Ben Finlay
@benfinlay74.bsky.social
MA Cultural History, BA (hons) History. Former history and politics lecturer at University of Chichester.
Historian, writer, reader, musician, talker, blues and jazz obsessive.
https://bsky.app/profile/lionunicorn.bsky.social
Historian, writer, reader, musician, talker, blues and jazz obsessive.
https://bsky.app/profile/lionunicorn.bsky.social
"Seldom does a group of musicians click on all levels and rise into the stratosphere, but this is one such record..." - All About Jazz Review
Released OTD in 1971, the classic 'Sugar' by Stanley Turrentine. One of my favourite records, and I'm a proud owner of an original copy.
#jazzsky #musicsky
Released OTD in 1971, the classic 'Sugar' by Stanley Turrentine. One of my favourite records, and I'm a proud owner of an original copy.
#jazzsky #musicsky
November 21, 2025 at 10:02 AM
"I honestly can't characterize my style in words. It seems that whatever comes to me naturally, I play..."
Remember one of the greats, Coleman Hawkins, born on this day 1904 in St. Joseph, Missouri.
#jazzsky #musicsky #tenorsaxophone
Remember one of the greats, Coleman Hawkins, born on this day 1904 in St. Joseph, Missouri.
#jazzsky #musicsky #tenorsaxophone
November 21, 2025 at 6:17 AM
"I honestly can't characterize my style in words. It seems that whatever comes to me naturally, I play..."
Remember one of the greats, Coleman Hawkins, born on this day 1904 in St. Joseph, Missouri.
#jazzsky #musicsky #tenorsaxophone
Remember one of the greats, Coleman Hawkins, born on this day 1904 in St. Joseph, Missouri.
#jazzsky #musicsky #tenorsaxophone
Reposted by Ben Finlay
Jazz OTD: Miles Davis and Gil Evans's reimagining of the first movement of Joaquín Rodrigo's "Concierto de Aranjuez" is an iconic moment in 20th-century music, stretching the boundaries of jazz contributions. They recorded it on November 20, 1959 for the landmark album "Sketches of Spain." #jazzsky
Concierto de Aranjuez: Adagio
YouTube video by Miles Davis - Topic
www.youtube.com
November 20, 2025 at 11:12 AM
Jazz OTD: Miles Davis and Gil Evans's reimagining of the first movement of Joaquín Rodrigo's "Concierto de Aranjuez" is an iconic moment in 20th-century music, stretching the boundaries of jazz contributions. They recorded it on November 20, 1959 for the landmark album "Sketches of Spain." #jazzsky
"There's a lot of different forms of communication, but music is absolutely the purest one..."
Remembering one of the great guitarists, Duane Allman, born on this day 1946 in Nashville and gone far too soon.
#musicsky #allmanbrothers #blues #guitar #georgia
Remembering one of the great guitarists, Duane Allman, born on this day 1946 in Nashville and gone far too soon.
#musicsky #allmanbrothers #blues #guitar #georgia
November 20, 2025 at 7:24 AM
"There's a lot of different forms of communication, but music is absolutely the purest one..."
Remembering one of the great guitarists, Duane Allman, born on this day 1946 in Nashville and gone far too soon.
#musicsky #allmanbrothers #blues #guitar #georgia
Remembering one of the great guitarists, Duane Allman, born on this day 1946 in Nashville and gone far too soon.
#musicsky #allmanbrothers #blues #guitar #georgia
Remembering New Orleans legend Dr John, born on this day in 1941. I saw him play live many times over the years (first time on a double bill with BB King in 1990) and am a proud owner of an original copy of his 1972 classic 'Gumbo'
Gris gris gumbo ya ya good doctor.
#musicsky #neworleans
Gris gris gumbo ya ya good doctor.
#musicsky #neworleans
November 20, 2025 at 7:00 AM
Remembering New Orleans legend Dr John, born on this day in 1941. I saw him play live many times over the years (first time on a double bill with BB King in 1990) and am a proud owner of an original copy of his 1972 classic 'Gumbo'
Gris gris gumbo ya ya good doctor.
#musicsky #neworleans
Gris gris gumbo ya ya good doctor.
