KSTV: Joni Mitchell's Shadows and Light - June 12

(Screenshot by Ken Drew)

Hattie Whitehead (vocals. guitar); Alec Harper (tenor sax); Will Barry (piano, keyboards); Flo Moore (bass); Jas Kayser (drums); João Caetano (percussion) 

A Kansas Smitty's session with a distinct folk element. Joni Mitchell the subject, Hattie Whitehead charged with the responsibility of doing justice to the Canadian's songbook, this Saturday evening would prove to be on the mellow side. The late seventies' release of Shadows and Light arose thanks to on the road recordings made during Mitchell's tour of her Mingus album featuring several jazz heavyweights including Michael Brecker, Pat Metheny and Jaco Pastorius. 

Sunday Night @ The Globe (June 13, 8:00pm)

(Press release)

Charlotte Keeffe’s unique approach and passion for jazz, experimental and freely improvised music sees her performing regularly as a soloist and as part of a variety of different ensembles, including her own Quartet. The Charlotte Keeffe Quartet performed a sell-out performance at Lancaster Jazz Festival in 2019 and their live recording from Jazz in the Round has been played regularly on radio stations across the UK and internationally.

Her Quartet features Ashley John Long on double bass, Ben Handysides on drums, Moss Freed on guitar and herself on trumpet and flugelhorn; they explore merging together Charlotte’s more composed music with free improvising. The Charlotte Keeffe Quartet can be heard on Discus Music’s Right Here, Right Now (spring 2021) release, alongside a selection of her improvised works for solo, duo and large ensembles.

Aycliffe Radio Jazz Time - Playlist June 13

This week celebrates the 100th anniversary of the birth of Erroll Garner, and so there is a thread of his tracks (some requested) throughout the programme.

Other tracks on this week's playlist are: 

MJQ + Branford Marsalis; Joe Pass; Dean Stockdale; Cannonball Adderley; Emma Fisk's Hot Club du Nord, (soon to be live throughout the North East).

New Releases: Christian Garrick Quartet; Marita; Slide Attack. 

Adrian Cox Quartet with Samantha Wright; Matt Carmichael, Fergus McCreadie; Chick Corea; Sarah Vaughan Clifford Brown; The Vieux Carré Jazzmen. Mike Dixon.

A Tribute to Gerry Hughes @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough - June 12

 

Kevin Eland (trumpet, flugelhorn); Richie Emmerson (tenor sax); Ian Bosworth (guitar); Dave Archibald (keyboards); Paul Dickerson (bass); Mark Hawkins (drums) 

When Gerry Hughes died some months ago his many musician friends determined to celebrate his life by organising a day filled with music and happy memories. The Tees Hot Club bassist would have been amazed by the huge crowd assembled today on the sports field at Dorman's Club in Middlesbrough. 

My Kind of Radio - Chicago is ...

Just been listening to Denny Farrell's Late Night Chicago Radio show. This guy really is the coolest jazz jock of them all. His voice, as he chats between numbers, is so laid back it's almost like hearing Sinatra singing  a ballad.

Frank wasn't on the show tonight but Vic Damone was singing about the Southside of Chicago. There was also a snippet from an interview Denny did many years ago with Vic who confirmed that he did audition for Perry Como in an elevator when he, Vic, was the elevator operator. Talk about being in the right place at the right time!

Album review: Snorre Kirk Quartet - Going Up

Stephen Riley (tenor sax); Magnus Hjorth (piano); Anders Fjeldsted (bass); Snorre Kirk (drums) + Jan Harbeck (tenor sax).

When Count Basie was asked to define swing he replied "Four beats to the bar and no cheating" which, all these years later, is exactly what we get here in this lovely album from Denmark. Totally different to the usual Scandinavian concept of jazz, it really does swing which is in no small part due to the drumming of the leader, his compositions and the Ben Websterish sound (without the rough edges) of American tenor player Riley.

Emma-Jean & Van the Man, tonite at ten

Tonight's edition of Later...with Jools Holland features Emma-Jean Thackray performing a track from her debut album Yellow. Thackray will be in concert at Sage Gateshead next year on Friday 4 March. And veteran sometime blues singer Van Morrison has a 42nd studio album to promote. BBC 2, ten o'clock. 

Russell

Attachments area

Album review: Archipelago - Echoes To The Sky

Faye MacCalman (tenor sax, clarinet, synth, vocals); John Pope (bass guitar, fx, vocals); Christian Alderson (drums, percussion).

A genre busting album with various twists and turns flowing richly throughout.  Folk, indie, electronic and free jazz all surface not just on individual tracks but within pieces too. For example, the longest piece on the album Gold starts with an electronic intro  the clarinet then takes over with an eastern style theme all the while there is a terrific bass groove driving proceedings. I even detected a hint of prog rock within the piece. 

