Total Pageviews

Bebop Spoken There

Van Morrison: ''Basically, I'm coming from jazz. Not pop, not rock, not what's commercial. That's where I started, and that's still where I am. I feel the same as I did when I was listening to Louis Armstrong, Lead Belly, Jelly Roll Morton''. (The Northern Echo, 12 June 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

17,533 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 497 of them this year alone and, so far, 75 this month (June 23).

From This Moment On ...

JUNE 2025

Wed 25: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 25: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 25: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 25: The Magpies of Swing @ The Roxy, Leadgate, Co. Durham. 7:30pm. A Ginger Jitterbugs swing dance event, all welcome.

Thu 26: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: Brass Instruments & the use of mutes.

Fri 27: Lewis Watson Quartet @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm.
Fri 27: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 27: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 27: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 27: Strictly Smokin’ Big Band @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 8:00pm. ‘Time After Time’.

Sat 28: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Linskill Centre, North Shields. 4:00-10:30pm. Free, but ticketed (over 18s only). A multi-bill, multi-genre ‘Canny Shiels - North Shields 800’ event. Three Kings Brewery on site.
Sat 28: Joseph Carville Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 28: Jude Murphy & Dan Stanley @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 29: Jude Murphy & Dan Stanley @ Wallington, Northumberland. 12 noon-1:00pm & 2:00-3:00pm. Tel: 01670 773606. National Trust admission prices apply. ‘Tunes in the Blooms’.
Sun 29: Bal Bruch Social Dance @ As You Like It, Sandyford, Newcastle. 12:30pm. Free. Dance event with Hot Club de Heaton performing live (2:00-3:00pm). A ‘Jar on the Bar’ event.
Sun 29: Glenn Miller Orchestra UK @ The Fire Station, Sunderland. 3:00pm. Ray McVay & co.
Sun 29: Ruth Lambert Trio @ Juke Shed, North Shields. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 29: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 29: Zoë Gilby w. Ryton Choral Society @ Corbridge Middle School NE45 5HX. 5:30pm. £15.00. Gilby w jazz trio & choir. ‘An evening of jazz song for choir’.
Sun 29: Jazz Jam Sandwich! @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 29: John Wilson & the Sinfonia of London @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 7:30pm. ‘Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Greatest Hits’.
Sun 29: Out Front @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. JNE.

Mon 30: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club (1:00pm). Free.

JULY 2025

Tue 01: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Joe Steels, Paul Grainger, Mark Robertson.
Tue 01: Customs House Big Band @ Masonic Hall, Ferryhill. 7:30pm. Free.

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, January 18, 2013

CD Review: HULLABALOO – DAVE MANINGTON’S RIFF RAFF


Brigitte Bereha – vocals; Tomas Challenger – tenor saxophone; Ivo Neame – piano, Fender Rhodes, Keyboards, accordion; Rob Updegraff – guitar; Dave Manington – double bass; Tim Giles – drums percussion.
(Review by Debra Milne.)
Hullabaloo, an album by Dave Manington’s Riff Raff project, developed from several years of improvisation and collaboration, with a number of London based contemporary jazz musicians. He sets his stall out in the first track, Agile, which begins with a sweet rhythmic figure, then moves through a number of time signatures and key changes, and includes a freely improvised section with bass and drums.
 Brigitte Bereha uses her voice instrumentally on this and most of the tracks. She has a supple, light sound which complements the other instruments, either following a distinct melodic line, or in harmony with the tenor sax or double bass.  Her contribution is exemplified in Lingering At The Gravy, and follows Tim Giles introductory solo, featuring delicate cymbal work and drum rolls.
The influence of the drummer‘s fluid style on Manington’s playing and writing is reflected in several tracks, where the bass is the rhythmic anchor, allowing Giles to go off on percussionary diversions.  Bereha wrote lyrics to 3 compositions, and Catch Me The Moon comes closest (but not very) to a traditional jazz ballad, with a vocal & piano introduction. As with the rest of the album, there is no obvious ‘head – solos – head‘  structure, but periods where different instruments come to the fore, either individually or in combination.  There are European influences too: Pedro Bernardo was inspired by a stay in a Spanish hill town, and conveys the relaxed pace of life, building into dynamic solos from Rob Epdegraff on guitar and Tomas Challenger on tenor sax. Ivo Neame gets his accordion out for You Can’t Eat Crisps To That, playing an up-beat, Balkan-influenced groove,   which is developed and supplemented by additional rhythms and motifs by the rest of the ensembleManington named the CD after the second track Hullabaloo - a great noise or excitement,  but that  is a simplistic description  of a much more compelling musical conversation.
Loop Records Loop 1015 – distributed by Cadiz – release date January 21 2012.
Album launch date: The Vortex Jazz Club, January 28, 2013.

Debra Milne.

No comments :

Blog Archive