SummerTyne Americana Festival 2017: Merle Haggard’s Strangers @ Sage Gateshead - July 21

Ben Haggard (guitar, vocals); Noel Haggard (guitar, vocals); Norm Hamlet (pedal steel); Eddie Curtis (bass guitar).

(Review by Ann Alex)

This band went down well to a full capacity Sage Two. None of the songs were announced because I guess, most of the audience knew the material. The musicians played the instruments well, with occasional short solos during songs, probably improvised, and the singing was good. The audience joined in occasionally with a few lines of songs, and some clapping. The mood was one of easy, relaxed listening. Ben and Noel are the sons of the late Merle Haggard, who died last year aged 79. The sons paid tribute to their father during the show.

So why wasn’t I quite happy and at ease, like the rest of the listeners? I’m not the best person to be reviewing a band such as this one, as I don’t especially like the content of the songs presented. This is what I call ‘cowboy’ music, and I don’t mean that description as an insult, but simply as a description. The lyrics portray a kind of freewheeling ‘cowboy’ feel, which I suspect never actually existed in real life.

Alice Grace Trio @ Bishop Auckland Town Hall - July 21.

Alice Grace (voice); James Harrison (keys/accordion); Paul Grainger (bass).

(Review by Steve T/Photos © Mick Shoulder)

It's been said countless Tymes that [Ooh ooh ooh] Ms Grace is the satin of the human race, and Bishop Auckland was in for a real treat this lunchtime.

Work and family commitments meant that I've missed the last couple of gigs here but roving eyes and ears Tony Eales, says it's currently touching the twenty mark, which is getting there but, when you look around at the lit up faces, you wish you could get to the rest, you just know they would love it if they only knew about it. (Editor: Perhaps BSH should hire a light aircraft and do a propaganda leaflet drop over Bishop. Council funded of course).
Alice has a beautiful, clear, voice, comfortable across her significant range, including the high notes; she does some Sassy Jazz and is a mistress of the art of scatting.

Americana’s Ten Gallon Stetsons met with a noisy reception

(By Russell)

If it’s summertime it must be SummerTyne. Sage Gateshead’s biggest festival of the year opened for business at noon on Friday (July 21st) on the Jumpin’ Hot Club’s Performance Square outdoor stage. Street food stands (including Wylam Brewery) did a roaring trade all day long, the rain held off (more or less), and inside, Sage Gateshead’s concourse couldn’t have been more crowded. A private reception for some in the bar located outside Sage Two, the masses sought vantage points to enjoy the Stax Academy Revue’s opening set at six thirty. William Bell’s band (minus the man!) played at ear-splitting volume and there was no escape from it other than to step outside.

Ruth Lambert Quartet @ The Lit & Phil - July 21

Ruth Lambert (vocals), Dean Stockdale (piano), Michael Dunlop (double bass) & Russ Morgan (drums)

(Review by Russell/Photo © Brian Ebbatson)

I’ve Got the World on a String, and so she had. This packed house at the Lit and Phil rolled up to hear the GAS book interpreted by one of its great interpreters. Ruth Lambert arrived in good time, time enough to sit at the piano to play and sing for her own amusement. The band arrived in due course; first Guildhall student bassist Michael Dunlop. A first meeting between the pair, Dunlop a dep recommendation by Lambert’s peers. Drummer Russ Morgan parked outside to off load then drove off to find a parking meter. Pianist Dean Stockdale strolled in. The quartet got into a huddle to agree on a programme as the audience took its many seats in the Loftus Room.

CD Review: Gavin Barras – The Family Tree

Gavin Barras (double bass); Jeff Guntren (tenor); Jim Faulkner (guitar); Dave Walsh (drums) + (on 2 tracks) Gavin Barras (acoustic guitar); Rhiannon James (viola); Margit van der Zwan (cello).

(Review by Lance).

“Best known for his work with trumpeter Matthew Halsall” says the blurb. And it’s true. Barras has appeared with Halsall in the locality [NE UK] over recent years. However, the bassist/composer’s most recent visit was as part of the Dean Stockdale Trio with whom he excelled.

He excels here too performing his own compositions all of which have family connections in one form or another.

Perhaps the strongest family connection is the instrument Barras is playing – a double bass crafted by his father, luthier Steve Barras. Not surprisingly, the album is dedicated to Steve.

Key Moments...

Bassist and occasional contributor to these pages, David Brownlow, has been thinking back to some of the key jazz moments that impacted on him over the years both as a listener and a player. He mentions some of them here and hopes that other readers will follow suit with their thoughts. 

The 60s to the Noughties saw many visiting stars in concert - Diz, Stitt, Hawk, Eldridge, Peterson, Ray Brown, Kessel, Brubeck, MJQ, Ellington, Hi-Los, Ella, Gil Evans, Miles, Trane, Dolphy, Elvin Jones, Ronnie Scott, Stan  Tracey, Mick Mulligan/George Melly, Keith Jarrett & 'Standards Trio' and others not-quite so memorable !

Circa 1970s    Met Red Rodney [pictured left with Bill Harper] at the Corner House.    Rodney played with Bird !!

