Bebop Spoken There

Ludovic Beier (Django Festival Allstars): ''Manouche means 'free man,' and gypsies have been travelers since they migrated west from India to Europe.'' (DownBeat March, 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

18383 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 18 years ago. 247 of them this year alone and, so far this month (Mar. 17 ), 57

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

March

Mon 30: Gerry Richardson Quartet @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 1:00pm.
Mon 30: Friends of Jazz @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 31: Bede Trio @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. Albert Hills Wright (alto sax); Finn Carter (piano); Michael Dunlop (double bass).

April

Wed 01: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 01: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 01: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 02: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £5.00. Subject: Musicians playing classical & orchestral music.
Thu 02: The Noel Dennis Band @ Prohibition Bar, Albert Road, Middlesbrough TS1 2RU. 7:00pm (doors). £10.84. Quartet plus special guest Zoë Gilby. Over 21s only.
Thu 02: Renegade Brass Band @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors).
Thu 02: Shalala @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £7.00. adv..
Thu 02: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm.

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

CD Review - Davide Mantovani: Choices

Davide Mantovani (bs); Ivan Hussey (cello); Paul Booth (sax/fl); Zoe Rahman (pno); Roger Beaujolais (vbs); Guillermo Hill (gtr); Davide Giannini (dms) various Latin percussionists.
(Review by Lance)
Choices is a CD as diversified as its title indicates. Fact is, this is as much World Music as Jazz which doesn't make it any less appealing for those with "ears".
Italian born bassist Davide Mantovani moved to the UK in 1991 and quickly established himself as an A-Lister after working with such artists as Zoe Rahman, Andy Sheppard, Jean Toussaint, Jim Mullen and Alex Wilson - the actual list is longer, much longer.
Although Brazil is very much in evidence on this disc, it's not the sanitised Bossa Nova Brazil but the street sounds of Sao Paulo and less cosmopolitan areas with a touch of West Africa thrown in. 
Bachorino poses the question, "What if Bach was still alive in our time, in Brazil?" Mantovani explores this idea with cellist Ivan Hussey playing the original Allemande before slipping into the Bachanallia of the others.
Restless Wrestlers has Paul Booth on soprano trying to get Zoe Rahman on piano into a headlock but Zoe isn't one for submission responding with a few forearm smashes of her own before referee and drummer Davide Giovannini orders them to kiss and make up!
There is just so much on this CD - Memory Box is sending shivers (pleasant ones) up and down my spine as I type - the only thing is to hear it for yourself!
Davide Mantovani: Choices  EQDM 22. Launched by Equilateral Records on Sept. 24 @ Pizza Express, Soho
Lance.

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