Quote

Asked why he drank milk with his whisky, Eddie 'Lockjaw' Davis explained it was because he had an ulcer. This gem courtesy of Adrian Tilbrook.

McCoy Tyner Trio Plus Joe Lovano At The Sage - A Gig Of Two Halves

This was never going to be the kickass gig that last week's Jason Moran/Monk concert was and nobody thought that it would be. The trio, McCoy Tyner (pno), Gerald Cannon (bs) and Eric Gravatt (dms), augmented by Joe Lovano on tenor, performed ably but by comparision, the opener, Monk's "Ruby My Dear," was but a pale maiden.

Tyner's playing suffered, through no fault of his own. from a slight muddiness of sound and Lovano appeared to be going through the motions; albeit very good motions.

The general consensus in the bar at the end of the first set was 'good show but no cigar'.

The second set was a whole different ballgame. The pianist kicked off with an unaccompanied version of "I Should Care" that was worlds away from what had gone before. Dazzling runs à la Tatum interspersed with some of tomorrow's chords made this an item of contemporary beauty. At last, we knew the game was afoot; if the phrase hadn't been used so many times before I'd have said that this was 'The Real McCoy'.

Lovano, wearing a fedora hat, Gravatt and Cannon joined the fray and a storming set followed with Joe more than once nodding in the direction of his Coltranic ancestory. Eric Gravatt's drum solos were particularly dextrous whilst Gerald Cannon provided a solid root and his solos were characterised by a roundness of tone tempered with touches of rare humour. The evening concluded with "In A Mellotone" and a deserved standing ovation.

I guess they got the cigar after all.

Main Street Jazzmen at the Iona Club

Hebburn may not be the jazz capital of the north but currently, on Wednesday evenings at the Iona Club on Station Road, it is staking a small claim. In a club more used to the sounds of ceilidh (try spelling that after a Guinness or three) the Main Street Jazzmen's brand of dixieland is currently going down remarkably well. Nothing too demanding just good, solid swinging jazz that kept your feet tapping. Herbie Hudson blew fine trombone as well as soloing on harmonica and vocals. Alan Smith on trumpet and flugel played with a big fat sound whilst Derek Fleck's alto and clarinet danced delightfully above. On piano, Malcolm Armstrong was in barrelhouse mode, ably supported by Ollie on drums and Alan Rudd on bass. On vocals, Olive gave out with a few 'flapper' songs as well as nice versions of "Sentimental Journey' and 'June Night'.
All in all well worth the visit.

The drinks are cheap too!

Lance

PS: Didn't catch Ollie and Olive's surnames.

The Hipster Says ...

"I am a man of integrity. No room for compromise. Just like Johann Sebastian, whatshisname?" "Bach." "Woof, woof."

Stamps For Swinging Lovers

Received a letter from a friend of mine who lives in New Jersey. She enclosed some commerative stamps re the tenth anniversary of his death on 14 May 1998.

I'm not a stamp collector but I'll certainly keep these.

Ten years - tempus fugits faster than a Buddy Rich drum solo!

Great memories and what a legacy.

Lance

Nothing Like A Dame

I have to admit it took me a long time to fall in love with Dame Cleo; about 50 years to be precise. Maybe longer. I enjoyed hearing her with the Johnny Dankworth Seven back in the days of Sunday night concerts at Newcastle Odeon as well as at later gigs with the Dankworth big band. It was when Johnny became John (John conveniently forgetting that, as Johnny, he once played with Freddy Mirfield's Garbage Men) that Cleo suddenly became an upmarket personality and her voice took on all those irritating mannerisms. Sarah Vaughan too had a lot of mannerisms but somehow her's only irritated occasionally.

There were moments when I forgave her; her "Shakespeare And All That Jazz" recorded in 1964 was, probably still is, the defining mix of jazz and the written/spoken word. Something few would dare to deny. However, one swallow doesn't make a supper and I heard little else to enjoy.