The Wire Salon: An Audience with Val Wilmer (Café Oto)

(Text & blackboard image © AJ Dehany); (Images of Val Wilmer © Fabio Lugaro)*

Val Wilmer has given us some of the twentieth century’s most distinctive images of jazz musicians. With a journalistic commitment to the truth of her subjects and an artist’s eye for a memorable picture, her photographs portray the stars of the music as both working players and living people. Since the early 1960s the writer and photographer has interviewed and photographed everyone from Louis Armstrong to Sun Ra in a colourful and fascinating life.

We could have devoted an evening just to her activity in the women’s movement; in 1983 she started Format, the first all-women photographic agency. At Café Oto, in conversation with Tony Herrington, publisher of The Wire magazine, the talk mostly concerned her involvement with the avant-garde jazz scene of the sixties in London and New York, and her travels around the blues heartlands in the U.S. Deep South. She selected just seventeen images to project up. “It’s worse than Desert Island Discs — what do you show?”    

Jam session @ The Jazz Café - July 18

(Review by Russell)

A jam session debut for Stuart Collingwood. Been there, done that, has Stuart, so this jam session held no fears. Ain’t Misbehavin’ (true, he wasn’t), A Foggy Day (anything but), Come Rain or Come Shine, proper piano playing, likewise bass and drums courtesy of Paul Grainger and Russ Morgan.   The evening’s ‘guests’ as Collingwood called them – the sitters-in – were rather thin on the ground, at least initially.

One such sitter-in who clocked-on early was Newton Aycliffe-based drummer Abbie Finn. On hearing the news that Ms Finn was in the house, one of the house rhythm section said: Oh, good! Finn played a few numbers, stood down, to return later. First Russ Morgan then Abbie Finn, a frighteningly high standard had been set. A glance around the room…Where had all this lot come from? Suddenly a thinly populated Jazz Café was now heaving. Why settle for two fabulous drummers when you can have four? The Matts had arrived.

CD Review: Katie Thiroux – Off Beat.

Katie Thiroux (double bass/ vocals); Ken Peplowski (clarinet/tenor); Roger Neumann (tenor/ soprano); Justin Kauflin (piano); Matt Witek (drums.)

(Review by Dave Brownlow)

Katie Thiroux, a young bassist/vocalist already has an impressive musical background. On her CV is a degree from Berklee College of Music and a master's from California State University. Since then, she has worked with such fine musicians as Billy Taylor, Branford Marsalis, Bill Cunliffe, Geri Allen, Charles McPherson, Ken Peplowski, Mundell Lowe, Teri Lynne Carrington, Lewis Nash, Jeff Hamilton and many others. This is a follow-up album to her debut CD (Introducing Katie Thiroux 2015) and is thoroughly enjoyable, entertaining, swinging, uncomplicated yet sophisticated, full of variety and the essence of jazz “the sound of surprise.”

Kathryn Tickell and Superfolkus @ Lindisfarne Village Hall – July 16.

Kathryn Tickell (Northumberland pipes, fiddle), Sophie (fiddle, guitar), Scott (guitar, piano, mandolin), Michael (accordion), Will (percussion, mandolin).

Guests: Abby, Mike Tickell (voice), Rory (piano). 

(Review by Steve T.)

When the tide comes in Holy Island is another country, they do things different there. One lady told us that the pubs stay open late in summer but close early in the middle of July. I hoped the Wicker Man would be on the box to really spook Mrs T. Whether summer or mid-July, headline acts play in the afternoon so the queer folk who cross the causeway don't get stuck.  

Bebop Spoken Here is a North East Jazz site and many will claim Ms. Tickell has nothing to do with Jazz and I wouldn't totally disagree, despite her exploratory nature, her experimenting with unusual (for folk) instruments, room for improvisation in the frequent jigs and no small amount of virtuosity.

She has also written, recorded and performed with British jazz sax ace Andy Sheppard which remains in her set, whether Superfolkus or the Side.

Ruth calls in the deputies!

Ruth Lambert's lunchtime gig on Friday at the Lit and Phil will feature a couple of deps. Top class pianist Dean Stockdale steps in, replacing guitarist Mark Williams, and former Jambone bassist Michael Dunlop, currently studying at the Guildhall, will be in town to work with Ms Lambert. It's a one o'clock start, £5.00 on the door. Arrive early, it's sure to be busy.

Russell
 Stockdale photo courtesy of Ken Drew/ Dunlop photo from archives.

Duke Ellington’s Sacred Concert: Jambone & Quay Voices with Zoë Gilby, Matt Anderson & Colette Serrechia @ Sage Gateshead - July 16

(Review by Russell)

This Young Musicians’ Programme concert, the second of two performances, presented the music of Duke Ellington’s Sacred Concerts in Sage One, Sage Gateshead’s magnificent, 1700 seats, state of the art concert hall. The project had been long in the making with frequent rehearsals over many months. A successful first performance took place on Saturday afternoon at Ushaw, Durham (photo by Kate Edis), in the splendour of the former seminary’s chapel, and this Sunday evening concert concluded a weekend of music making under the aegis of the Young Musicians’ Programme (YMP).

Paul Edis and Matt Beckingham tutored respectively Jambone and Quay Voices (Jambone is Sage Gateshead’s youth jazz orchestra, Quay Voices the youth choir) throughout the 2016-17 academic year, culminating in this weekend of memorable public performances. Featured guests worked with Edis and Beckingham throughout the year and their participation in the project should, perhaps, be viewed as a contribution of equal, rather than superior, value to orchestra and choir.