#musicsky #neworleans
"Right away, I bought me a through train ticket
Riding across Mississippi clean
And I was on that midnight flier out of Birmingham
Smoking into New Orleans"
Pure joyous Cajun swamp pop from Louisiana, Johnnie Allan 'Promised Land'
#cajun #louisiana #swamppop #neworleans
Riding across Mississippi clean
And I was on that midnight flier out of Birmingham
Smoking into New Orleans"
Pure joyous Cajun swamp pop from Louisiana, Johnnie Allan 'Promised Land'
#cajun #louisiana #swamppop #neworleans
Promised Land
YouTube video by Johnnie Allan - Topic
www.youtube.com
November 19, 2025 at 11:32 AM
"Right away, I bought me a through train ticket
Riding across Mississippi clean
And I was on that midnight flier out of Birmingham
Smoking into New Orleans"
Pure joyous Cajun swamp pop from Louisiana, Johnnie Allan 'Promised Land'
#cajun #louisiana #swamppop #neworleans
Riding across Mississippi clean
And I was on that midnight flier out of Birmingham
Smoking into New Orleans"
Pure joyous Cajun swamp pop from Louisiana, Johnnie Allan 'Promised Land'
#cajun #louisiana #swamppop #neworleans
"Oh the songs
Pour down like silver
They can only
Only break my heart"
Richard & Linda Thompson's introspective 'Pour Down Like Silver' was released fifty years ago this week. It features in my top ten British folk rock albums for @lionunicorn.bsky.social here:
thelionandunicorn.com/2025/07/26/t...
Pour down like silver
They can only
Only break my heart"
Richard & Linda Thompson's introspective 'Pour Down Like Silver' was released fifty years ago this week. It features in my top ten British folk rock albums for @lionunicorn.bsky.social here:
thelionandunicorn.com/2025/07/26/t...
Top 10: British folk-rock
BEN FINLAY guides you through the best of British folk rock, from Nick Drake and the Fairports to Comus.
thelionandunicorn.com
November 19, 2025 at 7:36 AM
"Oh the songs
Pour down like silver
They can only
Only break my heart"
Richard & Linda Thompson's introspective 'Pour Down Like Silver' was released fifty years ago this week. It features in my top ten British folk rock albums for @lionunicorn.bsky.social here:
thelionandunicorn.com/2025/07/26/t...
Pour down like silver
They can only
Only break my heart"
Richard & Linda Thompson's introspective 'Pour Down Like Silver' was released fifty years ago this week. It features in my top ten British folk rock albums for @lionunicorn.bsky.social here:
thelionandunicorn.com/2025/07/26/t...
Frank Muir upon hearing the news that I've dispatched a new article to @lionunicorn.bsky.social about the joys of BBC Four that may include my deep appreciation of Call My Bluff...
November 18, 2025 at 8:10 PM
Frank Muir upon hearing the news that I've dispatched a new article to @lionunicorn.bsky.social about the joys of BBC Four that may include my deep appreciation of Call My Bluff...
Eno's 'Another Green World' turns fifty today. See what I have to say about it and where it ranks in my @lionunicorn.bsky.social top ten albums of 1975 here:
Top 10: 1975
BEN FINLAY selects the best British albums of 1975. Expect the unexpected.
thelionandunicorn.com
November 14, 2025 at 10:15 AM
Eno's 'Another Green World' turns fifty today. See what I have to say about it and where it ranks in my @lionunicorn.bsky.social top ten albums of 1975 here:
Coming soon on @lionunicorn.bsky.social , yours truly on the quiet treasure trove that is BBC4....
#bbc #writingcommunity #drama #documentary #film #history #art
#bbc #writingcommunity #drama #documentary #film #history #art
November 13, 2025 at 8:04 PM
Coming soon on @lionunicorn.bsky.social , yours truly on the quiet treasure trove that is BBC4....
#bbc #writingcommunity #drama #documentary #film #history #art
#bbc #writingcommunity #drama #documentary #film #history #art
Reposted by Ben Finlay
"The Basie orchestra never let up. They would swing you into bad health... I had never heard such swingin' music in my life... there were only nine of them, but that nine could out-swing anything that I'd ever heard."
Happy Birthday Buck Clayton
born November 12, 1911
Happy Birthday Buck Clayton
born November 12, 1911
November 12, 2025 at 6:57 AM
"The Basie orchestra never let up. They would swing you into bad health... I had never heard such swingin' music in my life... there were only nine of them, but that nine could out-swing anything that I'd ever heard."
Happy Birthday Buck Clayton
born November 12, 1911
Happy Birthday Buck Clayton
born November 12, 1911
12 November 1971 is a notable day in British progressive rock history, with 'Nursery Cryme' by Genesis, 'Fragile' by Yes and 'Pawn Hearts' by Van der Graaf Generator all released on that same date...
