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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

17680 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 23 of them this year alone and, so far, 23 this month (Jan. 9).

From This Moment On ...

January 2025

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: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. 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.

Mon 13: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 13: Raymond MacDonald & Andy Champion @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £10.00.

Tue 14: Zoë Gilby Quintet @ Newcastle House Hotel, Rothbury. 7:30pm.

Wed 15: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 15: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 15: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 15: Hot Club of Heaton @ Elder Beer, Heaton, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘third Wednesday in the month’ session. TBC.

Thu 16: Pete Tanton & the Cuban Heels @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Fri 17: Lindsay Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 17: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 17: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 17: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 17: Joe Steels Trio @ The Pele, Corbridge. 7:00pm. £TBC.
Fri 17: Russ Morgan Quartet @ Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. Opus 4 Jazz Club.
Fri 17: Redwell @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

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: Delta Prophets @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

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

Wednesday, November 07, 2012

Ayanna/Kairos 4tet @ The Sage, Gateshead. Tuesday November 6

Ayanna (cello/vcl).
(Review by Lance)
There was almost a sepulchral silence in The Sage’s Northern Rock Foundation Hall. No welcoming background music, no boozy chit-chat – only silence. I’ve been in noisier libraries. I felt that perhaps I should say a few Hail Mary’s. However, I didn't and by the end of the first set I was saying Hail Ayanna!
I’d seen Ayanna (Witter-Johnson) at The Cluny a year or two back and she left an impression on me then.
The girl did the same tonight.
Slender and graceful, Ayanna bows the cello, then slaps the strings with the bow, and then moves into pizzicato mode. Oh yes, and she sings as well. In fact Ayanna sings very well. It’s a voice that sounds as if it’s travelled the Freeways as well as the country roads. Occasionally the cello becomes a percussive instrument as she gently taps the back and sides of the mellow toned instrument.
After Roxanne, for a well deserved encore, Ms. Witter-Johnson moved to the piano and sang and played a piece entitled Truthfully and, truthfully, this had been quite a delightful set.
Kairos 4tet: Adam Waldmann (ten/sop/composition; Ivo Neame (pno); Jasper Hoiby (bs); Jon Scott (dms).
The set opened with a piece written by Waldmann for a friends wedding. Listening to the long, drawn out theme I wondered what the bride’s mother thought of it all. It was interesting. His soprano seemed to be in need of some TLC and he exited stage right to effect some temporary repair with an elastic band. Where would sax players be without elastic bands?
In the meantime, pianist Neame played a stonker of a piano solo that brought to mind the late Michel Petrucciani – Man of the Match award for Neame surely?
Not that the others were far behind. Waldmann, particularly on tenor, was outstanding, Hoiby carried on the tradition of great Danish bass playing (remember NHOP?) and Scott impressed in his extended drum solo.
This was a Jazz Services sponsored/Sage/JNE presentation that was enjoyed by the 50 or so present.
Lance.

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