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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

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 w. Graham Hardy @ The Pele, Corbridge. 7:00pm. £10.00. (inc. a welcome drink & table reservation). Book at: www.drinks@thepele.co.uk. A ‘Jazz at the Pele’ promotion.
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.

Sun 19: Glenn Miller Orchestra UK @ Glasshouse, Gateshead. 3:00pm. ‘Glenn Miller & the Rat Pack Era’.
Sun 19: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 19: Spilt Milk @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 5:15-7:00pm. Free. Nolan Brothers (vocal harmonies).
Sun 19: Tenement Jazz Band @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 19: Nick Ross Orchestra @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 7:30pm.
Sun 19: Freight Train (Tobin/Noble/Clarvis) @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 20: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 21: ???

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, March 01, 2013

Keith Jarrett - Royal Festival Hall, London - Monday 25th February 2013 (warning - this review may contain references to flash photography)

Keith Jarrett (piano)
(Review by JC.)
Some time in the early 1980s, I travelled right across London on a dark, wet night to the Royal Festival Hall on the off chance that I might pick up a ticket for that night's Keith Jarrett concert - no chance! When people have tickets for one of his solo performances they go, I thought to myself as I struggled back through London in the rain. So, while traversing the internet one night recently and happening to see he was to appear at the RFH and that tickets were to go on sale at 10am the following morning, I broke the habits of a life time and was sitting at my computer at 9.50am with the RFH web page open and the phone at the ready. I was delighted to get through on the web page at about 2 minutes past 10 but then less so when I saw that about half the seats were already gone - how does that happen? However, based on my early experience, I bought a ticket, leaving the logistics of getting to London and back to Newcastle the following morning for a meeting at 10am to a later date.
I hadn't been in the RFH for quite a while and I had forgotten what a great modernist building it is.  The curved cantilevered boxes on each side reach out into the hall like the open drawers of a bureau and the tiered auditorium looked great as it filled up with fans. There was a palpable sense of excitement in the air.
The support act was someone from the promoters Serious, who came on stage and asked for all mobile phones to be turned off and then initiated a John Cage like moment by saying 'Mr Jarrett would appreciate if there was no coughing or other noise during his performance'. Inevitably, this was followed by about 4' 33" of improvised coughing from the audience.
However, the arrival of 'Mr Jarrett' was greeted with extended applause and he turned towards the hall and bowed to the audience - twice. As he went towards the piano he muttered to himself 'I've never bowed twice before - Hmmm'. So something special was in the offing.
The first item was an intense improvisation, which was followed by a Spanish tinged piece with full Jarrett effects. I was seated on the first floor looking directly down on the piano keyboard, so got a full view of him standing up, shaking his head (and other parts) and stamping his feet as the tune developed.
He was in very chatty form, some of which was hard to hear from my vantage point, but he did ask the audience if there was any chord they would like him to play and then rambled on about the piano being bigger than usual. The gig was developing a surreal fascination.
He then launched into wonderful boogie driven piece followed by a gloriously lyrical free improvisation which left everyone gasping as the first set ended.
The second half carried on as the first had ended. Another boogie influenced piece with lots of body movement and then an avant-garde classical improv with extended vocalese. This was followed by some more beautifully lyrical piano playing, that had the hall entranced. Then a version of Summertime, which recaptured the beauty of the tune (and even you would have loved, Lance). Another piece with a contemporary classical feel led into a really swinging groove.
At the end of the set there was wild applause and true to form KJ preceded his many encores with a set piece 'rage against the machine' (or electronic device, in this case). This had been a running theme throughout the evening, but you got the sense that although it still bugs him he is resigned to it being a feature of concerts wherever he goes. More in sorrow than in anger he railed against the few people taking photos in the audience saying 'How can using a little electronic device be more important that 64 years studying an instrument?' (Yes, he did start playing when he was three years old). However, I am with him on this and can't bear the ubiquity of mobile phones in all situations.
Then, rant over, he played numerous encores, each one followed by standing ovations and much bowing.  A wonderful Miss Otis Regrets, a riproaring blues and a glorious ballad.
A unique and fabulous concert and well worth a night in the most spartan hotel I have ever stayed in. I asked for an early morning call to be told there were no phones in the rooms, not only that but there was absolutely nothing in the bedroom apart from a bed and a tiny piece of soap. According to the Daily Mail most prisons have better facilities, and this was a national chain (with the letters T and L in its name).
JC
ps - BSH jokes that Keith Jarrett might have played at the Bridge, the Cherrytree or sundry other places in the North East instead of the RFH but something even more unlikely is a note on the Keith Jarrett unofficial web site (keithjarrett.org) that he might have played at the Fox Inn in Asbourne, Co. Meath in Ireland in 1971 for a week! I was still living in Dublin at that time and we would have been camping inside the pub all week if that was true.

3 comments :

Robert Laing said...

Does he still make awful noises that are a cross between farmyard animals and excited monkeys that totally detract from his playing?

dominic said...

I wouldn't say it detracts from his playing, actually it's inspiring how involved and dedicated to the music he is. KJ's music is not for the easily-distracted, so if some errant vocalising puts you off, you might prefer some pop music.

htc said...

veryyyyyyyy gooooood hmmmmm

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