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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

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.

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.

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

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

Sunday, January 06, 2013

What I Did in the New Year Holidays by Ann Alex

Reminds you of stuff the teacher made you write in the junior school, doesn't it ?  This blog truly does include many types of writing!  Anyway, I stayed at Brecon in mid-Wales, on a leisure activities holiday, organised by a firm that I travel with regularly.  The subject was The Joy of Music and the tutor was one, Chris Howes, jazz pianist, teacher of adults and skilled raconteur.  Jazzers I've spoken to seem recall the name but not many details.  I think Chris would be amused by this.  Brecon Jazz Festival perhaps?  Anyway, many types of music were explored, with excellent powerpoint presentations.  This tutor is something of an expert on the slave song origins of blues and jazz, so I learned lots. 
Other information conveyed included an analysis of a typical 32 bar song (Blue Moon); a run-down of what was happening musically between Stan Getz (tenor sax) and Kenny Barron (piano) in East of the Sun; then came Frank Sinatra with How Deep is the Ocean, to illustrate Sammy Cahn’s statement that it’s not possible to sing such a song without becoming involved with the meaning of the words.  The song-writing partnership of Rodgers and Hart was interesting.  Apparently Rodgers was quite dour but Hart was an emotional type, and he had the ability to come up with instant rhythmic, rhymed lines as if it was part of normal conversation.  Hart did the words first and Rodgers produced the music later.  Their partnership was far longer than that of Rodgers and Hammerstein.  We were told that jazz musicians find the songs written by Hart much more satisfying to play.  Now I think of it, you don’t hear many jazz musicians playing songs from such shows as Oklahoma, do you?
We learned that pianist Ellis Larkins produced his unusually mellow tone by having the damper pedal on the piano actually tied down, to save having to keep it depressed by foot all the time, as illustrated by his accompaniment for Ella Fitzgerald on You Turned the Tables on Me.  And did you know that Irving Berlin couldn't speak a word of English when he arrived in the States, yet his song-writing shows a good grasp of everyday speech?  And he never really learned to play an instrument properly and played the piano on the black notes only.
Other music we heard included Gil Evans arrangement for the wonderful trumpet version of  the Rodriguez Guitar Concerto by Miles, and Half the Fun from Duke Ellington’s Shakespearean Suite Such Sweet Thunder.  This is the bit about Antony and Cleopatra, and it had a definite Egyptian feel, with an insistent rhythm and excellent percussion.  Apparently the last long sax note has to be done with circular breathing, which isn’t recommended by doctors, we were told.
A good time was had by all – apart from the sad text I received….
Ann Alex.

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