There are three tracks (Waiting, Wake Up and Burn On) featuring MacCalman on vocals providing further depth and variety. MacCalman is responsible for penning all the vocals and the music apart from 3 tracks (Wine Dark Sea, Undercurrent, Silhouette) jointly written with the other band members.

It's Record Store Day, again...

Tomorrow is Record Store Day. The pandemic has played havoc with the annual celebration/promotion of independent record shops. Usually held in April, this year the event will take place tomorrow (Saturday 12) and again on July 17. Hundreds of stores will be participating in the event and, believe it or not, outside some shops collectors form a queue, determined to acquire the latest 'must-have' item. 

Reminiscing in (and out of ) Tempo by Andy Hudson - Part One.

The indefatigable Lance in his search for jazz titbits to fill this splendid publication has asked me to make some contributions based on my hazy career part of which was intimately linked with the jazz genre.

A bit of context - at school in Yorkshire in the early 1960s, I started a trad band (2 of the players were teachers) and most of the rest were not improvisers but learned by rote the licks and solos that I prepped for them on manuscript. Then in ’65, arriving in Newcastle to study Chemistry at the University, I started a swing band and also via the Uni Jazz Society put on a few concerts.

Album review: Samara Joy - Samara Joy.

Samara Joy (vocals); Pasquale Grasso (guitar); Ari Roland (bass); Kenny Washington (drums).

This year has been absolutely outstanding on the vocal front. Sarah Moule; Veronica Swift; Wilma Baan, to mention but three, have set my pulses racing - now there's another!

Samara Joy aced the 2019 Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competion and now, at the ripe old age of 21, releases her debut album - it's an absolute killer!

That most of the songs were written before her mother, maybe even her grandmother, was born is irrelevant. It may sound clichéd but she really does revitalise these gassers. A typical example being Everything Happens to me. The ballad, normally taken at a soporific tempo, is given a medium to up boot that does no harm at all.

Dean Stockdale Trio lunchtime concert at the Lubetkin Theatre, Peterlee

(Press release)

Jazz at The Lubetkin are delighted to welcome back The Dean Stockdale Trio for our first live music event of 2021!

Featuring Dean Stockdale on piano, Mick Shoulder on bass and Abbie Finn on drums, the trio will bring us a lunchtime hour of swinging, straight ahead jazz.

Edinburgh Update

10 Days 20 Live Concerts At Assembly Roxy 40+ Online Concerts On Sale Now!

BOOK YOUR TICKETS

Album review: Joel Frahm - The Bright Side.

Joel Frahm (tenor/soprano saxes); Dan Loomis (bass); Ernesto Cervini (drums).

Gone are the days when, awestruck, our jaws would drop and look on in amazement as, say, tenor players such as Tubby Hayes or Johnny Griffin navigated the changes at breakneck speed and, in the process played more notes in one chorus than many a lesser musician would play in a month.

Another Side of John Coltrane examines the trailblazing saxophonist’s work as a sideman

(Press release)

New collection includes Coltrane’s work with such jazz greats as Miles Davis,

Thelonious Monk, Sonny Rollins, Red Garland, Tadd Dameron, and Art Taylor

Set for release August 20th on 2-LP, CD and digital formats via Craft Recordings

Instant grat. single “Oleo” (with The Miles Davis Quintet) available today

Click here to pre-order/pre-save the album

Los Angeles, CA (June 9th, 2021) —While John Coltrane’s legacy largely focuses on his innovative and influential work as a leader, the saxophonist and composer began his career as a highly respected sideman, who rose to fame playing alongside some of the greatest names in jazz. Craft Recordings’ forthcoming release, Another Side of John Coltrane, explores this aspect of the trailblazing artist’s career and spotlights some of his best work in sessions led by Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, Sonny Rollins, Red Garland, Tadd Dameron, and Art Taylor.

Notes from the frontline: A Celebration and Appreciation of NHS Key Workers - Press Release.

Harnessing the therapeutic power of music to heal trauma of health care in the COVID-19 pandemic.

ONLINE, SUNDAY 21 JUNE, 2PM BST - The North East and North Cumbria Healthcare Staff Wellbeing Hub is delighted to announce a celebratory day of music to help heroic NHS key workers process the trauma of working on the front lines during the global COVID-19 pandemic. This free online event is a collaboration between NHS singer-songwriters and world-renowned composers and musicians. There are some new co-produced songs representing staff across different health sectors and their experiences over the last 18 months. The event will be supported by musicians such as Sting, Eric Clapton, KT Tunstall, Nadine Benjamin, Calista Kazuko and Matthew Sheeran, brought together by the Connection Through Music Volunteers.