Butch Miles (July 4, 1944 - Feb. 2, 2023)

Sad to learn of the death of drummer Butch Miles. A musician who could slot into any genre.

With the Basie band he carried on the easy swing tradition of his illustrious predecessors such as Jo Jones and Sonny Payne.

I was privileged to hear him a couple of times at the North Sea Jazz Festival. In 1983 he drove a band that included Bob Wilber and Randy Sandke and the following year he turned up in a band billed as The Hall of Fame All Stars which was, in all but name, the World's Greatest Jazz Band including, as it did, Billy Butterfield, Bud Freeman, George Masso, Bob Haggart, Joe Bushkin and, of course, Butch Miles.

It was one of the highlights of that year's festival, not least because of the swinging drummer.

May he Rest In Peace. Lance

Obituary.

Georg̲e ̲S̲hearing,̲ NHØ̲P,̲ Louis Stewa̲rt ̲̲– The M̲P̲S̲ ̲Tri̲o̲ S̲essions

Thanks to Maurice J. Summerfield for drawing this recording to our attention. Lance

Album review: Darmon Meader - Losing my Mind

Darmon Meader (vocal, saxes, arranger); Andy Ezrin (piano);  Jay Anderson/Ike Sturm (bass); Marcello Pellitori/Ben Wittman (drums) + various horns & strings.

Meader, perhaps better known as a founding member of the New York Voices, releases this, his second solo project, and it's well worth a punt.

The voice has overtones of Mel Tormé's recordings with Marty Paich plus a suggestion of Jon Hendricks and Mark Murphy - the perfect ingredients for a jazz vocal album.

Preview: The (Jazz) Police on BBC 4 (Friday)

On Friday evening (Feb. 3) BBC 4 presents four hours and twenty minutes of Sting, Andy and Stewart. The Police, as they were known, took the world by storm, seemingly in no time going from small venue gigs to rock star stadium concert performances. Gordon Sumner (aka Sting) hails from the BSH heartland. The Newcastle Big Band and Last Exit (an extraordinarily popular band on Tyneside) served as Sting's musical apprenticeship. Our man moved to London and the rest, as they say, is history.

Rossano Sportiello's Manhattan Blue Serenaders + 2: Live at the Flat, # 88 - Jan. 31

Jon-Erik Kellso (trumpet); Evan Christopher (clarinet); Harvey Tibbs (trombone); Rossano Sportiello (piano); Rob Adkins (double bass); Kevin Dorn (drums)

Five of Rossano Sportiello's friends dropped by for # 88 in the pianist's ongoing series of online streams, live from his Greenwich Village home. The Italian's Manhattan Blue Serenaders - Jon-Erik Kellso, Evan Christopher, and Kevin Dorn - were joined for the occasion by trombonist Harvey Tibbs and bassist Rob Adkins. Nine tunes in the allotted one hour, safe in the knowledge that Sportiello doesn't do anything other than tasteful.

Album Review: Louis Stewart - Out On His Own

Louis Stewart (guitar).

The Irish jazz bass player, Ronan Guilfoyle who played with Louis Stewart on a regular basis during the early 1980s, has written about the first time he ever saw him and heard him play in 1972. Aged 14, his father took him to a jazz party and said that Stewart was the 'greatest jazz musician Ireland had ever produced' and even at that young age Guilfoyle recognised the guitarist was something special and that night is indelibly inscribed in his memory.

New Century Ragtime Orchestra

(Press release)

After two years' enforced absence due to the pandemic, I'm delighted to let you know that the New Century Ragtime Orchestra will be performing their annual Tyneside concert, once again featuring Caroline Stephen on vocals on Saturday 11 February, this time at a brand-new venue!

We'll be playing our usual mix of classic ragtime,1920s hot dance music and early 1930s swing numbers at the King's Hall, Armstrong Building, Newcastle University NE1 7RU. The Armstrong Building is immediately opposite the Royal Victoria Infirmary on Queen Victoria Road, and the nearest car parks are at the bottom of Claremont Road or the Eldon Square multi-storey. The nearest metro station is Haymarket, a five-minute walk away.

Leeds Jazz Festival

(Press release) Leeds Jazz Festival returns for its second year from 25 - 30 May 2023, following the inaugural festival between 1st and 12th June 2022. The event aims to unite and celebrate the musicians, venues, promoters, audiences and organisations who are part of the Leeds Jazz tapestry - whilst showcasing the best of local, national and international music.

Jazz just over the Border

(© Benjamin Ealovega)

(Press release) Heart of Hawick has announced two jazz concerts that might appeal to Bebop Spoken Here readers.

Saxophonist Helena Kay’s KIM Trio with Peter Johnstone celebrate the recent release of their album Golden Sands, on Friday 31^st March. The group, led by the former Young Scottish Jazz Musician of the Year and the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra’s resident alto player (here on tenor), features bassist Calum Gourlay and drummer Dave Ingamells alongside Peter Johnstone.

Golden Sands has been described by Jazzwise as “subtly enchanting” and “impressive" by Bebop Spoken Here’s own Lance Liddle, who also described Kay’s group as “A-list”.

Book review: Sam Emony (Neil Hughes) - The Old Familiar Places.

It's been said that the great jazz novel, like the great jazz movie, has yet to be written/made and that is probably true. However, The Old Familiar Places comes pretty close in the former category and would be a deserving contender in the latter if some movie maker picked up on it. It certainly equals, maybe surpasses, anything from this side of the Atlantic.

The story of Sonny Jackson, a Manchester based teenage pianist who meets and gets taken under the wing (and elsewhere!) of the rich widow of a trumpet playing one hit wonder songwriter, is one of those compelling can't put down books.