#musicsky #progrock #classicalbums
#musicsky #progrock #classicalbums
November 12, 2025 at 8:20 AM
12 November 1971 is a notable day in British progressive rock history, with 'Nursery Cryme' by Genesis, 'Fragile' by Yes and 'Pawn Hearts' by Van der Graaf Generator all released on that same date...
#musicsky #progrock #classicalbums
#musicsky #progrock #classicalbums
'.. one [of] the most intimate jazz shows captured on tape during the 1960s. It is the sound of a band in full possession of their considerable capabilities, celebrating them in a relaxed environment..'
Recorded OTD in 1967, the superb 'Live at the Lighthouse 68' by The Jazz Crusaders
#jazzsky
Recorded OTD in 1967, the superb 'Live at the Lighthouse 68' by The Jazz Crusaders
#jazzsky
Eleanor Rigby
YouTube video by The Crusaders - Topic
www.youtube.com
November 11, 2025 at 1:04 PM
'.. one [of] the most intimate jazz shows captured on tape during the 1960s. It is the sound of a band in full possession of their considerable capabilities, celebrating them in a relaxed environment..'
Recorded OTD in 1967, the superb 'Live at the Lighthouse 68' by The Jazz Crusaders
#jazzsky
Recorded OTD in 1967, the superb 'Live at the Lighthouse 68' by The Jazz Crusaders
#jazzsky
'The things that really matter don't mix with idle chatter.'
Remembering the influential Mose Allison, born OTD 1927 in Tippo, Mississippi. The Who, Georgie Fame, Elvis Costello, The Clash, Bonnie Raitt and Leon Russell covered songs written by Allison.
#jazzsky #musicsky
Remembering the influential Mose Allison, born OTD 1927 in Tippo, Mississippi. The Who, Georgie Fame, Elvis Costello, The Clash, Bonnie Raitt and Leon Russell covered songs written by Allison.
#jazzsky #musicsky
Everybody Cryin' Mercy
YouTube video by Mose Allison - Topic
www.youtube.com
November 11, 2025 at 12:52 PM
Now Halloween and Guy Fawkes Night have passed, it's only right that I start work on the @lionunicorn.bsky.social top ten Yuletide albums for next month...
#topten #christmas #yuletide #writingcommunity #vinylcommunity
#topten #christmas #yuletide #writingcommunity #vinylcommunity
November 6, 2025 at 7:24 PM
Now Halloween and Guy Fawkes Night have passed, it's only right that I start work on the @lionunicorn.bsky.social top ten Yuletide albums for next month...
#topten #christmas #yuletide #writingcommunity #vinylcommunity
#topten #christmas #yuletide #writingcommunity #vinylcommunity
Recorded at Atlantic Studios OTD in 1961, 'Oh Yeah' by Charles Mingus. The record finds Mingus playing piano rather than bass, features Roland Kirk and includes great blues such as 'Devil Woman' and 'Oh Lord Don't Let Them Drop That Atomic Bomb on Me.' Classic.
#jazzsky #mingus #classicalbum
#jazzsky #mingus #classicalbum
November 6, 2025 at 8:14 AM
Recorded at Atlantic Studios OTD in 1961, 'Oh Yeah' by Charles Mingus. The record finds Mingus playing piano rather than bass, features Roland Kirk and includes great blues such as 'Devil Woman' and 'Oh Lord Don't Let Them Drop That Atomic Bomb on Me.' Classic.
#jazzsky #mingus #classicalbum
#jazzsky #mingus #classicalbum
The classic 'Europe 72' by the Grateful Dead was released OTD in 1972, featuring this sublime take of 'Morning Dew' from the Lyceum Theatre, London. Here, engineer Dennis "Wizard" Leonard recalls the story of recording it:
#gratefuldead #europe72 #classicalbums www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nt_s...
#gratefuldead #europe72 #classicalbums www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nt_s...
Scene from "Long Strange Trip"about Europe 72' Morning Dew
YouTube video by Noam Osband
www.youtube.com
November 5, 2025 at 2:08 PM
The classic 'Europe 72' by the Grateful Dead was released OTD in 1972, featuring this sublime take of 'Morning Dew' from the Lyceum Theatre, London. Here, engineer Dennis "Wizard" Leonard recalls the story of recording it:
#gratefuldead #europe72 #classicalbums www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nt_s...
#gratefuldead #europe72 #classicalbums www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nt_s...
"A wonderful dark satire of the goings on within the ‘glass and steel’ universities that grew from the higher education boom in the early 1960s."
