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Bebop Spoken There

George Porter Jr.: ''To me, syncopation is like jazz. It wasn't meant for the masses. It was meant just for a hip few". (DownBeat, May 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

18018 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 339 of them this year alone and, so far, 17 this month (May 7).

From This Moment On ...

MAY 2025

Mon 12: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 12: Gregory Porter + Jo Harrop @ Newcastle City Hall. 7:30pm. Support act: Jo Harrop!

Tue 13: ???

Wed 14: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 14: Recital (stage 2): Leah Kirk (voice) @ The Band Room, Music Studios, Assembly Lane, Newcastle University. 3:00pm. Free.
Wed 14: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 14: Tannery jam session @ The Tannery, Hexham. 7:00pm.
Wed 14: Jerron Paxton @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £24.20. Excellent country blues multi-instrumentalist.
Wed 14: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. BACK IN BUSINESS, all welcome!

Thu 15: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: The Greatest in Jazz - Guitarists.
Thu 15: Pete Tanton & the Cuban Heels @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 15: New Ways of Moving in the Counterworlds @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 8:00pm (7:00pm doors). John Garner & John Pope.

Fri 16: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 16: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 16: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 16: Sophie Speed with the Dean Stockdale Trio @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 16: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 1:00-2:45pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Fri 16: Jason Isaacs @ STACK, Exchange Sq., Middlesbrough. 4:00-6:00pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Fri 16: Giles Strong Quartet @ Longframlington Memorial Hall. 7:00pm (doors). Tickets: £12.00. from 01665 570984.
Fri 16: Hot Club du Nord @ St Cuthbert’s Centre, Crook. 7:30pm. £10.00.
Fri 16: Peter Donegan & Anthony Donegan @ The Witham, Barnard Castle. 7:30pm. ‘Lonnie Donegan - The Stories’.

Sat 17: Teresa Watson Band @ Billy Bootleggers, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. Blues.
Sat 17: The Society Quartet @ Hilton Garden Inn, Sunderland. 6:00pm. Tel: 0191 500 9494. £26.00 (inc. two course meal). Line-up: Jason Holcomb, Hannah Taylor, Alix Shepherd & Abbie Finn.
Sat 17: Milne Glendinning Band @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 17: Archie Brown & the Young Bucks @ Billy Bootleggers, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. Rhythm & blues, Americana etc.
Sat 17: Rockin’ Turner Brothers @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Rockabilly, Western swing etc.

Sun 18: Jason Isaacs @ STACK, Seaburn. 12 noon-2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sun 18: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 18: Ruth Lambert & Giles Strong @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 18: Steve Summers 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, September 14, 2012

CD Review: Preservation Hall Jazz Band - St. Peter and 57th St.

Ben Jaffe (Sousa/ldr); Mark Braud (tpt); Frank Desmond (tmb); Charlie Gabriel (clt); Clint Maedgen (ten/vcl); Rickie Monie (pno); Joe Lastie jnr. (dms).
(Review by Lance).
No personnel given on my promo copy - only the guest artists who appeared at this Carnegie Hall concert celebrating the band's 50th anniversary so the above is an educated guess.
This isn't an album that would ever be played on Smooth Jazz Radio - thank goodness! It's earthy and rough around the edges but it comes from the soul and deals in excitement by the gut bucketful!

George Wein introduces Burgundy St. Blues on which he plays classic blues piano alongside Gabriel whose clarinet has a liquidity of tone that was once the exclusive property of New Orleans clarinettists - maybe it still is.
They move over to Bourbon Street for the Parade  with some strident trumpet from Braud (grandson of former Ellington bassist Wellman Braud).
The mood changes when the PHJB are joined by the Bluegrass Del McCoury Band and One More 'Fore I Die. The two bands gel with good solos from both
Classic New Orleans piano by Allen Touissaint and an appropriate vocal - The Preservation Hall Jazz Band (They put pep in your step and pride in your stride - referring to the effect on the Second Line followers.of the street parade.).
Givers, described as an Indie pop group on Wikipedia, play Just a Closer Walk With Thee and the vocal by Tiffany Lamson is one of the most impassioned renditions I've ever heard! Bonjour Cousin has some Latin style trumpet.
Steve Earle, a folksy bluesy singer, guitarist, songwriter and author tells us T'aint Nobody's Business if I Do. One of the delights of this album is that it is so full of surprises! Tao Seeger - grandson of the great American folk legend Pete Seeger plays Peanut Vendor singing it in Spanish although it is titled El Manicero here. Seeger follows this up with a two part version of St. James Infirmary that brings out all the drama and pathos of this ancient old blues. PHJB recorded Tootie Ma a couple of years back with Tom Waits but here the vocal is by saxist Maedgen.
After Merrill Garbus' Careless Love, It Ain't My Fault sees Mos Def and Trombone Shorty locking slides before the Five Blind Boys of Alabama wrap things up with I'll Fly Away. PHJB are themselves really flying on this one and the prolonged applause at the end was well deserved - I knew exactly how the Carnegie crowd felt - they'd never heard anything quite like this since 1938 when Benny Goodman let Krupa loose on Sing, Sing, Sing!
Preservation Hall Jazz Band - St. Peter and 57th St. (Rounder label) is released on September 25, 2012
Lance.

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