Gigs/CDs of the Year coming shortly...

It's that time of year again when we ask you to send your favourite gigs and CDs of 2018.
Look forward to your lists. Either add them as a comment or email me.
Lance.

Jazz North’s northern line

(Press release)

Since its launch in 2013, Jazz North’s northern line has supported 67 jazz artists and ensembles from across the north with over 700 gigs. This month, applications open for Round Seven of the scheme giving more artists the chance to develop their profession.

RIP BMus @ Sage Gateshead.

Paul Edis has reminded me that tomorrow, and Wednesday, there are performances by (very sadly) the final ever cohort of the BMus students at Sage, Gateshead.

The BMus course has been around, Paul reminds me, since before he was born, and many of the musicians featured on BSH were schooled by Birkett/Sinclair/Richardson or have some connection to it. 

As well as jazz, over the next two days, there are all sorts of musical interests and disciplines on display reflecting the diversity of the students. Also, in amongst the student bands, there are cameos from Paul Grainger, Bradley Johnston and Thomas Dixon amongst others... 

Full programme here: http://www.sagegateshead.com/event/future-grooves-2018/

CD Review: Emma Fisk's Hot Club du Nord - Hot Club du Nord

Emma Fisk (violin); James Birkett (guitar); Dave Harris (guitar); Bruce Rollo (double bass)

(Review by Russell).

Hot Club du Nord hit the ground running. Emma Fisk and Dave Harris worked together in Djangology and James Birkett and Bruce Rollo were well-versed in the Hot Club idiom. In a matter of weeks, the quartet began to play to full houses in jazz clubs and theatres. Hot Club du Nord is the band's recently released debut CD and already it's selling like hot cakes.

Preview: Indigo Jazz Voices – Dec. 13 @ The Globe

Jen Errington; Carrie McCullock; Jenny Lingham; Miriam McCormick; Barry Keatings; David Edgar (all individual vocals); Alan Law (piano); Paul Grainger (bass); Rob Walker (drums)

Get yourself along to hear these talented singers next Thursday (December 13). They’ll be accompanied by the stellar trio listed above. Lucky singers – I’d give away an arm or a leg to sing with this trio (only joking, I think!) There are some Christmas songs such as Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas and Winter Wonderland and standards such as Unforgettable and No Moon At All.

And you also get nibbles to eat, including mince pies and chocolate truffles. Yumm!

It all starts a 7.30pm and admission is £5, a bargain.

Be there!

Ann Alex

House of the Black Gardenia @ Hoochie Coochie - Dec. 9

(Review by Lance).

Photos.

Hoochie was heaving. The Lindys were hopping and the Shaggers* were er dancing. The sound system belted out gems from Basie, Ella, Frank, Billie and Der Bingle. Had I died and gone to heaven? No, this was just the pre-nuptials before the House of the Black Gardenia eventually hit the stage.

The Mooche got the live show underway and it soon became apparent that we were in for a treat. Newcomer Tham slotted in effortlessly as anyone who'd heard him at the jam sessions around town already knew he would. Robinson, a black gardenia in his lapel, impressed on liquorice stick as he also did, during the course of the evening, on various saxophones. Michael Lamb proved he can blow swing style as well as he blows bebop and Showtime was, well, Showtime. Add a stomping rhythm section to die for plus the effervescence on the dancefloor and it was little surprise that, to coin a phrase, the joint was jumpin'! 

Time Change at Hoochie.

The previously advertised time for today's gig at Hoochie by The House of the Black Gardenia is now doors at 6pm indicating a much later start to accommodate the band's soundcheck and the advertised 10pm finish.
It's still free and still the place to be!
Lance.

JB's Cats @ Sage Gateshead - Dec 8

Bradley Johnston (MD); Lucien Guest (trumpet, flugelhorn); Nathan Lawson (guitar); Tom Henery (guitar); Alex Shipsey (bass guitar); Gemma Watson (drums)

(Review by Russell)

As the saying goes: When the boss is away the cats will play...or something like that. JB, that's James Birkett, was elsewhere fulfilling a long-standing concert engagement so Bradley Johnston stepped in to keep an eye on things. 

JB's Cats comprises members of Sage Gateshead's Centre for Advanced Training. This evening's short concert set consisted of five numbers performed by an accomplished teenage quintet. One or two of the cats are veterans - sixth formers! - of prestigious jazz festivals and high-quality jam sessions, the others no slouches when it comes to playing jazz. 

