New Newcastle Jazz Festival News - August 17

(Press release)

The new Newcastle Jazz Festival debuts its festival in a day this summer and is excited to present in its first programme the best of the North East’s current jazz scene in partnership with Tyne Bank Brewery.

Featuring Zoe Gilby and Andy Champion’s voice and bass duo; the Latin infused Alan Law Trio; Mark Williams Trio who are currently part of Northern Jazz Promoters' Northern Line programme; 2018 British Jazz Awards' nominee Emma Fisk in her duo with James Birkett; Strictly Smokin’ Big Band with Alice Grace featuring a huge array of north- east talent; and 2014 BBC Young Jazz Musician of the year, saxophonist Alexander Bone, as headline artist.

CD Review: Bonsai – Bonsai Club

Rory Ingham (trombone); Dominic Ingham (violin, vocals); Tony Comeau (piano, Fender Rhodes, synths); John Lee (bass, vocals, piano, synths); Jonny Mansfield (drums, vibraphone, percussion, synths)

(Review by Hugh C)

Bonsai* (formerly Jam Experiment) are a London based band formed in 2014.   Comeau, Lee, Mansfield and the Ingham brothers operate in a collective manner, with no designated leader.  The music on the CD is composed by Dominic Ingham, Joe Lee and Jonny Mansfield.  Bonsai Club offers just over 37 minutes of high octane music – so I’m not sure if it counts as a compact CD or and extended EP.  According to Rory Ingham “Bonsai Club is about the joy of returning to a place where you feel content; no matter how much it transforms, it always feels like home”.

CD Review: Judy Wexler - Crowded Heart

Judy Wexler (vocals); Alan Pasqua (piano/melodica); Larry Koonse (guitar); Bob Sheppard (alto flute); Darek Oles (bass); Steve Hass (drums); Stefanie Fife (cello); Josh Johnson (alto sax); Aaron Serfaty (perc.).

(Review by Lance)

Crowded Heart somehow got lost in transit in the journey from my mailbox to the Victrola and, as such, I'm a few weeks late in posting a review. In the meantime, it has hit the number one spot of both the 1tunes and Amazon Jazz Charts - this without my help!

One more, one more time with the Tenement Jazz Band - June 18

Following their storming Monday evening gig at Prohibition Bar the Tenement Jazz Band guys were up and about early busking on Northumberland Street. Under a bright sun the Edinburgh based outfit attracted quite a lot of interest from Newcastle's lunchtime shopping hordes. The photo shows (left to right) John, Doug, Paddy, Charles and Tom reprising a few numbers from their Pink Lane set (see LL's review) including Meat on the Table and Bogalusa Strut. The Tenements didn't hang around as they have a long drive ahead of them - they're in Cambridge tonight at the University Social Club. If you're within a Buddy Bolden shout of the venue make the effort to get along, they're the business!    

Russell    

CD Review/Interview: Daniel Elms with Manchester Collective & Jubilee Quartet - Islandia (New Amsterdam NWAM114)

(By A.J. Dehany)

An urgent evocation of the primal spirit of islands suffuses the dramatic textures of composer, arranger and guitarist Daniel Elms' debut album Islandia. Recorded at Abbey Road with chamber orchestra, electric guitar and synths, and a concluding track recorded live at Hull Minster, the five pieces assert the ineffable universalities of post-genre music, using elements drawn from classical, jazz, electronic and world music.

Daniel Elms’ influences include the sharp-edged and “glassy” orchestral palette of American composer Jacob Druckman, and the parallelism and geometric constructs of Béla Bartók, and the album uses material from folk songs and even techniques inspired by serialism. In his approach to crafting music, he cites Debussy’s Jeux as a formative influence; it’s important to him, that melody, harmony and instrumentation be conceived simultaneously as inseparable conceptions. “Instrumental and timbral choice,” he says, “have always been an intrinsic part of my writing - even a line sketched on the piano will be marked with its suggested instrumentation and timbral character. There’s so much “emotional” content conveyed by instrument and timbre - they are incredibly deep compositional tools, not just ones of arrangement.”

Tenement Jazz Band @ the Prohibition Bar, Newcastle - June 17

John Youngs (guitar/banjo/vocal); Charles Dearness (trumpet); Paddy Darley (trombone); Tom Pickles (soprano & alto sax); Doug Kemp (bass).
(Review by Lance).

For a brief moment, I was back in time at The Cavern. No, not that Cavern but the Beverly Cavern in Los Angeles where, in the late 1940s/early '50s, Kid Ory was the resident band and I was listening to Savoy Blues (the Mutt Carey version). No, I'd got it wrong, it was much earlier and I'd just graduated Summa Cum Laude from Austin High School and, along with my buddies Frank (Teschemacher) and Bud (Freeman), we were listening to Bix and His Gang - our pulses racing with Since My Best Gal Turned Me Down. This was when I awoke and discovered I'd been dreaming and was actually in Newcastle's version of Jimmy Ryan's, the Prohibition Bar, listening to the Tenement Jazz Band from Edinburgh.

Terri Shaltiel Band @ Hoochie Coochie - June 14

(Review by Nathan)

One of Newcastle's best kept secrets is the great live bands that appear at Hoochie Coochie. The club's owner (Warren) is a great connoisseur of soul music and he indulges himself by hiring some amazing bands that wouldn't otherwise come to Newcastle. Live bands that appear there are always worth checking out.

Terri Shaltiel, a singer/guitarist/songwriter from Leeds, has made a name for herself with an eclectic mix of soul, blues and reggae, across a series of concerts and festivals. It was great to hear her at Hoochie Coochie on Friday. From the first moment, we knew we were in for an incredible night - she absolutely "tore the hair off my head" with an amazing performance.

