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Bebop Spoken There

Ambrose Akinmusire: “ I am certainly always aware of what the masses are doing. And when I see too many people going one way, I'm going another way - even when I don't know what's over that way". DownBeat, March, 2024.

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Postage

16287 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 169 of them this year alone and, so far, 41 this month (Mar 18).

From This Moment On ...

March

Tue 19: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Michael Young, Paul Grainger, Tim Johnston.

Wed 20: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 20: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 20: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 21: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 21: Castillo Neuvo Trio + Conor Emery & His ‘Bones Band @ The Grove, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 7:30pm (7:00pm doors). £10.00. (£7.00. student).
Thu 21: Remi Banklyn + Chris Corcoran Trio @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £12.50. Chicago blues. An International Guitar Foundation promotion.
Thu 21: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Ragtime piano.
Thu 21: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm.

Fri 22: Vasilis Xenopoulos & Paul Edis @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. £8.00. SOLD OUT!
Fri 22: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 22: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 22: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 22: Nauta + Remy CB + Last Orders @ Hoochie Coochie, Newcastle. 8:30pm (7:30pm doors). Free.
Fri 22: Vasilis Xenopoulos-Paul Edis Quartet @ Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. £15.00. Opus 4 Jazz Club.
Fri 22: Redwell @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sat 23: Jambone @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 6:30pm. Free (ticketed). End of term performance in the Northern Rock Foundation Hall.
Sat 23: Milne-Glendinning Band @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 23: Red Kites Jazz @ Rowlands Gill Community Centre NE39 1JB. 7:00pm. Tickets: £12.00. (gibsidecommunityfarm@gmail.com). A ‘Build a Barn’ fundraiser. BYOB, tea/coffee available.
Sat 23: New Century Ragtime Orchestra @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £20.00. + bf (book in person at venue - no booking fee!). Featuring pianist Martin Litton.
Sat 23: Pete Tanton’s Cuba Libre @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 24: Musicians Unlimited @ Park Inn, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 24: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:30pm. Free.
Sun 24: Luis Verde @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm. Verde (alto sax); Joe Steels (guitar); John Pope (double bass); John Hirst (drums). Alto sax brilliance!
Sun 24: Elsie Franklin @ The Globe, Newcastle. 3:00pm. £10.00. Country blues. An International Guitar Foundation promotion.
Sun 24: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay Metro Station. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 24: Las Vegas Live with the Rat Pack @ The Forum, Billingham.
Sun 24: Ian Millar & Dominic Spencer @ Otterburn Memorial Hall. 7:30pm. £12.00.
Sun 24: Lindsay Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Note start time - 7:00pm.
Sun 24: Bold Big Band @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 25: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 25: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 6:30pm. Free.

Friday, April 14, 2017

Emma Fisk and Paul Edis @ The Witham, Barnard Castle - April 12

Emma Fisk (violin) and Paul Edis (piano).
(Review/photos by Jerry)
A sign above the stage appeared to say “A DISCO”. Really? I adjusted my bifocals and found it was a date stone reading “AD1860” – when The Witham opened as a music hall – which is interesting as its Victorian / Edwardian heyday coincided with many of the performers and composers referenced in Emma Fisk’s fascinating introductions and links between the twenty pieces of music thoughtfully selected and brilliantly performed tonight. Might tangos on the set-list have been performed on that stage back then? That’s a connection which would appeal to Emma, I think.
I don’t remember Nuages (Grappelli and Reinhardt’s “reunion” recording after WW2) from the duo’s gig in 2016, so will start with that even though it was in the second set. There was good applause (not always easy to elicit from a crowd which was not unappreciative but a tad “polite”!) for a “trilling” piano solo and for the improbably high note which capped Emma Fisk’s ornate finish – some kind of high F?
Next up, beautifully performed, was the catchy Hot Club number, Undecided, introduced with the story of the vocalist, Beryl Davis. She toured with Reinhardt and Grappelli from the age of about 14 (!) and went on, via Glenn Miller in WW2, to an amazing career which by rights should have made her a household name such as Ella Fitzgerald, for example. Inspired by this biographical snippet I found Undecided on YouTube and was blown away by both the singing and the lyrics. The clip was dated 1939 when Davis was 15! I am going into detail here because in 2016 I said that I “learnt stuff” at the concert in Crook and all the above exemplifies that. Such a carefully crafted show put together by a performer who feels almost evangelical about the material cannot fail to enthuse even the ignorant such as myself.
Also new to me was Pardon Me, Pretty Baby which, after a “florid, showy intro” was an infectiously catchy tune which probably explains it being covered by so many bands / vocalists, including Harold Arlen, no less! Edis’ piano solo here seemed to be more Joplin-esque than A la Luz de los Faroles where Joplin was mentioned earlier.
I think the “quirky tango” in 2016 from The Threepenny Opera (Brecht / Weill) might have been The Pimp’s Song here reprised after the contrasting Polly’s Song (new to me) which is more lyrical than quirky suggesting that Macheath’s wife, like Dickens’ Nancy, might have been a naïve romantic at heart.
16 other numbers featured classical, tango, gypsy jazz and show-tunes (all of which featured in 2016), all beautifully performed with the musicians, clearly in tune with the dynamics of each piece, interpreting and bringing it to life. The tunes hailed from Paris, London, New York, Buenos Aires, Berlin, Prague and Vienna with every decade from the 1880’s to the 1960’s represented. It was, (the Witham’s website publicity) “…a musical tour (de force) across continents, centuries and genres..” I was dead chuffed to realise that the website, there, was quoting from my October 2016 review on Bebop….! Fame at last!
Special mention, among those 16 tunes for Someone to Watch Over Me (my favourite on the night) and Lady Be Good, which Emma clearly loves to play.
And finally, The Witham is an imposing building with a fine auditorium and good acoustics. The staff were friendly and helpful and the technical side of things all went well. They are “trying to re-establish jazz” there (other genres flourish) so please check out future listings and support them if you can. Oh, and the beer was good too!
Jerry

3 comments :

Steve T said...

Surely you weren't imbibing Jerry. Now I'm really jealous. Had hoped to go - at about a dozen miles it's almost our local - but everybody's knackered, what with FDTs practice regime beginning at everyone else's bedtime - he's a Jazzer through and through.

JERRY said...

Was able to imbibe (some) as I had a lift back with the pianist!

Lance said...

Beryl was a class singer who died in 2011 age 87. She did okay in America with records (I've got a couple of her CDs, one of which includes the 2 Django track) and appeared on tv with Sinatra. Her father, Harry Davis, was co-leader of the Oscar Rabin band who buried himself in the sax section whilst Oscar conducted and, of course, Beryl sang. No disrespect to Vera but...

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