Stewart Smith
@drstewartsmith.bsky.social
Writer: jazz, improvised, experimental, Scotland & the avant-garde @ The Wire, Bandcamp, The Quietus, We Jazz, Guardian. Associate lecturer Newcastle University. Musician. He/him. 🇵🇸
Reposted by Stewart Smith
"I was introduced to Herbie Nichols' music when I still considered myself to be a mainstream jazz singer. It was also a moment when I was reconsidering whether or not I wanted to be a mainstream jazz singer."
Fay Victor: Giving Voice to Herbie Nichols
pointofdeparture.org/PoD93/PoD93P...
Fay Victor: Giving Voice to Herbie Nichols
pointofdeparture.org/PoD93/PoD93P...
December 6, 2025 at 7:01 AM
"I was introduced to Herbie Nichols' music when I still considered myself to be a mainstream jazz singer. It was also a moment when I was reconsidering whether or not I wanted to be a mainstream jazz singer."
Fay Victor: Giving Voice to Herbie Nichols
pointofdeparture.org/PoD93/PoD93P...
Fay Victor: Giving Voice to Herbie Nichols
pointofdeparture.org/PoD93/PoD93P...
Reposted by Stewart Smith
Known as Palestine's Nelson Mandela, he has been in prison for more than 23 years and subjected to brutal abuse.
Global campaign launched to free jailed Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti
Known as Palestine's Nelson Mandela, he has been in prison for more than 23 years and subjected to brutal abuse.
bit.ly
December 4, 2025 at 9:00 AM
Known as Palestine's Nelson Mandela, he has been in prison for more than 23 years and subjected to brutal abuse.
Reposted by Stewart Smith
transphobes using money and power to bully little kids is absolutely no different from mobs turning up to intimidate refugee families, and you should treat anyone who so much as excuses either of these things with complete contempt
December 2, 2025 at 10:21 PM
transphobes using money and power to bully little kids is absolutely no different from mobs turning up to intimidate refugee families, and you should treat anyone who so much as excuses either of these things with complete contempt
Reposted by Stewart Smith
We're watching the wholesale burning of every scrap of dignity afforded to trans people in the UK, their rights, their medical services, their employment, their place within society, their bodily functions.
It is a disgrace, and a disgusting stain on the government and media of this country.
It is a disgrace, and a disgusting stain on the government and media of this country.
December 3, 2025 at 11:54 AM
We're watching the wholesale burning of every scrap of dignity afforded to trans people in the UK, their rights, their medical services, their employment, their place within society, their bodily functions.
It is a disgrace, and a disgusting stain on the government and media of this country.
It is a disgrace, and a disgusting stain on the government and media of this country.
I've got an EOY essay in here about the dialogue between jazz/improv, underground hip-hop and electronic music, and the exciting new open-genre music emerging from it.
Plus a full page of jazz & improv reviews, inc the incredible @xcrswx, Marilyn Crispell, Angharad Davies & John Butcher...
Plus a full page of jazz & improv reviews, inc the incredible @xcrswx, Marilyn Crispell, Angharad Davies & John Butcher...
The Wire 503-4 is out now!
Featuring the Top 50 new and archive releases, critical analysis and reflections, plus Hilary Woods, Makaya McCraven, Anna Högberg, Tristan Perich, Derek Bailey’s Company, Ikonika’s Jukebox, and much more.
Pick up your copy here: thewire.co.uk/shop/
Featuring the Top 50 new and archive releases, critical analysis and reflections, plus Hilary Woods, Makaya McCraven, Anna Högberg, Tristan Perich, Derek Bailey’s Company, Ikonika’s Jukebox, and much more.
Pick up your copy here: thewire.co.uk/shop/
December 3, 2025 at 12:39 PM
I've got an EOY essay in here about the dialogue between jazz/improv, underground hip-hop and electronic music, and the exciting new open-genre music emerging from it.
Plus a full page of jazz & improv reviews, inc the incredible @xcrswx, Marilyn Crispell, Angharad Davies & John Butcher...
Plus a full page of jazz & improv reviews, inc the incredible @xcrswx, Marilyn Crispell, Angharad Davies & John Butcher...
Reposted by Stewart Smith
There's not a single anti-trans campaigner or group with a major platform on twitter who haven't posted *horrifying* things and it's a stain on our entire media ecosystem that not a single major outlet has done even basic reporting of it.