As recently as this merry month of May, with a hey and a ho and a hey nonny no I opted to drive to Darlington to catch Scott Hamilton and Steve Fishwick rather than go up the road to the Sage and listen to Lord and Lady Dankworth of Wavendon.

Then I heard "Quality Time".

A good friend and contributor to this site raved about Cleo singing "Quality Time". I shrugged it off; I knew "Quality Time" as a clever Dave Frishberg song that Susannah McCorkle had recorded but couldn't quite equate it with the sentiments Liz was attributing to it so, as I had picked up Cleo's CD of same somewhere along the way, I decided to listen to it - don't ask me why I hadn't done so before; built in conceptions guess.

Let me tell you this is one helluva CD. Gone are the mannerisms to be replaced by a feeling of sensuality akin to a Julie London or a Jeri Southern. "Quality Time", the song, is not the Frishberg fol de rol but a beatutiful piece written by tenor saxist Duncan Lamont and drummer, the late Allan Ganley. Apart from the originals (Cleo and Sir John also penned some) there are several well chosen standards and, in particular, a goose pimpling version of "Wee Small Hours" that gets within sight of the Sinatra version.

It was recorded in 2002 which would make her 75 at the time...

Ruth Lambert Quintet at the Side Café

Duffy may have been duffing them at the 'Evolution Festival' but upstream, at The Side Café, the Ruth Lambert Quintet were laying down some quality time.

I can't recall ever hearing Frank Loesser's "Never Will I Marry", from the 1960 show, 'Greenwillow', sung at a jazz gig; it's not an easy song to sing straight let alone to stamp your authority on it the way Ruth did. Skilfully singing the opening chorus, accompanied only by the appropriately named Andy Champion on bass, it was pure magic.

"Black Coffee" was as smoky as it gets with an atmospheric solo from Graeme Wilson on tenor.

Space precludes listing all the other delights; Paul Donnelly's guitar work, Tim Johnston's explosive breaks and, of course, Andy Champion who rubber stamped Roly Veitch's comments on bass players in a previous post.

Oh yes, one other moment to remember; "A Nightingale Sang In Berkeley Square". The last time I heard this number live was by Mel Tormé and George Shearing 25 years ago. Ruth's version, despite some uncertainty in places, was nevertheless in the same ballpark.

The North East Jazz Collective is very lucky to have two of the country's best young jazz singers on their rota.

Jazz Legacy

Hi Lance,

I've just spent about 2 hours looking through your photos. Thank you for giving me the chance to wrap myself up in the atmosphere of your lifelong hunt for music and imagary; those photos leave quite a legacy for you. Decades of one off nights and an ever changing scene but still a continuous flow of jazz. My experience of talented jazz musicians often shows their offstage flaws but with a pursuit for purity in music that compensates for a lack of it in life.

Hope you continue to record many a great gig in the future.

Mark

RIP Brian Fisher

It was with great sadness that I read in the paper tonight of the death, on 12 May 2008, of Brian Fisher Hartness aged 86. Brian was respected in jazz circles as a bass player, pianist, critic and dedicated enthusiast. He played with many bands including the Joe Young band but was perhaps best known as bass player with the late piano legend, Peter Jacobson during their residency at the Five Bridges Hotel in Gateshead. Although he moved to Hampshire 14 years ago, he kept in contact by telephone with his many friends in the north-east and never stopped listening to jazz of all persuasions.

The funeral is at Southampton on 27 May 2008

Goodbye Brian we loved you.

Lance and Marlene

Quote

"I've come to the conclusion that the bass player is the most important guy in the band! A good bass can make ordinary players play their best. A poor bass can make good players seem ordinary. " - Roly Veitch.

Jazz At The Fell

Wednesday night's Monk gig at The Sage was going to be a hard, if not impossible act to follow so perhaps it was as well that I opted for total contrast in the form of Mike Piggott and Keith Stephen's Hot Trio. This was gentle jazz à la Django et Stephane. Un vignette dans la tradition du hot club et la dansant.

