1. Philip Larkin’s Jazz

2. Critic
Philip Larkin was not only a very successful poet, but also a gifted Jazz critic. Jazz music was the one thing that stayed with him throughout his life, and had a place in his heart reserved for no other thing, or woman.
'You automatically stop thinking about anything else and listen': Phillip Larkin in 1966 

3. Critics of the critic
 Larkin ignored jazz’s development after the bebop revolution of the late Forties. Bop is “nervous and hostile (something that they can’t steal because they can’t play it) music, at odds with the generous spirit of its predecessors”.
Didn’t acknowledge the fact that music and style changes, and that in the early twenties, Jazz itself was slated with similar terms to the ones Larkin himself used to dismiss Modern Jazz - “jerky”, “unnatural”, “fevered”, “cacophonous”.
He was no expert.

4. Reference back
That was a pretty one, I heard you call From the unsatisfactory hall To the unsatisfactory room where I  Played record after record, idly, Wasting my time at home, that you Looked so much forward to.
Oliver's Riverside Blues, it was. And now I shall, I suppose, always remember how The flock of notes those antique Negroes blew Our of Chicago air into A huge remembering pre-electric horn The year after I was born Three decades later made this sudden bridge From your unsatisfactory age To my unsatisfactory prime.
Reading through Whitsun Weddings. Stumbled across this poem. Caught my eye as it mentioned Riverside Blues. This poem is about his mother and him visiting regularly after his father’s death. Did not enjoy the experience as he was wasting time. Not just about his relationship with her but also the way we grow and change as people. He’s unsatisfied with the outcome of his life. As humans we believe that our lives would be remarkably different/better had we acted differently, and though time is our element we’re the ones who change for the worst whilst things around us remain the same, such as his riverside blues vinyl. Looking back at how things once were evokes nostalgia from him rather than joy.
The poem is obviously very personal, therefore that is probably the reason why he chose to include jazz. It’s something that “bridged” and connected him to his past and to his mother.
Truly, though our element is time, We're not suited to the long perspectives Open at each instant of our lives. They link us to our losses: worse, They show us what we have as it once was, Blindingly undiminished, just as though By acting differently we could have kept it so.

5. Larkin’s Jazz
DISC 2 – “Oxford”
Larkin spoke of "the trio of great white eccentrics, Beiderbecke, Russell and Wild Bill Davison - three players who achieved completely individual styles - and it seems to me that the unique quality of each was the product of conscious and consummate artistry." Bix Beiderbecke, who drank himself to death by the age of 28 in 1931, was a cornet player who created solos of surprising beauty and extraordinary implosion. He revolutionised the conception of the jazz solo, and influenced almost every white trumpet or cornet player of his day. He still remains an admired legend, as he was for Larkin. 
DISC 1 - "I Remember, I Remember"  In 1968, looking back on his life with jazz, Larkin recalled "I was in essence hooked on jazz before I heard any, and that what got me was the rhythm. That simple trick of the suspended beat, that had made the slaves shuffle in Congo Square on Saturday nights, was something that never palled. My transition to jazz was slow." 
Disc 3 - All What Jazz
Named after All What Jazz: The Record Diary
“Compilation of articles by the leading jazz reviewer offers a lively commentary of the record world and its personalities in the 1960's.”
“I rushed out on Monday and bought Nobody Knows The Way I Feel This Morning.
F------, c------, bloody good! Bechet is a great artist. As soon as he starts playing you automatically stop thinking about anything else and listen. Power and glory.”
Disc 4 – completes the incomplete. "listening to new jazz records for an hour with a pint of gin and tonic is the best remedy for a day's work I know."
DISC 1 Includes early Louis Armstrong and Bessie Smith, reflecting Larkin’s childhood. The song playing right now is Louis Armstrong – Aint Misbehavin’
DISC 2 Includes Bix Beiderbecke and Harry James and his Boogie-Woogie Trio
Disc 3 - A fun read even if you haven't heard any of the records he's reviewed -- his writing style and attention to detail brings you in.  Sidney Bechet Nobody Knows The Way I Feel This Morning – couldn’t find it.  Sidney Bechet and his New Orleans Feetwarmers - Old Man Blues playing instead

6. Since My Best Gal Turned Me Down How Come You Do Me Like You Do
Final playlist
King Olivers Jazz Band
Riverside Blues
Disc 1 –
Louis Armstrong
Ain't Misbehavin‘
Disc 2 –
Bix Beiderbecke and His Orchestra
Since My Best Gal Turned Me Down
Disc 3 –
Sidney Bechet
Old Man Blues
Disc 4 - Miff Mole And His Dixieland Orchestra
How Come You Do Me Like You Do