I thought I could not be shocked by what prominent transphobes feel able to say about me. Turns out I was wrong.
Here is Richard Dunstan, a prominent commentator closely associated with the Sex Matters charity, speculating that I enjoyed being sexually assaulted as a child.
Here is Richard Dunstan, a prominent commentator closely associated with the Sex Matters charity, speculating that I enjoyed being sexually assaulted as a child.
December 1, 2025 at 1:56 PM
There's not a single anti-trans campaigner or group with a major platform on twitter who haven't posted *horrifying* things and it's a stain on our entire media ecosystem that not a single major outlet has done even basic reporting of it.
Reposted by Stewart Smith
What do we keep saying? That the Reasonable Moderates are the midwives of fascism. And what keeps happening? The Reasonable Moderates insist on proving us right
This is the most alarming story I’ve read today. Giving up the fight before it’s started
November 30, 2025 at 11:51 AM
What do we keep saying? That the Reasonable Moderates are the midwives of fascism. And what keeps happening? The Reasonable Moderates insist on proving us right
Always nice to find an OG Ogun in the wild. A hidden gem in the vocal jazz section at Newcastle’s Beatdown. Jaimie Cullum it ain’t!
November 26, 2025 at 4:10 PM
Always nice to find an OG Ogun in the wild. A hidden gem in the vocal jazz section at Newcastle’s Beatdown. Jaimie Cullum it ain’t!
Reposted by Stewart Smith
What a rotten state of affairs that a teenage girl had thrust upon her the responsibility of being the only adult in the room because actual grown adults refused to recognise her either as a child or, more importantly, as a human being. A sad indictment of a pitiful society.
November 25, 2025 at 12:37 PM
What a rotten state of affairs that a teenage girl had thrust upon her the responsibility of being the only adult in the room because actual grown adults refused to recognise her either as a child or, more importantly, as a human being. A sad indictment of a pitiful society.
Reposted by Stewart Smith
"Reform would be worse" is both entirely correct and entirely irrelevant until polling day 2029. What matters right now is that Labour's approach is morally repugnant on its own terms, *and is empowering Reform*. As things stand today, its not Labour or Reform. Its Labour *then* Reform.
While it feels like I'm repeatedly slamming my head against a brick wall repeating this massively simple concept. Saying "Reform would be worse" doesn't make what Labour is doing better. Labour is now the most anti-immigration, anti-any marginalised group, government we have seen in decades. 1/
Very long thread: As with many of Labour's anti-immigration policies, this isn't new. British police have been stationed in other countries for this purpose for a long time
It does however show how Labour is pushing more on anti-immigration than previous governments. 1/
www.lbc.co.uk/article/shab...
It does however show how Labour is pushing more on anti-immigration than previous governments. 1/
www.lbc.co.uk/article/shab...
November 22, 2025 at 10:03 AM
"Reform would be worse" is both entirely correct and entirely irrelevant until polling day 2029. What matters right now is that Labour's approach is morally repugnant on its own terms, *and is empowering Reform*. As things stand today, its not Labour or Reform. Its Labour *then* Reform.
Went deep on the awesome new [Ahmed] album @thequietus.com The greatest band in the world. @cafeotodalston.bsky.social thequietus.com/quietus-revi...
Who Says Free Music Can’t Dance? Sama’a (Audition) by [Ahmed] | The Quietus
With one of the great rhythm sections of our time, the free jazz quartet take the pan-Islamic music of Ahmed Abdul-Malik far out without sparing an ounce of its propulsive energy
thequietus.com
November 21, 2025 at 11:19 AM
Went deep on the awesome new [Ahmed] album @thequietus.com The greatest band in the world. @cafeotodalston.bsky.social thequietus.com/quietus-revi...
Reposted by Stewart Smith
Everything that’s wrong with Scottish media in one picture.
These people campaigned for and delivered a situation in which any woman who doesn't look feminine enough and any man who doesn't look masculine enough is likely to be challenged, sometimes violently, when simply going to the toilet in a public place. And we're throwing fucking flowers? Seriously?
November 21, 2025 at 10:23 AM
Everything that’s wrong with Scottish media in one picture.
Reposted by Stewart Smith
scottish librarians, academics, writers etc see below
I'm glad to have signed this statement in support of queer and trans staff at the National Library of Scotland, who by the sounds of it are going through an awful time at the moment: docs.google.com/document/d/e...