Mike Piggott fiddled fluently, particularly after he'd added resin to his bow, whilst Keith Stephens on lead and Roly Veitch on rhythm provided the chunky Maccaferrian sound so essential to the idiom. I didn't catch the name of the bass player but he played all the right notes in all the right places and his solos weren't out of character. Roly Veitch sang in his pleasant, laid back, laconic style that did nothing to disturb the sense of period.

The period, 1920s/30s, was also present in Caroline Irwin's delightful vocals; she brought to mind an updated Ruth Etting. Caroline also Autumn Leaved in French. Thankfully, she sounded nothing like Piaf.

Ja-Da - Bob Wilber Soprano Sax

More Colin Aitchison, Bob Wilber and the China Coast Jazzmen. Other items can be seen on You Tube. Search for China Coast Jazzmen.

Jason Moran presents In My Mind: Monk At Town Hall

This was something else! A concert that surely ranks pretty close to the top of anyone's list; perhaps even higher than the 1959 concert it paid tribute to! I can't speak with any authority as I wasn't there and I'm not familiar with the Riverside recording from New York Town Hall--something I must rectify asap

However, despite all the Monkian connotations, to me the music bore a greater resemblance to the work of Charles Mingus which is nothing to be ashamed of. Indeed, the combination of Monk, Mingus and Moran could be said to be the equivalent of Bach, Bartok and Beethoven getting together to knock out a symphony.

The wall of sound from the nine piece was mindblowing, the impetus from the rhythm section hypnotic, and the piano work of Jason Moran, technically, far in advance of the Monk I've heard on record. To create the right ambience a screen showed faded images of Thelonious Monk and his early environment which, to be honest, I found slightly irritating at first. However, it gradually became an integral part of the presentation and at times added an extra dimension to the music

THE MUSIC

This was music to fuel an addiction to music.

No intermission, no interval chit-chat, just (just!) an hour and a half of sheer compulsion that left the audience as drained as the musicians marching out of the hall, still playing à la Hampton.

We thought it was all over.

Until we reached the bar.

Here, not only were they still playing but dancing and chanting as they played. We'd had the most beautiful, exotic, cake--now we were getting the icing!

For the record: Jason Moran (pno), Tarus Mateen (bs), Nasheet Waits (dms), Jason Yarde (alto), Denys Baptiste (ten), Byron Wallen (tpt), Fayyaz Virji (tmb) and Andy Grappy (tuba) were the names carved with pride.

The penalty shoot-out in the European Cup-final seemed tame in comparision.

Lance

Stu Collingwood Trio at The Side Café

It's not often Stu Collingwood can find time to fit a jazz gig into his busy schedule, he's more likely to be on the road to Amarillo with Tony Christie or plying his wares on the cabaret circuit so, when the opportunity arose to hear him in a trio setting, it was an event not to be missed.

At The Side, he impressed the listening cognescenti with his seemingly effortless runs and arpeggios as well as some big fat chords that a smaller handed person could only dream about. Encompassing tenths and beyond is no big deal for Stu who at times seemed like a cross between Peterson (Oscar) and Jarrett (Keith)

With him were Tony Abel, who played good bass as well as writing some original material, and drummer Steve Wall who was sound without being intrusive

A mix of originals, jazz classics and standards kept all factions happy.

A tenor player called Martin, I didn't catch his surname, played "Freddie Freeloader" from Miles' "Kind of Blue" album and later gave Duke's "In a Sentimental Mood" a work out. Paul Edis took over on piano and lost nothing by comparision.

Compliments to all.

Among the celebs in the audience was Andy Hudson, former leader of the legendary 'Newcastle Big Band'.

Lance.

Their Army Knives Aren't Bad Either

I'm indebted to 'Our Man In Ashington' John Taylor for introducing me to Swiss Jazz Radio. This amazing radio station plays non-stop jazz 24 hours a day covering everything from Louis Armstrong to John Scofield. Each track comes with info as to personel, recording date, composer, availability of CD and the colour of the recording engineer's underwear. Tracks are programmed well in advance so you know to the minute what's coming which is useful should you decide to download something. Not that I'm suggesting you do anything that may infringe copyright ...

