Jazz at the Lit & Phil: Noel Dennis salutes Miles Davis - May 26

© Ken Drew

Noel Dennis (trumpet); Harry Keeble (tenor sax); Dean Stockdale (piano); Mark Williams (guitar); Andy Champion (double bass); John Bradford (drums) 

My first attempt to sally forth since my recent mishap was well worth the effort. How could it not be when a team of north east big hitters got together to perform the  music of Miles Davis?

The 2 x 45 minute sets touched upon several different periods of the trumpet legend's career ranging from the 1949 groundbreaking Birth of the Cool album through to the jazz/fusion of  Bitches Brew with, naturally, a couple of numbers from, Davis' legendary best selling jazz album Kind of Blue. And it was with So What from that latter album that the concert began. Champion's extended bass introduction setting the mood for the solos that followed.

Album review: Callum Au - Sing Seven Seas (ECN Music)

There is something deeply reassuring about hearing a record like Sing Seven Seas at a time when so much modern music feels disposable almost before it has landed. Callum Au’s ambitious new large ensemble project arrives not simply as another big band album, but as a statement of intent from one of the most in-demand arrangers and orchestrators working in Britain today. Known for shaping music behind the scenes for artists as diverse as Michael Bublé, RAYE and Josh Groban, Au finally steps fully into the spotlight here with a body of work that feels intensely personal, wildly ambitious and overflowing with musical imagination.

What immediately strikes you about Sing Seven Seas is the sheer scale of it. Written for an expanded ensemble of more than eighty musicians across two volumes, this is music that constantly shifts shape. One moment it swings with the swagger and elegance of classic big band writing, the next it opens into sweeping orchestral colours, contemporary jazz textures or cinematic passages that feel almost transportative. Yet despite the scale, there is warmth running through everything. Nothing here feels academic or distant. Even at its most complex, the music breathes.

 

Miles @ Newcastle City Hall

Friday, October 7, 1960. Newcastle City Hall had an air of anticipation about it as the seats were being leisurely taken. Not all were yet occupied. Had the supporting Jazz Five (Vic Ash, Harry Klein, Brian Dee, Malcolm Cecil and Bill Eydon) been playing on another night at another, smaller, venue such as the New Orleans Club or the Down Beat the fans would have been fighting to get in.

On another night.

On this night there was only one game in town and only one person - Miles Davis.

So whilst the Jazz Five were attempting the impossible, the pundits and aficionados were propping up the bar (not me guv!)

At last the moment arrived. Within minutes all seats were filled. Kind of Blue had just been released the year previous and some were muttering darkly at the presence of Sonny Stitt in place of Cannonball and Trane.

R.I.P. Sonny Rollins (1930 - May 25, 2026)

© Derek Cogger

When I switched on to the BBC news channel this morning I did so with the faint hope that they would acknowledge Miles' centennial. Of course they didn't although they did have some jazz news albeit not what I was looking for.

I never got to hear Sonny Rollins live although I know a man who did.

I first met Ron Ainsborough at a Mark Toomey gig at the sadly missed Cherry Tree restaurant in Jesmond. This was in 2009 and Ron had just returned from hearing Sonny at the Barbican. In one of his rare reviews, Ron described that concert as "the best jazz concert I'd ever been to." You can read his review, which began life as a comment, HERE. 

Sadly missed - thank you for the music, Sonny. Lance      

Davina & the Vagabonds @ Cluny 2, Newcastle - May 23

Davina Sowers (vocals, piano); Becca Lozier (trumpet, vocals);  Matthew Hanzelka (trombone); Graydon Peterson (double bass); Connor McRae Hammergren (drums) 

A long overdue return visit to Newcastle by Davina and the Vagabonds. It had been all of fourteen years since Davina Sowers last walked along the Ouseburn. The Cluny, Cluny 2 to be precise, couldn't have been busier with all seats occupied for an eight fifteen start. The Vagabonds line-up has seen many changes, this 2026 UK tour iteration was, according to Sowers, the best yet.

Sowers' raw vocal power, impassioned, knowing lyrics, the Vagabonds' instrumental excellence, the evening's two sets embraced jazz, blues, jump jive and rhythm 'n' blues shot through with a bucket full of soul. 

Book review: A Man Called Adam

In a year, a month and almost a day (tomorrow) when Miles Davis would have been one hundred years old the feeling in the jazz world is that he's not dead but just sleeping and that he, or at least his music, is alive once more.

And not just the music but the man, like his Caucasian counterpart Chet Baker, has been the subject of many books, films and TV documentaries that are interesting if not always accurate. How could they be with such an enigmatic genius as Miles?

A Man Called Adam makes no claim to be in any way related to Miles. Its antihero certainly doesn't bare any resemblance to Louis, Dizzy, Lee Morgan or any other jazz musician of the era and yet the aura of Miles is present throughout the book and, I'm sure the film, which I haven't seen, does likewise.

Paradoxically, Louis Armstrong portrays a Bunk Johnson related character whilst Sammy Davis, Jr. (no relation to Miles) plays the title role.

Miles Davis 100: Composer of the Week and more

Guess who's Composer of the Week? Yep, one Miles Dewey Davis III. Born one hundred years ago tomorrow (26 May 1926), Miles Davis is all over BBC Radio 3, Radio 4 and Radio 4 Extra. Starting today (Monday) at four o'clock, in the first of five weekday broadcasts (Monday to Friday), presenter Kate Molleson and guest Nate Chinen discuss Miles' career and listen to several recordings from down the years.

Facebook favourites

Facebook, that seeker of wisdom and truth and the font of all knowledge (sometimes) recently posed the question to its followers as to who is their favourite jazz saxophonist of all time.

The results were predictable. Not those players who sat at the right hand of God (a.k.a Bean, Pres, Trane, Bird or Frog) but those who weren't even mentioned or received one vote at the very best.

Thus I offer: 

Alto: Lennie Niehaus, Sonny Criss 

Tenor: Wardell Gray, Brew Moore

Baritone: Serge Chaloff, Cecil Payne.

Album review: Peter Erskine - Peregrine (Hard Wag Records)

Peter Erskine (drums); Alan Pasqua (piano, elec. piano); Scott Colley (bass) + Kate Lamont (vocals tk 5); Bob Sheppard (saxes tks 5, 8); Brian Kilgore perc. tk 5)

A most enjoyable album by three fine musicians, plus guests, that doesn't insult your intelligence or have you searching for something that isn't there.

A well tempered mix of pop standards and originals that are tastefully  tailored to suit the trio's strengths (if they have any weaknesses I've yet to find them - chances are I never will.) 

Kate Lamont respects Phoebe Snow's enigmatic Poetry Man with a sensitive version. Less in your face than the original - there's room for both. Nice tenor solo by Sheppard and haunting percussion from Kilgore.

Miles and more Miles on JRR (Sunday)

On this afternoon's edition of Jazz Record Requests (May 24), Alyn Shipton introduces Miles and Miles of listeners' requests alongside interviews with former Miles Davis sidemen George Benson and Dave Holland. Tune to BBC Radio 3 at four o'clock. Either side of JRR, there is more, much more of Miles...