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Bebop Spoken There

Kurt Elling: ''There's something to learn from every musician you play with''. (DownBeat, December 2024).

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

17630 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 904 of them this year alone and, so far, 49 this month (Dec. 20).

From This Moment On ...

December

Wed 25: Wot? No jazz!

Thu 26: The Boneshakers @ Tyne Bar, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. The 17th annual Boneshakers’ Shindig.

Fri 27: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 27: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free. Business as usual!.
Fri 27: Jason Isaacs @ Seaburn STACK, Seaburn. 3:30-5:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Fri 27: Michael Woods @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Country blues guitar & vocals.

Sat 28: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 11:30am. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 28: Fri 20: Castillo Nuevo @ Revoluçion de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30pm. Free.
Sat 28: Jude Murphy, Rich Herdman & Giles Strong @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sat 28: Ray Stubbs R & B All-Stars @ Billy Bootlegger’s, Stepney Bank, Newcastle. 9:00pm. Free.

Sun 29: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 29: Alexia Gardner Quintet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 30: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 30: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Wheatsheaf, Benton Sq., Whitley Road, Palmersville NE12 9SU. Tel: 0191 266 8137. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 30: Jason Isaacs @ STACK, Exchange Sq., Middlesbrough. 4:00-6:00pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.

Tue 31: Jason Isaacs @ Seaburn STACK, Seaburn. 12 noon-2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Tue 31: Lapwing Trio @ Wallington (National Trust), Cambo, Morpeth NE61 4AR. 12 noon & 2:00pm. Admission to site £19.00.
Tue 31: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 3:30-5:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Tue 31: Archie Brown & Friends @ Tyne Bar, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 4:00-8:00pm. 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

Tuesday, April 09, 2013

GIJF Day 3: Jazz Words Part 2 - Christine Tobin’s Sailing To Byzantium.


Christine Tobin (vocals and Composer); Phil Robson (guitar); Kate Short (cello); Liam Noble (piano); Dave Whitford (double bass).
(Review by Ann Alex.)
(Christine Tobin: Photo credit, Mark Savage.)
The talented Christine Tobin won a British Composer Award in 2012 for this work, which I found mostly enjoyable and true to the spirit of WB Yeats poems, which I know quite well. I’d be interested to know what people, who didn't know much of Yeats’ work, made of this.

This was very evocative material, starting with a reading of the poem The Lake Isle of Innisfree, from a CD, a poem many people may remember from their school-days   The other poems were sung with great feeling by Ms Tobin, with very skilled and appropriate accompaniment.  For instance, When You Are Old And Grey was a slow melodic tune, as suitable for a love poem, written about Yeats’ life-long unrequited love for Maude Gonne, who was married to one of the men involved in the ill-fated Easter Rising at Dublin in 1916.  The next poem concerned Celtic mythology, which interested Yeats, and began with a haunting cello introduction.  The Wild Swans At Coole concerned memories from Yeats’ younger days, with gliding swan-like music from guitar and cello.  The mood changed completely for The Second Coming, about a possible catastrophic future for the world, ‘ And what rough beast, its hour come round at last’, she sang, to shrieks and wild guitar and cello sounds, and dramatic beastly breathing into the microphone.  I thought this worked well, but not everyone liked this, as two of the audience left at this point.
I’m not sure if the final 2 poems were really successful.  The Long Legged Fly was read through a megaphone, and I couldn't understand why this was, as this difficult poem appears to be about various historical events. It would have been good to hear the poem mentioned in the title of the session, Sailing To Byzantium, in which Yeats meditates about old age, but Ms Tobin explained that its inclusion had not proved feasible. 
The short discussion which followed allowed the originators of both the Yeats and Larkin projects to outline how they had tackled their work, with comments from local award-winning poet Sean O’Brien. The discussion then developed into talk about the nature of art and music in general.
Both these jazz and poetry sessions were enjoyable and thought provoking.  
Ann Alex.

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