Bebop Spoken There

Ludovic Beier (Django Festival Allstars): ''Manouche means 'free man,' and gypsies have been travelers since they migrated west from India to Europe.'' (DownBeat March, 2026)

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

18383 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 18 years ago. 247 of them this year alone and, so far this month (Mar. 17 ), 57

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

From This Moment On

March

Mon 30: Gerry Richardson Quartet @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 1:00pm.
Mon 30: Friends of Jazz @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 31: Bede Trio @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. Albert Hills Wright (alto sax); Finn Carter (piano); Michael Dunlop (double bass).

April

Wed 01: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 01: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 01: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 02: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £5.00. Subject: Musicians playing classical & orchestral music.
Thu 02: The Noel Dennis Band @ Prohibition Bar, Albert Road, Middlesbrough TS1 2RU. 7:00pm (doors). £10.84. Quartet plus special guest Zoë Gilby. Over 21s only.
Thu 02: Renegade Brass Band @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors).
Thu 02: Shalala @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £7.00. adv..
Thu 02: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm.

Friday, February 15, 2013

CD Review - Charles Lloyd/Jason Moran: Hagar’s Song

Charles Lloyd  - Reeds,  Jason Moran- Piano.
(Review by Steve Horowitz)
This is a classic Saxophone – Piano duo. Lloyd, a 60’s, legend and his current quartet’s pianist Moran combine seamlessly and are clearly at ease in their own musical company.
The album begins with a series of classic tunes written by the greats  Pretty Girl (Strayhorn), Mood Indigo (The Duke), and Bess you is my Woman Now (Gershwin)  are all played with grace and subtlety with a suitable addition of melancholy  and bluesiness where required, The next 3 tracks. A Charles Lloyd composition Pictogram is then sandwiched between two classic ballads All About Ronnie (Joe Greene),  and You’ve Changed (Carl Fischer).  
This brings us to the title suite Hagar’s Song named after  Lloyd’s  Great – Great - Grandmother who was taken from her parents in Mississippi aged 10 and sold to a slave trader. The peace is highly evocative  and moving of what was a tragic period in  Lloyd’s own personal history. Lloyd alternates between tenor and alto saxes and tenor and alto flutes and is complemented beautifully by Moran’s  tender piano playing.
The album concludes with Rosetta (Earl Hines) and then two numbers from 60’s rock icons - Bob Dylan’s  I Shall be Released and finally and completely out of the blue a real mellow and hypnotic version of Brian Wilson’s God Only Knows.
Charles Lloyd may shortly be celebrating his 75th birthday but this album  proves that he his still a force to be reckoned with especially when teamed up with the youthful 37 year old Jason Moran.
Charles Lloyd/Jason Moran: Hagar’s Song is available on the ECM label from Feb. 15
Steve Horowitz.

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