Total Pageviews

Bebop Spoken There

Sullivan Fortner: ''I always judge it by the bass player: If the bass player is happy, it's going to be a good night". (DownBeat, February 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

17777 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 98 of them this year alone and, so far, 23 this month (Feb.8).

From This Moment On ...

February 2025

Sat 15: Joseph Carville Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 15: James Birkett & Emma Fisk @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 7:30pm. £15.00. at the door; £14.35. (inc £0.35 bf) online, in advance.
Sat 15: Elkie Brooks @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 7:30pm. ‘The Long Farewell Tour’.
Sat 15: Milne Glendinning Band @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 16: MOBO Song @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 12 noon. Free, performances on the concourse. Line-up inc. Jazz Attack (on stage time TBC) & Jambone (12:20pm).
Sun 16: Jason Isaacs @ STACK, Exchange Sq., Middlesbrough. 1:00-2:45pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sun 16: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 16: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 16: MOBO Awards Fringe 2025: BBC Introducing NE X MOBO Showcase @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 6:00pm. Free (ticketed). Line-up inc. Jambone, Knats, Rivkala, SwanNek.
Sun 16: The Shayo Experience @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 16: Gerry Richardson Quartet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. .

Mon 17: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 17: Matt Forster Quartet @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 1:00pm. £9.00. at the door; £8.20. (inc £0.20 bf) online, in advance.
Mon 17: Russ Morgan Quartet @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £10.00.

Tue 18: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Alan Law, Paul Grainger, John Hirst.

Wed 19: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 19: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 19: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 20: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, Holystone. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 20: James Birkett & Emma Fisk @ King’s Hall, Newcastle University. 1:15pm. Free.
Thu 20: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: Jazz Milestones - 1975.
Thu 20: Renegade Brass Band @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors).
Thu 20: Orange Claw Hammer + Peony @ The Globe, Newcastle.7:30pm. Orange Claw Hammer play Captain Beefheart.
Thu 20: Jeremy McMurray & the Pocket Jazz Orchestra @ Arc, Stockton. 8:00pm. Featuring special guest Zoë Gilby.

Fri 21: JazzMain @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 21: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 21: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 21: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 21: Joe Steels Trio @ The Pele, Corbridge. 7:00pm. £10.00. TBC.
Fri 21: Emma Rawicz w. Strictly Smokin’ Big Band @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 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

Friday, June 15, 2012

World Service Project & Alfie Ryner @ Star & Shadow Cinema. June 14

World Service Project: Dave Morecroft (keyboards), Raphael Clarkson (trombone), Tim Ower (alto & tenor saxophones), Conor Chaplin (electric bass) & Neil Blandford (drums)
Alfie Ryner: Paco Serrano (alto & tenor saxophones, vocals), Guillaume Pique (trombone & vocals), Gerard Gimenez (guitar), Guillaume Gendre (double bass) & Loris Pertoldi (drums)

(Review by Russell).
Dave Morecroft’s World Service Project made a third visit to Newcastle and this Jazz North East promotion was the second Match & Fuse project to be heard at the Star and Shadow Cinema. Morecroft’s ongoing mission is to invite a band from Europe to play a series of double-bill gigs in Britain and secure a reciprocal tour; on this occasion the invitees – Alfie Ryner is/are a quintet of seemingly disparate musicians - travelled from Toulouse, France. Morecroft’s five piece took to the stage first and much of the music performed can be heard on Match and Fuse CDs numbers 3 and 4 and the current release (check-out Wes’ recent review on Bebop Spoken Here). WSP played it loud and rocked it. Raphael Clarkson’s big trombone sound impressed once again and front line partner Tim Ower (saxophones) played with self-assurance, so too bassist Conor Chaplin. Manic Morecroft stoked it up showering burning embers over Neil Blandford’s granite rhythms. Solos were short and few and far between, collective riffs caught the ear and won keen applause from an appreciative crowd.


French quintet Alfie Ryner (Morecroft dubbed them ‘Alfie Ryan Air’) emerged from back stage in suits (more rude boy than zoot ) and resembled a motley crew of musos – and they were, musos, that is - sporting earrings and other piercings that would have had Gene Hackman on his guard down in Marseille. Paco Serrano wore the look of a slightly deranged smiling assassin (think The French Connection or Goodfellas) yet turned out to be a big pussycat. Serrano’s vocals, in French of course, were largely inaudible due to the volume levels of the amplified band. No matter, whatever it was he told us, he meant it. He blew some alto, Guillaume Pique played some plungered trombone and Gerard Gimenez’s Fender featured heavily - effects and all. The material was Gallic and varied (a tango worked well) and the drum and bass team of Loris Pertoldi (drums) and Guillaume Gendre worked tirelessly. Gendre was, ostensibly, the ‘jazz’ player in the line-up, yet, surely, all could turn their hand to straight ahead material. The now familiar Match & Fuse finale united the two bands - British and French musicians on stage together – to play two numbers. The first, led by Morecroft, reworked Sweet Time, a tune written by Matt Jacobsen (drummer with Irish band ReDiViDer and former collaborator with WSP). The Toulouse troupe read their parts with smiles all round. The closing number - an ‘instant composition’ or as Serrano would have it a ‘sound painting’ – took the honours by a mile or should that be a kilometre? The big pussycat leapt down from the stage to the floor of the auditorium to conduct the piece. No baton just innumerable hand signals. This time the Brits had to concentrate. The legendary George Russell had an idiosyncratic style directing his big band, similarly Chris Sharkey’s commands with Jambone are somewhat unique. The committed Serrano (perhaps he should be) worked-up a sweat and boy, he had the double quintet in a sweat. Some how he pulled it off.
Russell

No comments :

Blog Archive