You can also get it on DAB radio if you live in Switzerland. If you don't live in Switzerland then click on the link in the right hand column.

Lance

PS: I was only joking about the recording engineers underwear.

Alan Glen Trio

On Monday night at The Side Café percussionist David Carnegie was driving his band, Extreme Measures, to just that. Wednesday night at the Chilli Arms, drummer David Carnegie was helping the Alan Glen Trio to swing along beautifully. In the jam session that followed, pianist David Carnegie laid down some rocking blues that had Daniel Johnson and Ian Trewella playing out of their skulls--is there no end to this man's talents?

Alan Glen was, as always, the epitomy of taste and harmonic acumen on standards such as, among others, "Stella By Starlight" and "Someday My Prince Will Come".

The resident band also had it's moments; "Good Bait" swung along nicely and "Caravan" was, for want of a better word, unusual.

Dave Weisser has done really well to keep modern jazz alive and fairly well in downtown Heaton.

Lance

Frank Sparrow - THE MAN - by John Taylor. UPDATED.

Anyone remember Frank Sparrow the saxophone repairer? He overhauled my alto. When I was 40 my Mam was 80. She gave me £40 for my birthday My lifelong friend Terry Fenwick (tenor) arranged for Frank to do some work on my Selmer Console clarinet and Buescher alto sax. Frank wanted £30 for a weeks work - I gave him the £40. Frank had a 3 piece band that played around Bedlington. They always wore dinner jackets and Frank showed me a picture of him in the 1920's - same dinner jacket! He had 14 saxes and a Mk7 he never played . He just took it out of the case and looked at it!! A character.

When Ashington Jazz Club started 26 years ago there were two punters we always looked out for. One was a local councillor called Craig Brown - he got Labour Party funding for the club. He was an Armstrong fanatic and he called his first son Louis Armstrong Brown. The other was Frank Sparrow. It may have been that Frank was a conscientious objector as he was a first aider during the war (not sure which war!) After the war he became a full time first aider at Woodhorn Colliery where our dads worked. As there was a lot of spare time (not many accidents ) he did his saxophone mechanic-ing at work. The ambulance room was in the pit baths and they say that every day you could hear Frank blowing an instrument in. He still found time to run his 3 pc band and work in Max Shares on a Saturday! His first wife left him because of his addiction to the sax. His second wife loved music and he loved her. I used to hear his 3 pc at a local club and he said to me - hand on heart - that when he met her -"It gets you there, not in your trousers". Another famous quote was "I bought a new jazz record by (I think it was Bix) and played it straight away. I said to myself, 'BLOW ME FRANKIE YOU HAVE BEEN PLAYING LIKE THAT FOR YEARS." Frank came to Ashington Jazz club by push bike from Bedlington. Six bottles of brown ale later he set off home - no doubt picking up some repair work from the band (and possibly giving some to the local bike repairer)! When Frank worked in Max Shares music shop I went there to buy sheet music and I thought he was Max Share.

John Taylor

Quote

"When they signal for the bass to take a solo it means they're getting tired." Milt Hinton.

Extreme Measures

Extreme measures indeed. This was cutting edge music of the highest degree. Tristranolike atonality morphed into pure funk and, ultimately, a Mingusian intensity making this the most original band I have heard for a long time.

David Carnegie drove the combo from the back seat displaying all the technique he picked up from his mentor the legendary Blue Note drummer Al Harewood (check out Dexter Gordon's 'Doin' Alright' for Al's credentials.) He also dedicated a composition to his former tutor. On piano Ben Gilbert played with great sensitivity, contrasting with the mindblowing sheets of sound from Gary Turner on tenor. Jamie McRedie's guitar work kept the temperature close to boiling point whilst Stuart Davies on bass helped to hold it all together.

