Bebop Spoken There

Melissa Aldana: ''Having to play a ballads album, which is something very revealing for a saxophone player, would help me to question some new aspects of how to go deeper into sound." (DownBeat May, 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

18573 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 18 years ago. 437 of them this year alone and, so far this month (May 28) 91

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

May

Sat 30: Giles Strong Quartet @ Langley Tracks, Langley on Tyne NE47 5LA. 5:30pm (doors). £15.00 + £1.50 bf.

Sun 31: Musicians Unlimited: Big Band Blast @ West Hartlepool RFC. 1:00-3:00pm . Free.
Sun 31: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Table reservations (0191 261 8000). Skerritt w. backing tapes.
Sun 31: Sinfonia of London: Tea Dance @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 3:00pm. Free. John Wilson ensemble performing on the concourse. Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, George & Ira Gershwin & more.
Sun 31: Ruth Lambert Trio @ Juke Shed, North Shields. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 31: NUJO Jazz Jam @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm (doors). £3.76.
Sun 31: Joe Steels @ The Pele, Corbridge. 7:00pm. Free (donations direct to the musicians). Joe Steels & Friends.
Sun 31: Ben Haskins Quartet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £14.00., £12.00., £7.00.

June

Mon 01: Friends of Jazz @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 01: Saltburn Big Band @ Saltburn House Hotel. 7:00-9:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Mon 01: CW Stoneking @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). Blues, Americana.

Tue 02: Mark Williams Trio @ Newcastle House Hotel, Rothbury. 7:30pm. £11.00.
Tue 02: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Alan Law, Paul Grainger, John Hirst.
Tue 02: Customs House Big Band @ The Masonic Hall, Ferryhill. 7:30pm. Free.

Wed 03: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 03: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 03: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 04: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ The Millstone, Mill Rise, South Gosforth, Newcastle. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 04: Postmodern Jukebox @ Glasshouse, Gateshead. 7:30pm.
Thu 04: Paul Skerritt @ Angels' Share, St George's Terrace, Jesmond, Newcastle NE2 2SX. 8:00pm. Free. Booking advised (0191 200 1975). Skerritt w. backing tapes.
Thu 04: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm.

Fri 05: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 05: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 05: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 05-Thu 11: FILM: Köln 75 @ Tyneside Cinema, Newcastle. Dir. Ido Fluk. Drama based on the true story of Keith Jarrett’s 1975 concert in Cologne. Screenings TBC.
Fri 05: Pete Tanton & Alan Law @ Jesmond Library, Newcastle. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 05: House of the Black Gardenia: Summer Tyne Swing Festival @ Northumbria University Students’ Union, Newcastle. 7:00pm. £130.00; £95.00; £70.00; £50.00. Note: all day dance event (classes & socials). House of the Black Gardenia evening performance. Day 1/3.
Fri 05: Strictly Smokin’ Big Band + IKS Big Band @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £24.00. Big band double bill. IKS Big Band (Germany).
Fri 05: Jeremy McMurray’s Pocket Jazz Orchestra @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm. £15.00

Thursday, May 02, 2013

MoPoMoSo @ Summerhill Bowling Club. April 29, 2013

(Review by Russell).
Twenty one years and counting. London-based free improv music promoter MoPoMoSo (MOdernismPOstMOdernismSOwhat?) was established in 1991 by John Russell and Chris Burn and by way of celebration a cast of thousands took to the road on a national tour. A Better Noise, Tyneside’s premier promoters of all things improv, usually hole-up in Morden Tower, West Walls, Newcastle or the nearest available telephone box. As hosts of the Newcastle leg of this once in a lifetime tour, the defiantly subversive bunch   looked for somewhere more palatial. A city centre theatre location? An area with significant foot-fall perhaps? No, no, no. A former suburban bowling club in an off-the-beaten-track location…where else? Down the years the Great and the Good have bowled a ball or two on Summerhill’s lauded lawns (WG Grace, no less and Wor Jackie, Newcastle United’s most famous No.9, to name but two). And now, in the year 2013, an undisputed giant of the music walked through the gates. Reeds maestro Evan Parker engaged in quiet conversation, listened to his fellow improvisers as they took to the stage and waited with characteristic patience to make his contribution to the festivities.
The evening began with local improvisers Posset (Joe Murray) and Mariam Rezaei (turntable). Murray has been a familiar face on the scene for a number of years developing a found sound landscape utelising low-fi tapes and voice. Turntablist Rezaei, an occasional collaborator, spun a web of tungsten, snaring Murray and audience in an all too short set. Brevity was of the essence as an ever-changing roster kept to a tight schedule.
The duo of Kay Grant (voice) and clarinetist Alex Ward have developed a highly sophisticated set of improvisations. Grant, from the New York scene, now resident in London, ignited, then, in turn, reacted to Ward’s virtuosic clarinet playing. ‘Telepathic’ doesn’t tell half the story. Seemingly impossible reaction times to each other’s creative excursions - explosive, tangential - rewarded the listener time and again. This was a superb set.
On paper the Alison Blunt Trio looked the pick. Violinist Blunt’s string trio - Benedict Taylor (viola), David Leahy (double bass) - have worked together for three or four years and all three hold down coveted  chairs in the London Improvisers Orchestra. The trio began as improvisers so often do - somewhere, out there, not at the beginning, middle or end, just ‘there’. Ornette Coleman has been doing it for years and this set was nothing short of sensational. The pin-drop, attentive audience listened rapt to a slow movement of exquisite beauty. Then an inattentive member of the bar staff dropped a pint glass shattering the near-silence. This ‘happening’ triggered the most remarkable (and memorable) of reactions; in a nano second all three musicians reacted to the involuntary interruption with a furious eruption of sustained full-on ‘out’ playing. Brilliant! What a set!
The maverick Pat Thomas (piano, keyboards, electronics) arrived in Newcastle with his electronic box of tricks (mini keyboard attached) but no piano. No matter, the man is a genius and he played a blinder. Big beats, cartoon capers and the most dazzling ‘keyboard’ work this side of Art Tatum/Thelonious Monk/Cecil Taylor  had the crowd baying for more - and they got it!
Top of the bill - House Full of Floors - couldn’t go wrong. We were there for Evan. Parker (tenor), John Russell (guitar) and John Edwards (double bass) could not have been more comfortable in one another’s company. Parker, eyes shut tight (sounds familiar!), listened to Russell’s idiosyncratic inventions then sign-posted new directions as Edwards’ physical workout exercised the trio without any concessions to the elder statesmen. A memorable night in Summerhill.  .        
Russell.                                     

2 comments :

Paul Kelly said...

Greetings from the phone box - are there any still in use.
Mopomoso was amazing, great players making exciting music with no hold barred. And a good review. We should do this again!
And huge thanks to Sound and Music and tour producer Alice Eldridge for making it happen.
Paul

diane jones said...

You'll need to find a phone box then Paul since I understand that there will be no future better noises at the Tower.

Excellent review Of a brilliant evening Russell, and yes please do do it again Paul...

diane

Blog Archive