Coltrane @ the City Hall

Unsurprisingly the September issue of Jazzwise is, in the main, dedicated to John Coltrane. It being his centenary year there is a nine-page tribute to the great man. What is surprising is that, amongst those nine pages, there is a two page article by pianist, critic, author Brian Priestley writing about Coltrane's concert at Newcastle City Hall  on November 14, 1961.

I too was there and I hated it! At that stage of my lifetime journey into jazz Bird and Dizzy were about as far as I'd got. Fortunately the Dizzy Gillespie Quintet were top of the bill so at least I left without demanding my money back!

Previw: Jazz @ the Chapel - Sept. 6

Well, there's another fantastic afternoon of jazz taking place on Sunday 6th of September between 1.00 and 3.00 at The Chapel in Middlesbrough (TS5 4BY).* Our guest, and back by popular demand, is the superlative saxophonist, and Musicians Unlimited Musical Director, Mick Donnelly. Mick has backed many a superstar in the world of music but equally loves playing a gig, with his mates, in local surroundings. As is now the norm, free entry but with the option of purchasing a range of high quality real ales and enjoying a sumptuous Sunday lunch (good idea to book this in advance). Keep Music Live! 

The video comes from a Musicians Unlimited gig at the Arc on 23rd April this year and was taken by my wife Margaret. Ade

 

It's Jeremy McMurray on Piano, Adrian Beadnell (me!) on bass, John Bradford on drums and, of course, Mick providing the sax solo around Nature Boy. Adrian

*See poster in right hand column supplied earlier by Ian Bosworth - Lance

Andor Jensen Quintet @ Llandudno Jazz Club - August 10

© Richard Morris

Andor Jensen (saxes); Neil Yates (trumpet); Tom Remon (guitar); Gavin Barras (double bass); Will Blackstone (drums)

A high calibre quintet assembled for the usual quality jazz at Llandudno Jazz Club. Led by saxophone player Andor Jensen, a scouser, now based on the Wirral and Licentiate of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Now into his seventh decade (just) he is a highly skilled musician and teacher and well established on the north west jazz scene. Tom Remon is based in London, an alumnus of Tomorrow’s Warriors. His solo style tends towards the spacious and melodic. Gavin and Will both travelled from Glossop. Gavin performs regularly throughout the UK and abroad and has performed as part of Matthew Halsall’s band for over 15 years. Will is an accomplished drummer who I have seen play at Llandudno on several occasions. Neil curates the jazz each Monday and is one of the UK’s top jazz trumpet players.

Nick Mondello Interviews Denise Mangiarti

Joe Sullivan meets Lennon and McCartney

Listening to a very pleasant Joe Sullivan CD. It's part of the Chronological Classics series and is, in the main, Joe Sullivan piano solos recorded in 1944 and 1945. However, there are four quintet tracks by Sullivan with Archie Rosatie (clarinet); Ulysses Livingston (guitar); Artie Shapiro (bass) and Zutty Singleton (drums).

One of the tracks is Night and Day and Rosatie plays a clarinet intro the opening phrase of which sounds not unlike the Beatles With a Little Help From my Friends, Probably it's coincidence as I doubt if, 20 years on, John and Paul were listening to Joe Sullivan  but, one never knows does one? Lance

Album review: Rich DeRosa - Wisdom: The Music of Rich Derosa at North Texas (Juno Records)

Rich DeRosa (composer, arranger, MD); UNT Lab Band. Soloists include: Gregory Newman (trumpet); Nathan Davis (trombone); Will Nathman (tenor sax); Georgia Barge (vocal); Joel White (guitar); Abbi Berry (vocal)

American drummer and composer, Rich DeRosa has been resident at the University of North Texas since 2010 as a tenured professor of Jazz Composition and Arranging. His 2026 CD, Wisdom, compiles a decade of his music, which is negotiated magnificently by various  “lab bands” at UNT. An innovative institution that provided tuition in jazz studies and awarding it degree status. Led by educator Leon Breeden, in the early 1950s this  was considered quite a bold and controversial move at a time when jazz in higher education circles did not have the credibility of being recognised academically.