However, this wasn't about individuals it was about a tightly knit unit that stretched its creativity to the outer limits and almost, but not quite, beyond.

Translated; another good night at the Side Café.

Lance

Fever

Eventually caught up with BBC4's program on Peggy Lee. It was worth the wait and the hassle (don't ask me) to watch and listen to such a beautiful artist. Sheer magic. My only quibble was the failure to mention the album 'Black Coffee' and 'The Folks Who Live On The Hill' from a later album. Both represent the pinacle of popular singing whilst 'Black Coffee' is also way up there in the jazz vocal ratings.

One to keep.

Lance

John Taylor - "Great Photos"

Hi Lance Picked up you flyer at the Caedmon Hall on Friday night and have spent all day looking though your great pictures. I must have seen most of the local bands. At 61 I still play keyboard and alto ( in the wardrobe ) I have lived in Ashington all my life and at 17 my first introduction to jazz was listening to Clem Avery's band. This was along with having an underage drink at the Portland Hotel in Ashington, I then started going to the New Orleans club on a Friday for the Vaux Carriage (Vieux Carré). The George Lewis gig in '66 was said to be one of the last he did. Someone said he fell off the stage at the next gig Manchester and never played again A friend of mine's relation was drummer for Ronnie McLean - an Ashington lad called Mick York. He was with Dick Straughan's band, which I think has now packed in. We had several bands at The Cellar Club in Ashington and one was Sheila "Jazz" Giles - can't remember the line up By the way when I started going to the New Orleans Club I became friendly with Dave Kerr. I am the one responsible for it all - I gave him his first washboard some 41 years ago!! Friends in jazz John Taylor

Jimmy Giuffre "Train and the River"

Jimmy Giuffre

Paul Bream (see link) has drawn attention to the death of composer, arranger sax and clarinet player Jimmy Giuffre. For me, one of Jimmy Giuffre's greatest achievements was his composition "Four Brothers" written for Woody Herman's Third Herd; a number that is justly still in vogue with big bands and vocal groups.

The Jimmy Giuffre Trio appeared at Newcastle City Hall in March 1960 as part of a JATP package. The other two members were Jim Hall on guitar and Wilfred Middlebrooks on bass.

I recall, from notes I made on the program during the concert, that he played three numbers in a 20 minute set; "Blue Monk", an original called "Easy Way" and Duke's "In A Mellotone", playing tenor on "Mellotone" and clarinet on the other two.

He was one day short of his 87th birthday when he died.

Lance

Michael Garrick Sextet at Caedman Hall

It was an okay gig without being the kneetrembler most of the audience seemed to think it was.

For me there were two highlights, the first being Norma Winstone's encore, "Prelude To A Kiss" which she sang exquisitely putting everything that had preceded it into perspective. Given material like that Norma can hold her own with anyone.

The other highlight was purchasing the Joe Harriott biography "Fire In His Soul" at a couple of quid below the list price during the interval.

Henry Lowther blew some nice flugel and trumpet, Dave Green was relatively subdued on bass and Trevor Tompkins on drums wasn't.

Art Themen was okay but I still had 'Xeno' on my mind from Monday's session at the Side which made a balanced judgement difficult.

Michael Garrick played well; understandable seeing as how he wrote and arranged most if not all of the pieces bar 'Prelude'.

To sum up, the curate's still in the egg business.

Lance

Quote

"This is a piece recorded by Charles Mingus. We may not play it up to Mingus's standard but we'll certainly play it up to ours." Dave Weisser.

Red Hot Chilli Arms

Chaos is never far away at the Chillingham Arms Wednesday nighters and tonight was no exception. Nevertheless, as always, from the musical mayhem a few satisfying moments emerged. 'Au Privave', 'Solar', 'Beautiful Love' and 'Song For My Father' were perhaps the most memorable. The temperature rose considerably when a black guy called, I think, John sat in on drums. He dropped more bombs than fell on London during the Blitz inspiring guitarist Daniel to an equally frenetic solo. A drummer to note.

