. That wraps it up for me unless something entirely persuasive comes to light.

This is such a shame. I, for one, and I'm sure plenty of others here, would be delighted to find out that the term "Northern Soul" had been used to describe a musical scene, a genre, or whatever in the USA. It would add very much to our own knowledge, understanding and appreciation of the cultural development of the music we love and the people who made it. At the same time, even if the name "Northern Soul" was given to a cultural movement, musical style, or whatever, in the USA, it wouldn't be the same "Northern Soul" as we understand it here (as a couple of people have already pointed out). Both will have developed separately to one another and as such would mean different things to different populations and cultures - basically, they would be completely different things. To cut to the chase, the only option is for you to provide some supporting evidence for what you say. Just one cultural reference or mention from a reliable source from the period would be a step in the right direction. If you cannot, then we cannot accept your unsupported claim no matter how fascinating it might be.

Sorry, but that doesn't really add to the education you feel we sorely need. And to say that such social aspects go unrecorded is not entirely true. They are recorded in the minds of those who lived the experiences and passed on as aural histories. Whether people with that knowledge will share it with "outsiders" is another matter. To be sure though, not sharing it, or saying that "you won't understand" or that "you won't get it" is patronising and a sure fire way of hastening that history's demise. I don't consider the questions to have been answered because your input has been rather cloudy - hence the desire for clarification and deeper insight. You have to decide whether you wish to enlighten us or walk away having failed in your task to do so without really trying. I'd prefer the first option, but it's your call.

DC Go-go? You mean this as defined by Wikipedia? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go-go Presuming so, I don't doubt for a minute that many different scenes – regional or rhythmic – would have developed around "black" music in the 1960s in a country as large as the United States. To me that's as plain as day. What I (and the rest of us) aren't getting is what you said in one of your earlier posts. The statement highlighted in red is what this whole discussion is about. To help us take this further, I suggest a change of tack. Instead of arguing against you, how about if we (I - as I can't speak for others) accept what you're saying with a healthy degree of both curiosity and scepticism on the basis that you may be about to enlighten us on a part of black music history and culture that we've hitherto been ignorant? In that light and beyond what you've already said, what insights can you give us about the origins and development of the term? For example, from where, geographically, did it originate? One presumes people in the north wouldn't apply "northern" to their own music, so that points us in another direction. When did it originate - early, mid, late 60s - earlier? Was it applied as a term geographically or to a broad style? Or, like "southern soul" did its definition embrace both geography and style? Who would have used the term and how widespread was its usage to the best of your knowledge? The more insights you can offer, the more persuasive your claims.

What community? Beyond hearsay, you haven't offered any evidence to support your assertion that a so-called Northern Soul scene (or community, if you prefer) existed in the USA and that its origins predate the UK scene. So far all we've had are unsupported and very vague claims and a lot of confusion over the use of adjectives and nouns. I think we're all genuinely interested, so enlightenment would be very welcome.

Bit windy in parts of the country - up to 80kph/50mph. More blustery here though with winds at about 50kph/30mph. Reasonably warm too. It's about 11 deg C at the moment, which ain't bad. Not planning to head out anywhere on my bike, though. Looking at the website, and if I've understood the Dutch correctly, the storks are nesting on top of the historic former town hall of Gennep in the south east of the country. Apparently they've been nesting there since the year 2000. Nice pic with the storks in situ here:

I was thinking more of a "refund" from Kev Roberts than I was of me selling it.

Blimey, I've got one of these as well. Found it in a 2nd-hand record shop in London in the early 90s, I think. Have to say I was rather crestfallen when I listened to it. Cruisin' with Mr Hollywood, indeed... Still, I can see that it must have been a lot of fun to do, but at the same time would like to get my money back?

Too true. Not one of our greatest qualities as a species!