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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

17655 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 929 of them this year alone and, so far, 74 this month (Dec. 31).

From This Moment On ...

January 2025

Mon 06: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 07: Customs House Big Band @ The Masonic Hall, North St., Ferryhill DL17 8HX. 7:00pm. Free.

Wed 08: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 08: The Tannery Jam Session @ The Tannery, Gilesgate, Hexham. 7:00-9:00pm. Free.
Wed 08: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 08: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).

Thu 09: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: John H Hammond.
Thu 09: FILM: Soundtrack to a Coup D’Etat @ Tyneside Cinema, Newcastle. 2:35pm. Documentary (dir. Johan Grimonprez) ‘about jazz, (de)colonial history and activism featuring Louis Armstrong, Nina Simone and Dizzy Gillespie’.
Thu 09: Happy Tuesdays @ Ye Olde Cross, Ryton. 7:30pm. Free.
Thu 09: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. Ragtime piano. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 09: Mark Toomey Quartet @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm. Free. A Tees Hot Club promotion. The session now monthly, next one Thursday 2nd Feb, then first Thursday in the month thereafter.

Fri 10: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 10: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 10: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 10: Joe Steels Trio @ The Pele, Corbridge. 7:00pm. Free.

Sat 11: Jason Isaacs @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 12:30-2:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 11: Under the Wellie @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 12: The New ’58 Jazz Collective @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 12: Am Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 12: King Bees @ The Tyne Bar, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. Superb Chicago blues band.
Sun 12: Dave Bottomley @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Country blues guitar.
Sun 12: Jack Pearce Quintet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 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, August 17, 2012

Lindsay Hannon @ The Sage, Gateshead.

Lindsay Hannon (vcl); Alan Law (pno); John Pope (bs); Mark Robertson (dms).
(Review by Lance.)
When Lindsay sings Why Try to Change me Now? I'm lost - her slave forever! The rest of her program could consist of Baa Baa Black Sheep sung backwards in Russian in 7/4 time and I wouldn't care! This was a defining moment and it was also her opening number.
Why Try to Change me Now? - a Cy Coleman tune with a triple rhyme lyric by Joe McCarthy - is one of the songs that brought Frank back into the public eye and, whilst I'm not making comparisons, Lindsay's version offers a great alternative take with its up tempo chorus and relaxed middle eight.
Nice one.

Lindsay didn't follow up with Black Sheep but instead chose Joni Mitchell's Blue Motel Room. Another gem with the lyric, You and me are always like America and Russia, catching my ear.
The superlatives are just too many to mention - The Very Thought of You (up tempo a la Anita), Billy Joel's Where is the Orchestra? the beautifully poignant Old Fashioned Hat.
Interval time, good to meet up with Bill Weston again. and Ann's friend Kath - who, like Ann, is one of  Lindsay's singing students.
The second set opened with some Herbie Hancock before moving back to Joni Mitchell and The Hissing of the Summer Lawns. Mitchell's lyrics are incredible (He gave her a room full of Chippendale that nobody sits in.) There Will Never be Another You taken out of tempo before the second chorus explosion. John Pope's bass solo on this was right on the money as indeed it was throughout. Special mention of Alan Law who hit solos worth Euro Millions - Euro? Nah, these were top dollar!
The number "borrowed" from Lindsay's pop group Iceni was sensational - almost a suite with its pastoral feel that flanked Law's explosive moments in the middle..I Ain't Got Nothin' But The Blues, St. Louis Blues and So-long Big Time (hard boiled Bogie type narrative from drummer Mark to bring it in) kept the adrenalin flowing until it was all over and we sank down into our seats and agreed that Lindsay Hannon Plus had added a helluva lot more plus' to their name.
It was near perfection, Great singer, Great trio, Great acoustics, Great dress, Great night - so why was it only "near perfect?"
It didn't last forever!
Lance.

1 comment :

Anonymous said...

It is great that Joni Mitchell is part of the repetoire of our jazz singers as the lyrics are incredible and she has a great jazz sensibility having worked with Mingus, Shorter, Hancock, Pastorius. I was interested to see in Lol Coxhill's obituary in the Guardian that he was apparently the inspiration for Mitchell's song 'For Free' when she saw him busking by Hungerford Bridge. Who says free jazz has no influence?
JC
ps - Thanks to Cameron, Rebekah Brooks and the Leveson Inquiry we now know Coxhill's first name stands for 'laugh out loud' and not 'lots of love' - it seems to fit.

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