With Ian prominant by his absence, the saxes were a little more sedate although another guy called John had his moments on tenor and Nicola played some gutsy baritone on Jerome Kern's 'Yesterdays'.

Next week the Alan Glen Trio pay their monthly dues.

Lance

Quote

"A friend in need is a pest." From 'Sinatra at the Sands.'

Vasilis Xenopoulos & Paul Edis Trio at The Side Café

Until tonight (last night actually) I'd never heard of Vasilis Xenopoulos and, let's face it, it's not a name you are likely to forget; even more so after tonight's session. With the Paul Edis trio (Mick Shoulder (bs), Adam Sinclair (dms) and Paul, of course, on piano) 'Xeno' blew up a storm with some of the finest tenor playing I have heard this side of the late Tubby Hayes.

From the opening 'Surrey With The Fringe On Top' to the closing 'Autumn Leaves' it was a lesson in saxophone playing. Occasionally he sounded like Coltrane or Stan Getz but most of the time he was very much his own man.

On piano, Paul Edis fed chords and soloed with aplomb as well as contributing several good original compositions. Mick Shoulder and Adam Sinclair kept things swinging and it was truly a night to remember.

Come back soon.

Lance

The Song Is Ended But...

In an earlier post, Liz bemoaned the closing down of 'The Jazz' on DAB radio. Well, as I pointed out, although it has gone away on DAB - what's so special about DAB anyway? - it remains on cable and via PC/Classic FM although to access it via the latter medium requires greater cyberpatience than I have. On cable however, the presenters may have gone but the music lingers on.

Today I heard a beautiful version of 'Bewitched' by Paul Desmond and Jim Hall followed by, I think, Chet Baker singing 'Long Ago and Far Away' à la Roly Veitch - or should that be vice versa? Whatever, pure magic either way.

Mention of Roly prompts me to draw attention to his site which is linked further down the page. Roly refers to Becky Kilgore as his favourite singer and it would be difficult to disagree with him on that - Gwyneth Herbert not withstanding!

Check out Ms Kilgore singing 'You're a Lucky Guy' if you can find it.

Quote.

"I think Chet sang better but Miles dressed better." Edgar Ward comparing trumpet players Chet Baker and Miles Davis on an LP sleeve note.

Gwyneth at The Gala

In his 'What's On' guide (see link elsewhere on this page) Paul Bream expressed his reservations about tonight's Gwyneth Herbert gig.

I should have taken heed. Don't get me wrong, the gal is a fine singer, she writes good original songs and the Gala audience adored her, but, I'm afraid, she didn't do it for me. The jazz content was minimal and linking her to Norah Jones, appropriate. I also detected a hint of Janis Ian. For an encore 'Gwynnie' did (I think) "My Last Lullaby" which she sang unmiked from down among the audience. It had moments of, and I use the word advisedly, rare beauty. Paradoxically, outside of the theatre, before the show started, a girl was handing out flyers advertising Clare Teal's 'Get Happy' CD; I wonder if that got Gwyneth happy?

Killer Shrimp at Corner House

When a band monickerises itself as 'Killer Shrimp' the odds are maybe 12 to 7 against them drawing their material from the Great American Songbook. However, they did play recognisable versions of 'Star Eyes' and 'Stella By Starlight' which more than made up for their late start. This was music to the north of contemporary post hard bop, and tenor player Ed Jones swung his ass off with some fine extended solos - some may say over extended solos but when you're on a winning streak... Damon Brown played flugel exclusively and proved that the instruments mellow sound need not be confined to ballads. Ben Hazelton (bs) and Troy Miller (dms) did the business in the engine room; the bass player shouldering the harmonic responsibility, so essential in a piano/guitarless rhythm section, with ease although it has to be said that the gig would have started and finished a lot sooner if the already late drummer had spent more time setting up his drums and less time talking on his mobile. Still, overall, a minor quibble for one of the tastier curate's eggs.