CD/LP Review: Scott Hamilton Quartet - Danish Ballads & More

Scott Hamilton (tenor sax); Jan Lundgren (piano); Hans Backenroth (bass); Kristian Leth (drums).

(Review by Lance).

In many ways, Scott Hamilton is everything a jazz musician should be and, in 2019, shouldn't be. Today, jazz musicians have graduated from colleges with degrees and diplomas, become educators at the very institutions they graduated from and play only their own compositions.

Hamilton is a throwback inasmuch as his formal tuition comprised some childhood clarinet lessons and little else. The rest was up to him and a pair of lugs (ears) that quickly attuned themselves to a melodic phrase or a pleasing chord progression. I've been fortunate to hear him live on several occasions and he's never disappointed me and nor does he fall short here.

Preview: Tonight, Prohibition Bar Gig of the Year, again!

(Preview by Russell)

If you missed a leading contender for Gig of the Year in March at Newcastle's Prohibition Bar then tonight (Monday) presents a chance to redeem yourself with a most welcome, quick return by Edinburgh's Tenement Jazz Band. From N'Awlins to Chicago and back again these guys are the business. Stunning ensemble work a la New Orleans' Shake 'Em Up Jazz Band, the Tenements will be playing for dancers and listeners alike. 

Francis Tulip Quartet @ Blaydon Jazz Club - June 16

Francis Tulip (guitar); Ben Lawrence (piano); John Pope (double bass); Matt MacKellar (drums)

(Review by Russell) 

Tyneside's jazz calendar continues to present difficult choices with Sunday evening a case in point; Gerry Richardson playing a Jazz Co-op gig would ordinarily be a 'must', the Customs House Big Band's twentieth-anniversary concert at its Mill Dam HQ in South Shields similarly unmissable, and upriver at Blaydon on Tyne, the 'new wave' set out to show what is happening in the many and varied hothouses across the country and, indeed, overseas.

The Black Bull in Blaydon won the day with your correspondent (BSH Editor-in-Chief rightly opting to review the 'big do' at the Customs House). The Francis Tulip Quartet comprises bandleader, guitarist Francis Tulip (Birmingham Conservatoire), pianist Ben Lawrence (Durham University, mathematics!), drummer Matt MacKellar (on vacation from Berklee, USA) and, on this gig, a more than able dep on bass, John Pope. JP graduated from Newcastle University a while ago so this jobbing gig held few fears. 

CD Review: Areni Agbabian - Bloom

Areni Agbabian (voice, piano); Nicolas Stocker (percussion).

(Review by Ann Alex).

The beautiful music on this CD is definitely not jazz, nor does it claim to be. It's closer to contemporary folk. The album comprises mostly original compositions around the theme of blooming and the natural world, including an Armenian sacred hymn, an Armenian folk legend of metamorphosis, a folk melody transcription, and a song based on a quote from the Biblical Song of Solomon.

Customs House Big Band @ the Customs House, South Shields - June 16

 (Review by Lance).

A gala occasion - 20 years old. Yes, the CHBB has been going now for two decades. It was fitting that two of the original creators of the band were in the audience. Tommy Moran and Joe Peterson, both must be very proud to note how their brainchild has grown into what it is today.

Peter Morgan led from the front introducing each number in his own inimitable manner although this time he handed over the bass trombone pad to Chris Hibbard. Peter did, however, play a couple of choruses on piano which was probably a first.

The majority of solos were taken by Mick Hill, Eddie Bellis, Alan Marshall, Jim McBriarty, John Stephenson and Bradley Johnston who provided the most emotional moment of the evening when, after Peter had paid tribute to the late Rick Taylor, Bradley added a musical tribute to his former mentor with an unaccompanied extended introduction to Body and Soul. Sheer magic and played from the heart.

Jazz Social @ Charts - June 16

Stu Collingwood (piano, vocals); Paul Grainger (double bass); Paul Smith (drums)

(Review by Russell)

Father's Day, an occasion for daddies the world over to be treated by their appreciative children. Charts on Newcastle Quayside would surely prove the ideal riverfront location - a meal, a pint, waited on hand and foot. The event coincided with the pub's weekly Jazz Social, the place would be busy.

Stu Collingwood sat at the venue's recently acquired Steck piano working in the company of the Pauls - P Grainger, bass and P Smith, drums. A couple from Gershwin - Our Love is Here to Stay (Collingwood singing) and Nice Work if You Can Get It - either side of Mean to Me and Jobim's Wave, choice GASbook material. 

Preview: Francis Tulip on Bloomsday

(Preview by Russell)

Sunday, June 16 is Bloomsday. Every year on this day Dubliners and others around the world celebrate the life of James Joyce. A 'day in the life' (June 16) of Leopold Bloom, the central character in Ulysses, is the literary device Joyce deployed in his famous - if little read! - novel. Tonight at Blaydon Jazz Club (7:30 prompt) Birmingham Conservatoire guitar student Francis Tulip will attempt to play every note he's ever played then, for good measure, play them all again during two unmissable sets in the lounge of the Black Bull pub.     

Tyne Valley Big Band @ Tynedale Beer and Cider Festival, Corbridge - June 15

Here are a few pictures I took whilst attending the Tynedale Beer and Cider Festival at Corbridge on Saturday afternoon.  The Tyne Valley Big Band were in fine form under the direction of unsung local hero Dave Hignett.  The quality of the music was exemplary and the MD himself took the occasional solo on trumpet from the rostrum.

I'm afraid I do not have a record of what they played*, but it was an eclectic mix of standards, show tunes and covers - exactly what was needed for the occasion.

As you will note, in some pictures there are two enthusiastic dancers at the front.

Hugh C

*Two excuses:  no notebook, it was a beer festival!