CD Review: Various Artists - Jazz City UK (Volume 1).

(Review by Lance).
Whilst few albums this year (or any other year within recent memory) will match JCUK Volume 2: The Jam Sessions, this compilation runs it close. A choice selection from some of the Big Bear label's back catalogue, it serves its purpose well inasmuch as you will be wanting some, if not all, of the source material.

Thus we have tracks from the following albums: Bruce Adams (One Foot in the Gutter); Bruce Adams/Alan Barnes Quintet (Side-Steppin' & Let's Face the Music); Alan Barnes All Stars (The Marbella Jazz Suite); Lady Sings the Blues (Laughing at Life); King Pleasure & the Biscuit Boys (Live at Last & Hey Puerto Rico); Nomy Rosenberg Trio (Nomy Rosenberg Trio); Tipitina (I Wish I Was in New Orleans & Taking Care of Business) and The Whiskey Brothers (Bottle Up & Go).

The above listing is semi-alphabetical and not in order of merit.

King Bees @ Billy Bootleggers - Dec 7

Michael Littlefield (guitar, vocals); Scott Taylor (vocals, harmonica); Dominic Hornsby (piano, guitar, vocals); Simon Hedley (double bass); Giles Holt (drums)

(Review by Russell)

Half an hour before the nine o'clock start the joint was jumpin'. Moonshine ordered by the bucket load, you'd be forgiven for thinking prohibition was about to come into force at midnight. 

The opening bars to Got My Mojo Working brought the packed house on to the dance floor then, after one chorus, the band called time. Billy Bootleggers went wild, deafening applause, hootin' and a-hollerin'...this had been King Bees' last-minute soundcheck!

Super Sunday's Dilemma

Sunday has more goodies on offer than you're ever likely to find under any Christmas tree.

Impossible to mention them all - they're listed above - and to even select one is to do an injustice to the others (I have, I hasten to add, no vested interest in any of the gigs) so, when I say I'm looking forward to the Hoochie Coochie gig by the House of the Black Gardenia it's simply because I just love this band and the atmosphere they create which is truly amazing. However, if the BGs weren't in town, I'd be down the road to Bishop Auckland to catch Steve Waterman with Durham Alumni Big Band. 

Fortunately, because of the advertised 18:00 HCT any athletic/fast-walking/motorised fan may well be able to catch at least one gig either side of the Hoochie Hoot.
Lance.

Zoë Gilby Quartet @ The Lit & Phil - Dec 7

Zoë Gilby (vocals); Mark Williams (guitar); Andy Champion (double bass); Russ Morgan(drums)

(Review by Russell)

A cold but dry Friday afternoon with Christmas just around the corner didn't deter the Lit and Phil's regulars from turning out for their monthly lunchtime jazz fix. 

An unforgiving parking meter (time up at one minute past two for one of the musicians) necessitated a prompt one o'clock start. From Take Five to Caravan, vocalist Gilby presented an entertaining hour of standards, left field popular numbers and a swinging take on Monk's Think of One.  

RIP Peter Boizot.

Anyone who has visited a Pizza Express jazz venue owes a debt of gratitude to Peter Boizot who died on Wednesday, December 5, aged 89.

A lover of Italian food and jazz he managed to combine the two, particularly at his Dean St., Soho, restaurant where many jazz names from both home and abroad appeared. He literally 'put his money where his mouth was'!

I have fond memories of Dean St having heard, among others, Lee Konitz, Scott Hamilton and Barry Harris whilst enjoying a house pizza washed down with a bottle (or two) of Peroni.

I have even fonder memories of the Holborn Pizza Express...

Let's raise a glass to his memory and the food and the music which lives on.

Rest In Peace.

Lance.

Obituary.

Update on the 2019 Mike Durham's International Classic Jazz Party.

The Alka Seltzers and the 40 cups of black coffee had only just completed their medicinal therapy when the news of the 2019 jazz orgy aka Mike Durham's Classic Jazz Party broke.

Fortunately, the survivors of this year's bash have close on 11 months and a bit to get in training for next year's classic jazz extravaganza to be held, once again, at the Village Hotel over the weekend of November 1-3.  I'm sorry Mr. Fawkes (Guy, not Wally) but we're letting our fireworks off a few days before yours.

