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Bebop Spoken There

Steve Coleman: ''If you don't keep learning, your mind slows down. Use it or lose it''. (DownBeat, January 2025).

The Things They Say!

This is a good opportunity to say thanks to BSH for their support of the jazz scene in the North East (and beyond) - it's no exaggeration to say that if it wasn't for them many, many fine musicians, bands and projects across a huge cross section of jazz wouldn't be getting reviewed at all, because we're in the "desolate"(!) North. (M & SSBB on F/book 23/12/24)

Postage

17655 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 929 of them this year alone and, so far, 74 this month (Dec. 31).

From This Moment On ...

January 2025

Mon 06: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 07: Customs House Big Band @ The Masonic Hall, North St., Ferryhill DL17 8HX. 7:00pm. Free.

Wed 08: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 08: The Tannery Jam Session @ The Tannery, Gilesgate, Hexham. 7:00-9:00pm. Free.
Wed 08: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 08: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).

Thu 09: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: John H Hammond.
Thu 09: FILM: Soundtrack to a Coup D’Etat @ Tyneside Cinema, Newcastle. 2:35pm. Documentary (dir. Johan Grimonprez) ‘about jazz, (de)colonial history and activism featuring Louis Armstrong, Nina Simone and Dizzy Gillespie’.
Thu 09: Happy Tuesdays @ Ye Olde Cross, Ryton. 7:30pm. Free.
Thu 09: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. Ragtime piano. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 09: Mark Toomey Quartet @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm. Free. A Tees Hot Club promotion. The session now monthly, next one Thursday 2nd Feb, then first Thursday in the month thereafter.

Fri 10: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 10: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 10: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 10: Joe Steels Trio @ The Pele, Corbridge. 7:00pm. Free.

Sat 11: Jason Isaacs @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 12:30-2:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 11: Under the Wellie @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 12: The New ’58 Jazz Collective @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 12: Am Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 12: King Bees @ The Tyne Bar, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. Superb Chicago blues band.
Sun 12: Dave Bottomley @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Country blues guitar.
Sun 12: Jack Pearce Quintet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Reviewers wanted

Whilst BSH attempts to cover as many gigs, festivals and albums as possible, to make the site even more comprehensive we need more 'boots on the ground' to cover the albums seeking review - a large percentage of which never get heard - report on gigs or just to air your views on anything jazz related. Interested? then please get in touch. Contact details are on the blog. Look forward to hearing from you. Lance

Sunday, May 23, 2010

An Evening (well ten minutes) with Michael Bublé

I arrived home earlier than expected - don't ask - and was fortunate to catch the last couple of numbers from "An Evening With Michael Bublé"*.
How I wish I'd heard the whole show. Okay there's a lot of inane questions from the "Celebrity" audience and occasionally he comes over just a little too schmaltzy in his patter but, strip that all away, and you have a good, young, singer singing good songs and bringing them - apart from tonight - to a youngish audience and in a contemporary manner.
He has a cracking band behind him and in Jumanne Smith a fine trumpet player.
A class act - no wonder he packs out the Arena and elsewhere.
Must checkout the whole show on catch-up TV.
Lance.
*: Georgia on my Mind and How Sweet It Is.
PS: Check out LondonJazz.

8 comments :

Liz said...

very rare for me to slightly disagree with you Lance but honestly I thought he was really mediocre tonight. He seemed to be playing to the audience over much and some of the numbers were, for me, forgettable. I do agree though a good band. His stagey movements were weird too, all that twisting of legs,what's that all about? For me he is better heard than seen. Also the Mrs Brown number...not tender enough...
Liz

Lance said...

Well I did only see ten minutes so maybe I will change my views when I see the whole show but I did try to make it clear that I was judging him away from the non-singing aspect. This is something which spoils all these 'an evening with' shows.
Plus, if you had came to Michael after what I'd just left, you'd have seen it as a lifeline to sanity after tunnelling out of Bedlam.

Hil said...

I taped it and was really looking forward to watching it as I have a couple of his cd's.
Unfortunately I could only watch the first number as I just cringed with embarrassment. The younger generation have an expression which just summed up his performance for me...Cheesy.
Perhaps I just wasn't in the right frame of mind?...and might try again to watch it?
With sincere apologies to the said gent, as I do like his voice.

Tom Medhurst said...

I thought the music was pretty good (not amazing like his tours), but the Q&A thing with the audience was *really* over-scripted/rehearsed and was really hard to enjoy.

He does have an incredible voice though!

Liz said...

Yes Hil you have voiced my opinion very well..cheesy..and, like you, I too like his voice. In fact I do have a CD with him singing some nice standards. It was just that he seemed to be out to crowd please and really there was no need to overdo that, his voice stands well alone. Going back to Mrs Jones... I love that number but oh dear when he got the audience to join in and went into a kind of frenzy...too much!
Liz

Lance said...

Well I've watched the full 51 minutes and, whilst I agree with the 'cheesy' comments - a word he frequently used himself - I still enjoyed the show. He's a good singer and, as the 'show - bizzy' saccharine from both sides of the footlights comes with the territory in these programs, I let it ride by me - in fact I listened to more than I actually watched.

Anonymous said...

Just wondering whether Buble should have got a mention on here really. Just my opinion, but isn't he really just a pop singer with a little better voice than the average? He appeals to the females apparently (judging by the DVD my wife has got and the disproportionate number of women in the audiences), and has a bit of a gay following too. He certainly is not a jazz vocalist and like most of the over hyped singers seems to be too full of his own importance - reflecting in his over-the-top stage movements. Buble and Jamie Cullum should both be sent to room 101.

Lance said...

Well the definition of a jazz singer is always open to contention - as indeed are the boundaries between adjoining genré - and MB does attract interest from the jazz periphery (as well as the ladies and the 'lads').

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