November 20, 2025 at 11:25 AM
scottish librarians, academics, writers etc see below
Reposted by Stewart Smith
Don Cherry was born in Oklahoma City on this day in 1936
📸 Dany Gignoux, Lyon, France, 1981
📸 Dany Gignoux, Lyon, France, 1981
November 18, 2025 at 1:25 PM
Don Cherry was born in Oklahoma City on this day in 1936
📸 Dany Gignoux, Lyon, France, 1981
📸 Dany Gignoux, Lyon, France, 1981
Reposted by Stewart Smith
It's the anniversary of Section 28's demise. By me: "Section 28 was largely a creation of the right-wing press, and many of the people, publications and proprietors who contributed to the anti-gay panic back then are at the forefront of the anti-trans panic today."
Twenty-Eight – Reconnecting Rainbows Press
reconnectingrainbows.co.uk
November 18, 2025 at 10:47 AM
It's the anniversary of Section 28's demise. By me: "Section 28 was largely a creation of the right-wing press, and many of the people, publications and proprietors who contributed to the anti-gay panic back then are at the forefront of the anti-trans panic today."
Reposted by Stewart Smith
A Government of cowards.
Rather than tackle inequality - they've gone for pensioners, disabled people and now it's people fleeing war and persecution.
They can't get away with this.
Join.greenparty.org.uk
Rather than tackle inequality - they've gone for pensioners, disabled people and now it's people fleeing war and persecution.
They can't get away with this.
Join.greenparty.org.uk
November 17, 2025 at 11:16 PM
A Government of cowards.
Rather than tackle inequality - they've gone for pensioners, disabled people and now it's people fleeing war and persecution.
They can't get away with this.
Join.greenparty.org.uk
Rather than tackle inequality - they've gone for pensioners, disabled people and now it's people fleeing war and persecution.
They can't get away with this.
Join.greenparty.org.uk
Reposted by Stewart Smith
Now archived @wfmu.bsky.social
Hikmah (Wisdom), Sufism and Free Jazz: Pat Thomas Interview
STREAM ▶️ wfmu.org/playlists/sh...
Hikmah (Wisdom), Sufism and Free Jazz: Pat Thomas Interview
STREAM ▶️ wfmu.org/playlists/sh...
November 16, 2025 at 3:50 AM
Now archived @wfmu.bsky.social
Hikmah (Wisdom), Sufism and Free Jazz: Pat Thomas Interview
STREAM ▶️ wfmu.org/playlists/sh...
Hikmah (Wisdom), Sufism and Free Jazz: Pat Thomas Interview
STREAM ▶️ wfmu.org/playlists/sh...
Reposted by Stewart Smith
This contribution to the volume of human misery is yet another policy from Labour based on a false premise, in this case that refugees are overly attracted to Britain. It will increase bureaucratic limbo, thus making worse the problem of "cohesion" it purports to solve.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
UK set to limit refugees to temporary stays
Shabana Mahmood is expected to say the era of permanent protection for refugees is over, in major changes to the UK's asylum and immigration system.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 15, 2025 at 8:47 AM
This contribution to the volume of human misery is yet another policy from Labour based on a false premise, in this case that refugees are overly attracted to Britain. It will increase bureaucratic limbo, thus making worse the problem of "cohesion" it purports to solve.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Reposted by Stewart Smith
The fact that this person remains Health Secretary is objectively one of the most significant British political scandals of the post-Covid era. But because he's doing something the media barons like, everyone has decided it's fine.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting says that the British Medical Association, which represents Britain's doctors, is a threat to the NHS. Streeting took a record £225k from private healthcare-related donors in just two years.
British Medical Association ‘threat to future of NHS’, says Streeting ahead of doctors’ strike
Health secretary accuses doctors’ union of ‘cartel-like behaviour’ and tells it to ‘get real’ over pay demands
www.theguardian.com
November 13, 2025 at 8:46 AM
The fact that this person remains Health Secretary is objectively one of the most significant British political scandals of the post-Covid era. But because he's doing something the media barons like, everyone has decided it's fine.
Truth
one of the basic rules of late 70s/early 80s jazz
is
every Moers Music record
is worth owning
is
every Moers Music record
is worth owning
John Carter - clarinet: Recorded at Studio 57, Düsseldorf, Germany; August 16, 1979.
