... Sound alike Village Music of Yugoslavia Nonesuch Explorer, 7559-72042-2 Macedonian Wedding Soul Cooking GlobeStyle CDORBO 069 COMPILED BY PETER HEPPLE The tragedy of the former Yugoslavia is that the similarities between the various groups are greater than the differences. This certainly holds true on the musical front, as proved by two recent releases. Village Music of Yugoslavia was ...

... Classic sound of Jelly Roll COMPILED BY PETER HEPPLE One cannot hope to adequately describe or even understand the process by which Artis Wodehouse transferred 75-year-old piano rolls to a nine-foot Yamaha Disklavier automatic piano, giving us the opportunity to hear Jellv Roll Morton olav as he really sounded back in the early twenties, and on what is probably a greatly superior instrument ...

... Moving on to a higher level BRITISH JAZZ British jazz, which was in its infancy when the original recordings in the Topaz series were made, has now moved on to the international level, and in my opinion two CDs recently issued by female singers stand comparison with anything coming from j the States nowadays. I Carol Kidd's That's Me (Unn I AKD 044) is a magnificent set, j mainly of ...

... What a welcome education JAZZ Thanks to the development of the CD, it is much easier nowadays to receive a listener's education in any type of music, more especially jazz, as evidenced by Pavilion Records' excellent Topaz series. This label is dedicated to giving us generous samples of all the great musicians of the twen ties, thirties and early forties, demonstrating all the contexts in ...

... TALENTED FAMILY A Portrait of a Famon (NJF 34) introduces us to a member of a talented family, Robert's niece Nicola, who has been quietly making her way, mostly in the north of England, as a jazz bass player and singer. Both talents are displayed on this CD, which also features three more fine young musicians from the north Ben Martin on tenor sax, Chris Walker (guitar) and Phil Johnson ...

... PANAMANIA Many of us are familiar with the music of Latin America, but that of Panama has hitherto been unexplored. But it has never before been available on disc, which makes Traditional Music of Panama, by Los de Azuero (Nimbus Nl 5579) important in world music terms. Panamanian music is quite distinctive and has, as one might expect, a num ber of influences, the original Amerindian. ...

... BIG BAND BONUS It must be 20 years since I last heard the Willie Garnett Big Band in the flesh and I am delighted to discover that it is still going strong after 44 years of being one of the best-kept secrets in British jazz. Garnett himself is a dashing saxophonist who plays in a distinctly fiery style; the musi cians on Just Listen (MC Jazz I), released by the Music Choice company, are ...

... CLASSICAL SPIRIT Jacques Loussier, still going strong after 30 years, branches out from Bach with his arresting version of Ravel's Bolero (Telarc CD-83466), together with a classically inspired suite of his own, Nympheas. un me wono music rroni there are two interesting discs. Barachote paid their first visit to Britain earlier this year, a quartet from Prince Edward Island, off Canada's east ...

... Music off Pat Pat Kirkwood has a better claim than many to be called Miss Showbusiness -- the title of a very interesting CD and tape from Blue Silver Entertainment (BSLV1). It coincides with her recently- published autobiography, and compiler Hugh Palmer deserves much credit for unearthing material unheard for many years her first recordings as a teenager with Jack Hylton's band, a couple of ...

... In good hands It seems hard to believe that it was 30 years ago when Syd Lawrence first formed his orchestra in Manchester. It was originally intended to be just a 'rehearsal' band, playing one night a week and giving a chance for musicians to play the type of big band music they really enjoyed. After a couple of changes of venue, the band moved to an upstairs room in the Mersey Hotel. One ...

... History notes Two things strike me about John Chilton's splendid Who's Who in British Jazz, which was published at the end of last year just too late for inclusion in the 1996 feature. One is that it is a glorious nostalgia trip for those of us who spent many a night in our youth vis iting jazz clubs, both of the modem and traditional vari ety. The other is to discover that jazz is not ...

... A couple of Sheilas Peter Hepple enjoys a slice of jazz at home, thanks to a book and new CD releases On my desk a few weeks ago arrived two CDs from female singers whose names I have noticed on the jazz circuit listings, Trudy Kerr and Anita Wardell. Both, as it happened, were on the same FMR label. I played Warden's first, Why Do You Cry?, a truly solo effort, backed only by the dazzling ...