Harry's first backyard ultra

Harry is doing his first backyard ultra to raise money for the amazing charity Help Musicians. They've helped us out loads in the past, and so many other musicians we know. Here's the link - https://www.justgiving.com/page/harry-keeble-4 Abbie

Jazz Time Aycliffe Radio - Sundays 6.30-8.00pm (repeated Tuesdays 8.00-9.30pm).

https://www.ayclifferadio.co.uk/listen.

Playlist 16/08/26 (repeated Tuesday 18/08/26)

Seasonal: Joe Pass, Mahalia Jackson, Nina Simone.

RIP: Abdullah Ibrahim.

Memories: George Shearing, Stuff Smith, George Melly, Tommy Smith, Bill Evans.

Requests: Billy Hart Quartet. 

What’s on in the NE: Andrzej Baranek.

Seasonal: MJQ + Branford Marsalis.

PEACE: Tim Boniface - Peace on Their Lips, Malice in Their Hearts. 

Aycliffe Radio is available on DAB in County Durham & the Darlington area or via your smart speaker.  

Bold Big Band @ Pilgrim, Newcastle - Aug. 14

© Sylvia

Jacob Lightfoot, Max Storey, Georgia Corrin, Molly Clibbett, Brian Wicks (MD) (saxes); Billy Bradshaw, Josh Skyrme, David O'Farrell, Asim Iqbal (trumpets); Alex Utting, Bertie Marks, Thomas McDonald, Ciáran Skipper (trombones); Marcus Dawe (keys); Anya Daley (guitar); Ifede Osiyemi (bass); Josh Weir (drums); Cara Britton (vocals); Chiara Todisco, Lulu Perren, Joel Lai (backing vocals) + Ross Cantrell, Olly Styles (guests); Ed Moore (support)

The main event hit the stage fashionably (unfashionably for Pilgrim) late. The queue was already forming when we arrived in, or so we thought, good time. Truth is the queue was ever-increasing so, rather than disappoint anyone, the happenings didn't happen until everyone was watered and primed for what was to follow which was a short set by singer/guitarist Ed Moore whose pleasing, Nashville orientated, voice possibly wasn't heard to its best advantage. 

© Sylvia/Lance (collage)

The BBB kicked off their first set with Buddy Rich's iconic West Side Story Medley. It's a demanding arrangement and would probably been better to have placed it later in the set when the horns were warmed up and the lips were in. Corrin, Utting and, of course Josh Weir took the solos. Brahm's Hungarian Dance no. 5 was an unusual choice but the BBB made it swing as if Brahms had combined with Liszt.

Gerry Gibbs and His Dream Band @ Birdland, New York - July 22

Gerry Gibbs (drums); Randy Brecker (trumpet); Gary Bartz (alto sax); Cyrus Chestnut (piano); Buster Williams (bass)

There are jazz clubs you visit to hear music, and there are jazz clubs you visit because somehow you feel you ought to have been there at least once in your life.

Birdland is most definitely the latter.

It had already been following me around New York. Weather Report’s Birdland was on the playlist I had put together before the trip, and the club’s name had appeared countless times on albums and in the stories of musicians I had listened to for years.

Then suddenly there I was, Brooklyn beer in hand, surrounded by photographs of the people who had helped create the music in the first place.

There was an immediate familiarity about it. For anyone who spends as much time at Ronnie Scott’s as I do, Birdland feels like a New York relative. Different city, different history, but very much the same spirit. Tables gathered around a small stage, subdued lighting, conversations dropping away as the musicians prepare to play and those wonderful photographs on the walls reminding you that plenty of remarkable people have occupied these rooms before you.

And Birdland certainly has history.