Have been listening to the album John Coltrane recorded with Don Cherry, father of Neneh and member of the revolutionary Ornette Coleman 4tet. (I think he may have known Lamonte Young as well). The recording was made after John C left Miles� band for the last time and before he started his magnificent quartet. So the record is interesting rather than brilliant � not sure the producer earned his corn. But it does have some very early soprano playing on it. People normally think of My Favourite Things as being the tune which launched the soprano. This recording has no keyboard so it is also a bit like some of some early cool school recordings.

As I drove back to London I tuned into Jazz FM as soon as I got into its range. They played a new version by an up and coming saxophone player of Wayne Shorter�s Nefertitti which sounded really good � also a new Norwegian jazz singer. That station really gets good about 8.00pm at night. I also scanned through Heart FM and I think I heard my cousin Nigel smoothing his way through a show.

Vita had been to see Triple X � which she enjoyed � and I drove down to the cinema to pick her up. She looked so sophisticated with her friends. I asked her how the bass guitar is going and she asked me if I was switching back to jazz from electronic. I said that the great thing about jazz is that it�s a kind of universal language and you can use it to connect with people anywhere.

I thought the Great Britons Shakespeare programme made a good case � Yvonne is less convinced and thinks that Elizabeth 1 deserves higher marks. It would be interesting to do a multiple regression between the five or six attributes and the rankings to see which attributes are most effective in influencing the perception of greatness.

I am reading about the early additive minimalist works of Philip Glass � the Richard Serra linkage is really suggestive. You can see in Strung Out or Music in the Shape of a Square a link between the performance circumstances of these works and Serra�s approach to sculpture. Its also quite something to write a solo line lasting twenty minutes based on additive principles using a few notes. This is not something that any of the three predecessors did.

I had a good meeting with Paul on the new global automotive quality standard TS 16949 � he really knows his subject � and the more he told me about how the standard operatesthe more I am sure it is the right framework for the Academy curriculum. I metioned this to Graham briefly and he endorsed the conclusion. He also suggested that I look at another European logistics standard called ODETTE. Keith tells me the next ODETTE conference is in Berlin � can�t be bad. Stefan mentioned that we have shaken �150k out of the Learning and Skills Council. I am going to a LSC Conference next week in Manchester which Gordon Brown is opening � my professional magazine suggests that he may be making a big policy statement on skills and productivity.

Keith Jordan helped me test the portable and the video projector. He had one of Peter�s interviews in Windows Media � it happened to be with someone discussing the true nature of globalisation which was even more interesting projected onto the wall of my office.

A news group item in the mailbox says John Martin has had a car accident and has had to cancel a tour. Tim Murray � who was to accompany Cleveland tonight has gone into hospital but Cleveland has found another accompanist at short notice.

I picked up the U2 � it makes an amazing contrast with the Maya which is heavy, long scale and has a very beefy middle. The Maya sounds good with the modern Vamp settings that I don�t really understand. The U2 is so much lighter � it has resonance spaces in the body and obviously not wooden and this odd mix of sharpness and clear bass. It sounds good with 50s amps � like the Vox AC15 and the Fender Bassman. In that it�s a bit like the Telecaster. Of course my immediate thought is that I need to write some pieces which exploit this duality. I was listening to Radio 2 last night about the various Ella songbooks and this made me think about doing standards in a novel way.