The Bridges of Madison County - book and film.

I'm not usually into romantic fiction but The Bridges of Madison County by Robert James Waller and published in 1992 is much more than that. It's the best piece of emotional writing since Romeo and Juliet with a nod to Brief Encounter along the way.

I lived every chapter, paragraph, sentence - I was him, I was her - I was them!

I look forward to watching the movie at the earliest opportunity.

In the meantime, there's a lot of clips and trailers to whet my appetite and to bring the jazz into the frame. With Clint Eastwood acting, producing, directing and providing a few rewrites it couldn't be anything else.

Nick Mondello interviews Steve Rawlins

Album review: Brandon Sanders - The Game Changer (Savant Records Inc.)

Brandon Sanders (drums, leader); Stacy Dillard (tenor sax); Warren Wolf (vibes); William Hill lll (piano) + Jeremy Pelt (trumpet); Briana Swann (vocal)

A cracker! Hard bop for today by a team of topnotchers. Lead from the rear by stickman Sanders the groove is in from bar one with gutsy tenor solos from Dillard, vibraphone magic from my favourite vibesman Wolf and the third generation of William Hills on piano as forceful or restrained as the number demands.

Pelt has the chops for his guest appearances. Laid back or shooting high, open or muted, he added an extra dimension to the ensembles. 

Stockport Jazz

This Sunday Stockport Jazz welcomes the Helena Summerfield/Carole Williams Quintet playing a mix of original compositions and jazz standards. The quintet features Andrzej  Baranek (piano), Peter Hartley (bass) and Eryl Roberts (drums).

Sunday 4th October 2026

8-10pm, doors open at 7.30pm

£5 entry on the door, all welcome

The Moor Club, 35 Heaton Moor Road, Stockport SK4 4PB  (next to the Elizabethan PH)

Press release: Brussels-based quartet OLA TUNJI channel the intensity and openness of the 1960s “New Thing” movement on debut album

Fused around saxophonist Ornella Noulet and a shared devotion to the spiritual jazz of John Coltrane, OLA TUNJI is a Brussels-based quartet whose music channels the intensity and openness of the 1960s “New Thing” movement.

Their name pays homage to Babatunde Olatunji, the Nigerian-born percussionist and close friend of John Coltrane, who introduced African drumming to jazz audiences in the U.S. and helped shape the rhythmic and spiritual dimensions of 1960’s jazz. For OLA TUNJI, his legacy represents the power of music as a path toward connection, awareness, and transcendence.

Deeply inspired by John and Alice Coltrane, Pharoah Sanders, and Albert Ayler, the group embraces improvisation as a political and spiritual act. On stage, their performances often take on a trance-like intensity, carrying musicians and audience alike toward a sense of shared elevation. The music becomes a reminder that it can still be a medium for love, sister and brotherhood, and collective uplift.

Jazz on the Tyne Showcases New Improvised Music

In the latest edition of the podcast, presenter Colin Muirhead plays improvised music from recent releases.  You’ll hear tracks from new albums on local label New Jazz and Improvised Music Records by the John Pope Quintet, Sarah Gail Brand/Cath Roberts/Andy Champion/Emil Karlsen, Manon McCoy and Emmy Lambert, Sia Ahmed and Raymond MacDonald, and Nisha Ramayya/John Garner/John Pope, together with music by the Pete Roth Trio, the Jonny Mansfield Quartet, John Wadham with Louis Stewart, Martin Archer & Claire McAllister, and Jonathan Crossley/David Kollar/Lukas Ligeti.

You can listen to the show anytime HERE.

Plus, you can request music for future programmes, pass on news or leave feedback by emailing Colin at jazz.tyne.hive@gmail.com or by heading to www.jazzonthetyne.org.

Identity Parade

Recognise the members of this quartet? Probably taken in or around Newcastle maybe 1970s/1980s?

Info please. Lance

R.I.P. Tony Fisher (1936 - Sept. 27, 2026)

Tony Fisher, one of the great British big band trumpet players died on Sunday aged 90. I've heard him play many times  most recently back in 2009 and 2010. That may not sound recent but, in the grand scheme of things, I suppose it is.

In 2009 he was with the BBC Big Band at Sunderland Campus where one of the highlights was Tony's duet with Nigel Carter on Stardust.

A year later I was at the King's Head in Crouch End for Pete Long's Gillespiana. This was one of the greatest big band sessions I've ever heard and not least when the five man trumpet section of Tony, Steve Fishwick, Mark Armstrong, Nathan Bray and A.N. Other battled it out, no holds barred, on Anthropology. It was something else with Tony leading the pack. My heart still races at the memory of that night.

Every trumpet player in the world should blow an unmuted fanfare in his memory.

May he Rest In Peace.

Lance

Frank Griffith Quintet @ the Moor Club, Stockport - Sept. 27

© Jeff Pritchard

Frank Griffith (tenor sax); Lee Hallam (trombone); Richard Wetherall (keyboards); Dave Tomkins (double bass); Mike Hughes (drums)

Although this was only a five-piece band it sounded like a much larger unit due to Frank Griffith’s skilful arrangements.

Making his first appearance at the Moor Club was Lee Hallam who I last saw many years ago playing in trumpeter John Hulme's sextet at the Cheadle Hulme Club.  He has a raucous playing style, a bit like Gary Valente or Ray Anderson which fitted well with the jazz-funk vibe of tonight's show. The set list contained material by composers such as Charlie Parker; Mario Bauza; Dexter Gordon; Nat Adderley; Peter Green and Billy Taylor. 

Album review: Mike Jones Trio with Strings. (Capri Records)

Mike Jones (piano); Graham Dechter (guitar); Alex Frank (bass)

Don't let the title fool you, this isn't a trio with banks of violins, violas, cellos and double basses. No sir! True there are strings - ten of them. Six are on Dechter's guitar and four on Frank's bass.

Yes, it's the traditional drummerless piano trio as per the early records of Oscar Peterson and Nat Cole and it has never sounded as good since - until now that is! The Mike Jones Trio have built  on the foundations laid in the studios of Verve and Decca back in the forties and early fifties and, with modern recording techniques, kept the memory of those legendary giants alive whilst setting their own stall out at the same time.