Bebop Spoken There

Donovan Haffner ('Best Newcomer' 2025 Parliamentary Jazz Awards): ''I got into jazz the first time I picked up a saxophone!" - Jazzwise Dec 25/Jan 26

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

18146 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 24 of them this year alone and, so far this month (Jan. 7), 24

From This Moment On ...

JANUARY 2026

Sat 10: Mark Toomey Quintet @ St Peter’s Church, Stockton-on-Tees. 7:30pm. £12.00. (inc. pie & peas). Tickets from: 07749 255038.

Sun 11: New ’58 Jazz Collective @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 11: Am Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 11: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 11: Eva Fox & the Sound Hounds @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 12: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 12: Saltburn Big Band @ Saltburn House Hotel. 7:00-9:00pm. Free.

Tue 13: Milne Glendinning Band @ Newcastle House Hotel, Rothbury. 7:30pm. £11.00. Coquetdale Jazz.
Tue 13: Jazz Jam Sandwich @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Wed 14: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 14: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 14: Jam Session @ The Tannery, Hexham. 7:00pm. Free.
Wed 14: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 15: Mark Toomey Quartet @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm. Free. Quartet + guest Paul Donnelly (guitar).

Fri 16: Giles Strong Quartet @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. £8.00. SOLD OUT!
Fri 16: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 16: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 16: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 16: Darlington Big Band @ The Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. Opus 4 Jazz Club.
Fri 16: Leeds City Stompers @ Billy Bootleggers, Newcastle. 9:00pm. 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

Sunday, May 19, 2013

CD Review: Raquel Cepeda - I'm Confessin'


Bob Chadwick -  flutes; David Caceres - alto & tenor sax; Warren Sneed – tenor & soprano sax; Dennis Dotson  - trumpet; Paul English - piano, flugel horn, trumpet; Thomas Hulten  trombone; Brennen Nase - guitar; Guil Fonseca - guitar; Jeffry Eckels - Bass; Dean Macomber  - drums; Jorge Orta - Cro-Cro, percussion; Tony Parana - percussion; James Metcalfe  - percussion; Marcia Sterling - violin; Oleg Sulyga  - violin; Dan Strba – viola; Shino Hayashi -  cello.
(Review by Debra).
Venezuelan  jazz singer Raquel Cepeda is now resident in Houston, on account of her day job (no doubt far better paid) , as a geologist in the Texas oil industry.  Her solo debut is of jazz standards and a number of South American   bossa  novas, sambas and boleros. 
 Tonada de Luna LLena’, by compatriot Simon Diaz, is the outstanding track, with Cepeda’s  powerful, warm timbred vocal overlying  Andean flutes and percussion. Her expressiveness is similarly effective  in  the  ballad s which make up much of the rest of the album, particularly  Somios Novios and Besame Mucho.  The up tempo  numbers – What Is This Thing Called Love?, I Don’t Know Enough About You, East of The Sun -  give  the band,  led by Paul English, pianist and album producer, a chance to really swing, and the opportunity for the various  musicians to make solo contributions. However, there  is little improvisation from Cepeda, nor much variation in the phrasing or timing of her vocal delivery of the lyrics. Not surprisingly,  her fine voice is really  at home with  the Latin component of her repertoire, and that is likely to be  where her musical future, and possibly also her audience,  lies….. 
Debra.

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