November 12, 2025 at 2:35 PM
Truth
Reposted by Stewart Smith
Emily Maitlis & Jon Sopel on The News Agents podcast taking credit for getting the GIDS Tavistock clinic closed down.
Puffed-up journalists with their sense of self-importance think they can’t be radicalised & biased!
History will not be kind to them! 😖
Puffed-up journalists with their sense of self-importance think they can’t be radicalised & biased!
History will not be kind to them! 😖
November 11, 2025 at 2:33 AM
Emily Maitlis & Jon Sopel on The News Agents podcast taking credit for getting the GIDS Tavistock clinic closed down.
Puffed-up journalists with their sense of self-importance think they can’t be radicalised & biased!
History will not be kind to them! 😖
Puffed-up journalists with their sense of self-importance think they can’t be radicalised & biased!
History will not be kind to them! 😖
Reposted by Stewart Smith
Zohran Mamdani and Catherine Connolly's wins, along with the massive rise of the UK Greens after electing Zack Polanski demonstrate that you can be unapologetically pro-trans rights and get huge support.
The Leftists who claimed that trans people should be "pragmatically" abandoned were wrong.
The Leftists who claimed that trans people should be "pragmatically" abandoned were wrong.
November 6, 2025 at 1:17 PM
Zohran Mamdani and Catherine Connolly's wins, along with the massive rise of the UK Greens after electing Zack Polanski demonstrate that you can be unapologetically pro-trans rights and get huge support.
The Leftists who claimed that trans people should be "pragmatically" abandoned were wrong.
The Leftists who claimed that trans people should be "pragmatically" abandoned were wrong.
Reposted by Stewart Smith
Absolutely insane.
Labour would have purged and smeared someone like Zohran Mamdani.
Wes Streeting's politics align far more closely with Andrew Cuomo.
The lessons from Mamdani are about how to defeat both the right - and the bankrupt "centre".
Labour would have purged and smeared someone like Zohran Mamdani.
Wes Streeting's politics align far more closely with Andrew Cuomo.
The lessons from Mamdani are about how to defeat both the right - and the bankrupt "centre".
November 5, 2025 at 9:58 AM
Absolutely insane.
Labour would have purged and smeared someone like Zohran Mamdani.
Wes Streeting's politics align far more closely with Andrew Cuomo.
The lessons from Mamdani are about how to defeat both the right - and the bankrupt "centre".
Labour would have purged and smeared someone like Zohran Mamdani.
Wes Streeting's politics align far more closely with Andrew Cuomo.
The lessons from Mamdani are about how to defeat both the right - and the bankrupt "centre".
Reposted by Stewart Smith
“This festival is a celebration of improvisation as a global, inclusive, and transformative art form.” Stewart Smith looks forward to a celebration of the gamelan at the seventeenth instalment of the Scottish festival
Preview: Glasgow Improvisers Orchestra’s GIOfest
buff.ly/QM9uFi9
Preview: Glasgow Improvisers Orchestra’s GIOfest
buff.ly/QM9uFi9
November 3, 2025 at 6:19 PM
“This festival is a celebration of improvisation as a global, inclusive, and transformative art form.” Stewart Smith looks forward to a celebration of the gamelan at the seventeenth instalment of the Scottish festival
Preview: Glasgow Improvisers Orchestra’s GIOfest
buff.ly/QM9uFi9
Preview: Glasgow Improvisers Orchestra’s GIOfest
buff.ly/QM9uFi9
Reposted by Stewart Smith
Carla Bley's Escalator Over the Hill
Film by Steve Gebhardt (1970)
Bits of this have been on YT before, but I've never seen the entire film.
youtu.be/w-aSKKWz_QM?...
Film by Steve Gebhardt (1970)
Bits of this have been on YT before, but I've never seen the entire film.
youtu.be/w-aSKKWz_QM?...
Carla Bley's Escalator Over the Hill 1970, Steve Gebhardt
YouTube video by bigfootpegrande
youtu.be
November 4, 2025 at 9:13 AM
Carla Bley's Escalator Over the Hill
Film by Steve Gebhardt (1970)
Bits of this have been on YT before, but I've never seen the entire film.
youtu.be/w-aSKKWz_QM?...
Film by Steve Gebhardt (1970)
Bits of this have been on YT before, but I've never seen the entire film.
youtu.be/w-aSKKWz_QM?...