Bebop Spoken There

Gary Bartz: ''Music is nature's gift to man. It's the only religion. We're living in a terrible era, but what a beautiful thing music is. Look how it brings us together like religion is supposed to; and with no language barriers.'' (Jazzwise September, 2026)

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

18918 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 18 years ago. 782 of them this year alone and, so far this month (Sept. 18.) 61.

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

From This Moment On

September.

Thu 24: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ The Millstone, Mill Rise, South Gosforth, Newcastle. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 24: Castillo Nuevo Orquesta @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. £6.50. 7:30pm (doors).
Thu 24: Arun Ghosh @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 8:00pm (7:30pm doors). £21.05. (£22.00. on the door). A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Thu 24: Shalala @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £7.00.

Fri 25: Mark Williams Trio @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. £9.00.
Fri 25: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 25: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 25: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 25: Get the Blessing + Dilettante @ The Cluny (Cluny 2), Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £18.00. + bf. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Fri 25: Jazz Sabbath @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm.

Sat 26: Adam Fairhall & Johnny Hunter: Play Mary Lou Williams @ The Cumberland Arms, Byker, Newcastle. 6:00pm. Free. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Sat 26: John Pope Quintet + Urvashi @ The Cumberland Arms, Byker, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £15.40. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.

Sun 27: Salty Dog @ The Cluny. 12:30pm (doors). Free (donations).
Sun 27: Musicians Unlimited @ West Hartlepool RFC. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 27: Zach Sewell-Lara Hopper Quintet @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm. £12.00., £10.00.
Sun 27: Sun 27: Ruth Lambert Trio @ The Juke Shed, North Shields. 3:00pm. Free. RESCHEDULED to Sunday 4 October.
Sun 27: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 27: Alex Hitchcock Quartet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £16.00., £14.00. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.

Mon 28: Friends of Jazz @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 29: Tenderly: The Life & Times of Nat ‘King’ Cole @ Hepscott Parish Hall. 7:30pm. . £15.00., £12.00. (Early Bird advance ticket), £10.00. Off-Broadway production feat. Duane Forrest.
Tue 29: Red Kites Jazz @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Wed 30: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 30: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 30: Tenderly: The Life & Times of Nat ‘King’ Cole @ The Hearth, Horsley. 7:30pm. £15.00., £12.00. (Early Bird advance ticket), £10.00. Off-Broadway production feat. Duane Forrest.
Wed 30: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 30: New Ways of Moving in the Counterworlds + Juliana Day & Manon McCoy + Helen Anahita Wilson @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm. A BBC Introducing-Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.

Thursday, November 17, 2011

CD Review: Ben Williams - State of Art

A significant first album with his State of Art, celebrated bassist Ben Williams has given us a mellow flame to curl up in front of in our misty autumn darkness.
A graduate of Juilliard and reflectively nurtured by mentors, Herbie Hancock, Pat Metheny, Wynton Marsalis, his devotion and generosity radiates out from the heart of the album like a Yuletide log fire, along with reflections of his heroes, Miles, Monk, Duke, Bird and of course, Mingus.
I liked that the album isn't all about ME, with 6 tracks out of the 11 by other composers/songwriters, all lovingly crafted by Williams the arranger. 
I have to say I loved The Lee Morgan Story, by rap emcee John Robinson with a beautifully sidewinding tribute trumpet played by Christian Scott. This is jazz as storytelling with a latin, hip hop feel - the tragic tale of a horn legend cut down on stage...."It was a gun that ended his life....." fired by his own girlfriend - he was only 33.  
Home, Ben's opening track is a nice dark continental groove, drifting into Brazil. Some great clippy guitar work from Matthew Stevens against the cool tenor of Marcus Strickland left me wanting more.
Meanwhile I wasn't so sure about the treatment of the Stevie Wonder and Michael Jackson tracks (Part Time Lover & Little Susie), not enough content to do justice to his arrangement skills in my opinion, although the short bass intro for the latter, credited to Ben, is blissful.
Overall it seems that Ben is maybe over modest and needs to really dive into his own pieces with as much ingenuity and gusto as he's devoted to the other arrangements. 
Speaking of which, the treatment of Goapele & Jeffry Bhasker's Things Don't Exist is superb with the string quartet woven skillfully into the frame with Strickland's soprano and Gerald Clayton's piano sounding like an unlikely duet between Garbarek and Bill Evans. Then a fitting finale with John Blackburn & Karl Suessdorf's Moonlight in Vermont - a wonderful tone poem with Ben on evocative electric bass and the perfect way to say goodnight. 
Thanks for this Ben, a great start to an album career!
George Milburn.
Ben Williams - State of Art now available on Concorde Jazz label.
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1 comment :

Anonymous said...

el link?

Sunday, January 29, 2012 8:12:00 pm

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