My mate Mike Hobart writes jazz reviews for the Financial Times - live gigs and CDs. They always cheer me up, particularly if I’m stuck is some souless motel in an industrial estate somewhere, I open the FT, and there he is. Last Saturday, Mike had a review of a new album by Bill Frisell , who I’ve never heard of. Lo and behold; during the week when I was listening to Late Junction over the web I hear two tracks that really stand out - both are instrumental versions of songs we all already know - ‘I heard it through the Grapevine’ and ‘Hard Rain’ - when I check the listings, they’re both by Bill Frisell.

So yesterday afternoon I’m listening to ‘From Be-bop to Hip Hop’, broadcast on BBC Radio Scotland, and available over the web (first time I’ve ever listened to this as well - its great). And on this is a superb version of ‘I can see for miles’ by Petra Haden (again someone I’ve never heard of before). And when I check her on the web, I find she’s worked on a joint album … with Bill Frisell

All this means nothing really other than the internet can facilitate a great deal of serendipity and interaction between a lot of things…now, the next great advance would be if I could get the internet cheaply in my car - not that I drive much, but I’m off to Durham for the afternoon and I’d like to listen to that BBC Scotland jazz programme again…