Malcolm Bradbury's greatest novel The History Man was published 50 years ago this week. Here's my piece about it for @lionunicorn.bsky.social
Malcolm Bradbury's greatest novel The History Man was published 50 years ago this week. Here's my piece about it for @lionunicorn.bsky.social
The (rest is) History, Man
BEN FINLAY celebrates 50 years of Malcom Bradbury’s satire of fashionable left politics.
thelionandunicorn.com
November 5, 2025 at 10:14 AM
"A wonderful dark satire of the goings on within the ‘glass and steel’ universities that grew from the higher education boom in the early 1960s."
Malcolm Bradbury's greatest novel The History Man was published 50 years ago this week. Here's my piece about it for @lionunicorn.bsky.social
Malcolm Bradbury's greatest novel The History Man was published 50 years ago this week. Here's my piece about it for @lionunicorn.bsky.social
'the music is an incredibly moving soundscape, all four members pushing the composition on to greater heights before breaking down into the timeless middle section'
'Meddle' by Pink Floyd was released OTD in 1971. Read my appreciation of it here 👇
thelionandunicorn.com/2025/08/13/t...
'Meddle' by Pink Floyd was released OTD in 1971. Read my appreciation of it here 👇
thelionandunicorn.com/2025/08/13/t...
Top 10: Prog rock
Fancy time-signatures, album-length songs and mystical lyrics – BEN FINLAY takes us through the best of prog rock.
thelionandunicorn.com
November 5, 2025 at 10:09 AM
'the music is an incredibly moving soundscape, all four members pushing the composition on to greater heights before breaking down into the timeless middle section'
'Meddle' by Pink Floyd was released OTD in 1971. Read my appreciation of it here 👇
thelionandunicorn.com/2025/08/13/t...
'Meddle' by Pink Floyd was released OTD in 1971. Read my appreciation of it here 👇
thelionandunicorn.com/2025/08/13/t...
Remembering the great tenor saxophonist Booker Ervin, born OTD 1930 in Denison, Texas. He had a wonderful blues/gospel tone, and notably played with Charles Mingus between 1959 and 63, appearing on such classics as 'Mingus Ah Um' and 'Blues & Roots'.
#mingus #jasszky #musicsky #vinylcommunity
#mingus #jasszky #musicsky #vinylcommunity
October 31, 2025 at 8:46 AM
Remembering the great tenor saxophonist Booker Ervin, born OTD 1930 in Denison, Texas. He had a wonderful blues/gospel tone, and notably played with Charles Mingus between 1959 and 63, appearing on such classics as 'Mingus Ah Um' and 'Blues & Roots'.
#mingus #jasszky #musicsky #vinylcommunity
#mingus #jasszky #musicsky #vinylcommunity
'Photographs of Clifford reveal some of his inner self; the shots in which he is depicted in a playing attitude show his intensity, utter concentration and total connection with his instrument'- Ira Gitler
Remembering the great Clifford Brown, born OTD in 1930 and gone too soon..
#jazzsky #musicsky
Remembering the great Clifford Brown, born OTD in 1930 and gone too soon..
#jazzsky #musicsky
October 30, 2025 at 9:01 AM
Electric Miles! Released OTD 1970, 'Miles Davis at Fillmore', a live album recorded at the Fillmore East in June 1970, featuring Keith Jarrett, Chick Corea, bassist Dave Holland and the great Jack DeJohnette who passed away on Sunday.
#MilesDavis #JackDeJohnette#jazzsky #musicsky #classicalbums
#MilesDavis #JackDeJohnette#jazzsky #musicsky #classicalbums
October 28, 2025 at 8:19 AM
Electric Miles! Released OTD 1970, 'Miles Davis at Fillmore', a live album recorded at the Fillmore East in June 1970, featuring Keith Jarrett, Chick Corea, bassist Dave Holland and the great Jack DeJohnette who passed away on Sunday.
#MilesDavis #JackDeJohnette#jazzsky #musicsky #classicalbums
#MilesDavis #JackDeJohnette#jazzsky #musicsky #classicalbums
Farewell Jack DeJohnette, one of the greatest ever drummers. I was lucky enough to see him in the early 90s and he was absolutely phenomenal. We won't see his like again.
#jazzsky #jackdejohnette #RIP #musicsky
#jazzsky #jackdejohnette #RIP #musicsky
October 27, 2025 at 6:05 PM
Farewell Jack DeJohnette, one of the greatest ever drummers. I was lucky enough to see him in the early 90s and he was absolutely phenomenal. We won't see his like again.
#jazzsky #jackdejohnette #RIP #musicsky
#jazzsky #jackdejohnette #RIP #musicsky