CD Review: Burak Bedikyan - New Beginning

Burak Bedikyan (piano); Jay Anderson (bass); Adam Nussbaum (drums).

(Review by Lance).

It's five years since I reviewed Burak Bedikyan's Circle of Life. I was impressed by the young (35 is young to me) Turkish pianist. Since then, he's moved to New York, picked up a couple of A-list sidemen and produced an album of impressive originals plus one standard - Stella By Starlight (every jazzman must have a recording of Stella on his CV, it's a rite of passage!) Bedikyan, however, gives the lady a workout in 3/4 time. Needless to say, he does her proud as he does the originals.

NUJO Small Combo @ The Hatton Gallery, Newcastle University - Dec 5

Matt Green (alto sax); Tom Alcorn (trumpet); Tom McDonald (trombone); James Cuxson (guitar); Jack Deere-Jones (bass guitar); Archie Williamson (drums)

(Review by Russell)

Exploding Collage is a series of three exhibitions inspired by Kurt Schwitters' Merzbarn*. Three contemporary artists are currently exploring the twentieth-century avant-garde response to the collage art form. Today's musical happenings in the Hatton Gallery were, supposedly, an attempt to create an immersive, improvised response to the gallery's artworks.  

Let's forget the premise and get to the jazz. The lunchtime concert began a little late...they are students, you know! The six-piece combo, drawn from the ranks of Newcastle University Jazz Orchestra, was about to get things underway when its MD, guitarist James Cuxson, went in search of an amp. The ready-to-go quintet decided to play Autumn Leaves. 

CD Review: Julian Haugland - Julian Haugland

Julian Haugland (bass); Seamus Blake (tenor sax); Bjorn Vidor Solli (guitar); Jon Wikan (drums).

(Review by Lance).

I've got no background info on this untitled, other than the name of the leader, CD although Google did direct me to his Facebook page so I'm semi 'winging' this one!

Not that it needs much 'winging'. Seamus Blake is a well-established London/New York tenor player and he blows my kind of tenor. Solli on guitar impresses as did his musical ancestors - Kessel, Ellis and Farlow. 

Classic Swing @ the Block & Tackle, Ashington - December 3

Bob Wade (trumpet/flugelhorn): Jim McBriarty (tenor sax/clarinet/vocals); Don Fairley (trombone); Colin Haikney (piano); Alan Rudd (bass); Ian Hetherington (drums); Olive Rudd (vocals) + Gordon Solomon (trombone).

(Review by Lance).

After a long and tedious X22 bus journey Jim McBriarty seemed to be commiserating with travellers when he sang Sent For You Yesterday (and here you come today). 

Fortunately, despite the devious route, it was all worthwhile. Ashington Jazz Club's new venue looks good and the room was packed, all enjoying the music and the free buffet. Whether the buffet is a one-off or a regular feature, only time will tell. What's for sure is that if you like your music north of Bourbon St. and south of 52nd St. then this isn't a bad place to be.

The band live up to their name of Classic Swing - they could have the dead lindy-hopping in their graves.

Royal Northern College of Music plays Frank Zappa: Take Your Clothes Off When You Dance @ Union, Metropolitan University, Manchester, Nov. 30

(Review by Steve T)

Five tickets left at the start of the week but I had to wait until Wednesday to find out if I could drive. Worth the risk? Worth spending four times longer in the car than the time the band were on the stage? Hell yes!

A medley from the Make a Jazz Noise Here album, though it goes back even further, to the Ahead of Their Time album recorded in ‘68, and the whole bunch of them are cross-fertilising rock with classical music, infused in a baroque style and the whole thing underpinned with a jazz sensibility.

The segue from Oh No to Son of Orange County (on Weazels Ripped my Flesh and  Ahead) is one of the most resounding tension resolutions in the whole of Zappa, but loses something on this version where the latter is taken at a syncopated, almost novelty pace. Furthermore, this version of the medley leads into a jingly jangly, country and western(ish) style version of  Lumpy Gravy, which plays to the view of Zappa as a comedy, novelty act.*

Headhunters @ Sage Gateshead - December 2

Donald Harrison (alto/vocal); Bill Summers (perc/vocal); Jerry Z (keys); Mike Clark (drums).

(Review by Lance/photos courtesy of Russell).

