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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

17719 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 39 of them this year alone and, so far, 39 this month (Jan. 15).

From This Moment On ...

January 2025

Sat 18: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 18: Alter Ego + Jamie Toms/Graham Don Duo @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 7:30pm. £15.00. at the door; £14.35. (inc £0.35 bf) online, in advance.
Sat 18: Tweed River Jazz Band @ Repas 7 by Night, West St., Berwick TD15 1AS. 7:30pm. Free. Album launch gig.
Sat 18: Delta Prophets @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 19: Glenn Miller Orchestra UK @ Glasshouse, Gateshead. 3:00pm. ‘Glenn Miller & the Rat Pack Era’.
Sun 19: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 19: Spilt Milk @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 5:15-7:00pm. Free. Nolan Brothers (vocal harmonies).
Sun 19: Tenement Jazz Band @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 19: Nick Ross Orchestra @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 7:30pm.
Sun 19: Freight Train (Tobin/Noble/Clarvis) @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Sun 19: Jazz Jam @ Fabio’s, Saddler St., Durham. 8:00pm. Free. A Durham University Jazz Society promotion. All welcome.

Mon 20: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 21: ???

Wed 22: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 22: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 22: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 22: Pasadena Roof Orchestra @ Fire Station, Sunderland. 7:30pm.

Thu 23: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, Holystone. 1:00pm. Free. Fortnightly.
Thu 23: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: Obituaries 2024.
Thu 23: Jason Isaacs @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 4:30-6:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Thu 23: Pedal Point Trio @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Fri 24: Zoë Gilby Quartet @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm.
Fri 24: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 24: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 24: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 24: Creakin’ Bones & the Sunday Dinners @ Lindisfarne Social Club, Wallsend. 9:00pm. Admission: TBC. Jazz, blues , jump jive, rock ‘n’ roll.

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

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

CD Review ‘Division Musick’ - English Duos for Viol and Lute Played by Pellingman’s Saraband

Susanna Pell (viols) Jake Heringman (Lutes)
(Review by Ann Alex).
You’ll be wondering why on earth Lance is letting me review this recently issued CD on a jazz blog, so I will quote from the CD insert: The art of dividing upon a ground bass or playing divisions was the Elizabethan and seventeenth century equivalent of our modern jazz tradition.  In other words, this is what all you jazz instrumentalists would have been playing if you’d lived about four hundred years ago.  The ground was a repeated chord progression over which the musicians improvised (divisions); or sometimes they would play variations on a popular tune of the day.  Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?

The actual sound is rather different from a jazz sound as there’s no brass or woodwind, but the lute is guitar-like and the bass viol sounds rather like our double bass.  Viols are fretted string instruments which are played with an old fashioned curved bow.  They come in treble, tenor and bass varieties and are difficult to play, as I found out for myself when I tried one on a recent music holiday.
Seven of the 18 tracks are simply entitled Division or A Ground and are technically interesting pieces of music beginning with the main theme followed by increasingly complex variations, often leaving the listener wondering just how many notes can actually be fitted in.  I got the same feeling as when listening to jazz solos, surprised by what the musicians could come up with.  Other tracks are improvisations on tunes of the day, such as John Come Kiss Me Now; Robin Is To The Greenwood Gone; Go From My Window; and of course Greensleeves. The improvisations are played as written down in the original manuscripts, for the sake of authenticity I suppose, but it is believed that there was lots of music played on the spot which was never written down, and so is lost to us now.  The composers mentioned are people such as Davis Mell (1604-1662); the wonderfully named Gottfried Finger (1655-1730) and John Dowland (1563-1626).  The CD is very good if heard as background music but it really deserves to be listened to with attention to the skilled playing as the two instruments weave around each other, call and respond, or become wistful.  I wonder what those composers mentioned would make of the jazz scene today?   
Ann Alex.   

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