COVID-19 Lockdown: what day is it?

Is it Day 34 of lockdown or day 1 at level 3?..... Either way, much remains the same for me at least. However, there was the sad news over the weekend that Phil Broadhurst lost his battle with cancer. Phil was an integral part of the New Zealand jazz scene as a pianist, composer, educator and broadcaster. Personally, I have limited knowledge of his recorded output (and I think I only heard him live once or twice), so I spent the morning listening to his 2015 recording Panacea. I was feeling a bit jaded this morning, not sure exactly why, but starting off the work day with frustrating errors, doesn’t help the mood. And it didn’t help set the tone to listen to some contemporary jazz, most of which just floated by.... in one ear out the other. I’ll hit it again later once I’ve perked up a bit.

Over the weekend I got a hankering to listen to some Dizzy Gillespie. Who knows why, but here we are. There was a time when I listened to a lot of Diz. It has been a while and most of the Diz I’ve listened to since has been with recordings of Charlie Parker. That’s where I kicked off today... Bird and Diz – not my favourite session of the pairing but somewhere to start nonetheless. It always raises the question... why Buddy Rich and not Max Roach? Anyway, I feel more Diz is on the cards – with and without Bird - and I’m looking forward to it.