I'm going to use that well-known cop-out - a Curates Egg. There were many highs and no lows but, there were also a few in-betweens that verged on the boring.

The highs, and they were very high indeed, included Harrison's alto solos which were as good as, if not even better, than when I first heard him with Blakey's Jazz Messengers a thousand years ago (actually about 30 years ago!). A spiky player to rate alongside anyone you care to mention.

Mike Clark is a phenomenal drummer. However, these days, it seems as though just about every drummer from the grassroots upwards has an amazing technique so why does Clark stand above the rest? Feeling, the ability to listen and to drop his bombs on target and not in the middle of the ocean.

Jambone @ St James' & St Basil's Church, Newcastle - Dec 1

(Review by Russell)

A Jambone concert is always worth getting along to. It's a chance to gauge the development of the band and spot potential star performers of tomorrow. The weather had been rather unkind all day yet a good number made the effort to support Sage Gateshead's youth jazz orchestra.

Seven pieces were in the programme; five compositions by Jambone's MD Paul Edis and the MD's arrangements of two well-known tunes. Edis' Sunny Blues - a world premiere, said Edis - introduced a number of soloists to the J's & B's audience; Jack Pearce, alto sax, Ferg Kilsby, trumpet, Sue Ferris*, baritone sax, Graham Hardy*, trumpet, and drummer Maeve Thorpe. 

The World is Never Still thought Edis, so, he wrote a tune about the matter. Vocalist Emily McDermott led off (think Norma Winstone) closely followed by Zak Parlby's tenor solo, flautist Megan Robinson (a senior member of the orchestra these days!) and fearless young trumpeter Ferg Kilsby. 

More vin (extra) ordinaire - Hot Club du Nord @ St Augustine's Parish Centre, Darlington - Dec 1

Emma Fisk (violin); James Birkett (guitar); Dave Harris (guitar); Bruce Rollo (double bass) 

(Review by Russell)

A rain-lashed Darlington didn't dissuade a full house from turning out for Darlington New Orleans Jazz Club's year-ending concert promotion. 

Honeysuckle Rose for starters. The first solo of the day conjured by James Birkett won applause and that set the pattern for Hot Club du Nord's lunchtime performance at St Augustine's - one stellar solo after another from Dr Birkett, co-six stringer Dave Harris, bassist Bruce Rollo and, of course, bandleader, Emma Fisk. 

Oriental Shuffle, Belleville, Nuages, familiar numbers but never less than expertly played, this the expected standard of one of the hottest - Hot Club or otherwise - bands on the circuit. 

Hot Club du Nord @ St. Cuthbert’s Parish Hall, Crook, - Nov. 30.

Emma Fisk (violin); James Birkett, Dave Harris  (guitars); Bruce Rollo (bass).

(Review/rhyme/pics by Jerry E).

Saint Cuthbert’s Hall was heaving,

Most of Crook was there.

Emma stepped in wearing blue suede shoes

And tossing her jet-black hair.

The opening tune was introduced

It was Honeysuckle Rose –

James Birkett’s heels were tapping then

And so were Emma’s toes!

Preview: Headhunters Funk-Up Sage Gateshead

(Preview by Russell/Photos of Harrison & Clark courtesy of Mochles Sa)

Tomorrow (Sunday) Sage Gateshead welcomes one of the enduring jazz funk outfits on the planet. In the mid-seventies, Headhunters' original line-up, which included Herbie Hancock and Bennie Maupin, played a sold-out concert at Newcastle City Hall and it would be a long wait until the band returned to the city. That belated return came within the last year. 

CD Review: Laura Dickinson - Auld Lang Syne

Laura Dickinson (vocals/arrangements) + big band including Steve Trapani (bass trombone); Kye Palmer (trumpet); Andrew Synowiec (guitar) with other arrangements by James A. Mcmillen, Johnny Mandel, Brent Fischer, Larry Blank, Bill Liston, Alan Steinberger, Andrew Synowiec.

(Review by Lance)

Normally, Ann Alex would have been delegated for this Yuletide offering but Ann's already had one seasonal album so, as I don't think this is Russell's glass of mulled wine, I'll decide for myself as to whether it's a turkey or not.

Firstly, I do like Christmas, despite the false bonhomie and the dreadful sweaters, it's a time when you can get drunk without being treat as a social outcast and eat as much as you like without counting the calories. And, of course, there are the CDs such as this one...