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Bebop Spoken There

Spasmo Brown: “Jazz is an ice cream sandwich! It's the Fourth of July! It's a girl with a waterbed!”. (Syncopated Times, July, 2024).

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Postage

17444 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 718 of them this year alone and, so far, 100 this month (Oct. 10).

From This Moment On ...

October

Sun 13: Am Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 13: Emma Wilson @ Tyne Bar, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. Blues.
Sun 13: Catfish Keith @ The Cluny. 7:00pm. Country blues.
Sun 13: Cath Stephens & Paul Grainger @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Stephens & Grainger, one third of a triple bill.
Sun 13: Dulcie May Moreno Quartet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Sun 13: Jazz Jam @ Fabio’s, Saddler St., Durham. 8:00pm. Free. A DUJS event. All welcome.

Mon 14: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 14: Black is the Color of My Voice @ Hippodrome, Darlington. 7:30pm. Apphia Campbell’s one-woman show inspired by Nina Simone, performed by Nicholle Cherrie.

Tue 15: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Alan Law (piano), Paul Grainger (double bass), Bailey Rudd (drums).

Wed 16: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 16: Cath Stephens’ improvisation workshop @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 4:30-6:00pm. Collaborative group focusing on vocal improvisations.
Wed 16: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 16: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 17: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 17: Olivia Cuttill Quintet @ King’s Hall, Newcastle University. 1:15pm. Free.
Thu 17: Moonlight Serenade Orchestra UK: Glenn Miller & Big Band Spectacular @ Phoenix Theatre, Blyth. 7:30pm.
Thu 17: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. Ragtime piano. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 17: Niffi Osiyemi Trio @ The Harbour View, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free.
Thu 17: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesborough. Guests Jeremy McMurray (keys); Richie Emmerson (tenor sax); Mark Toomey (alto sax); Adrian Beadnell (bass). 8:30pm. Free.

Fri 18: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 18: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 18: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 18: Hot Club du Nord @ St Cuthbert’s, Crook. 7:30pm.
Fri 18: Chet Set @ Seventeen Nineteen, Hendon, Sunderland. 7:30pm. Pete Tanton & co.
Fri 18: Michael Woods @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. Doors 7:30pm (upstairs). A Hoodoo Blues dance & social event. £10.00. class & social (£10.00., £7.50., £5.00. social only). Michael Woods (country blues guitar) on stage 9:00pm.
Fri 18: East Coast Swing Band @ Hexham Abbey. 7:30pm. £9.00.
Fri 18: Ben Crosland Quartet @ Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. Opus 4 Jazz Club.
Fri 18: Durham University Jazz Society’s ‘High Standards’ @ Music Dept. Music Room, Divinity House, Palace Green, Durham University DH1 3RS. 8:009:30pm. Tel: 0191 334 1419. £7.00., £5.00.
Fri 18: Ray Stubbs R&B All Stars @ Blues Underground, Nelson St., Newcastle. 9:00pm. Free.

Sat 19: Jeff Hewer Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 19: Howlin’ Mat @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Country blues guitar & vocals. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

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

Friday, February 18, 2011

Alister Spence Trio w. Raymond MacDonald @ The Lit and Phil, Newcastle.

Alister Spence (pno), Joe Williamson (pno), Raymond MacDonald (alt/sop), Chris Cantilo (dms).
I hold my hand up and confess - not for me. I'm in the minority - the audience applauds vociferously, CD's are bought and the Lit and Phil is surely delighted that this, their first concert collaboration with Jazz North East, meets with such a good response.
However, the music values that I hold dear are absent and, although there are moments that grab me, all too soon they disinteregate and disappeared off into jazz's hinterlands.
So, as the parade has passed me by, on this occasion I'll invite Russell, George M, Wes, or whoever cares to, to give a more reasoned, knowing, view on the gig.
This isn't a reflection on the music - it's self-criticism.
Lance.
NB: Do like the new JNE banner.

2 comments :

russell said...

I think I concur with the general thrust of your argument. There was some blistering playing but, perhaps as the photograph suggests, something was absent.

Russell

George Milburn said...

It wasn't easy for me to lever myself out on Friday having, like poor Russell, the head-cold from hell. Add to this my reaction to Alister's performance at The Cluny last year which didn't really move me, so I impressed myself that I GOT to the Lit n Phil. Of course I knew how much Chris Calver had riding on this 1st jazz gig and wanted to show my support, not to mention that I won Alister's FIT album in the raffle at the Dr Chad gig last year.
Nevertheless, I enjoyed it. Why?
I sat as close to the drum kit as HSE guidelines recommend, finding Chris Cantillo's percussion flea circus absolutely compelling. I handed him a butterfly nut that had fallen off the bass drum - he nodded and added it to the array of prayer bells on the snare drum - ting!
Then there was the inimitable Raymond MacDonald, who stepped forward from under the portrait of Gene Hackman's grandad with Babaresque determination and stance to match - his blend of circular breathing chromatics and contrasting lyrical phrasing had the cobra of my interest well and truly charmed!
Joe Williamson's devotion to his bass gut strings - plucked and bowed - combined with his Joe 90 specs also had me enthralled - cool but essential in his improvisational technique.
In all honesty I think we have Alister to thank for bringing these 3 together and providing the string percussion. He's a bloody good piano player but he's Legion - now Keith Jarrett, now Cecil Taylor, now Keith Tippett - for me he needs to come out, on his OWN side!
As a jazz venue, the room was brightly incongruous with the ghostly portraits of the Lit & Phil's literati looking disapprovingly down. Raymond's swaying Soprano sax however turned the one red spotlight by the piano into my own personal disco strobe, which added to the surreality of the happening.
Let's face it, I haven't really forgiven Alister for not knowing who Peter Sculthorpe is!

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