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

18122 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 1086 of them this year alone and, so far this month (Dec. 31), 100

From This Moment On ...

JANUARY 2026

Wed 07: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 07: FILM: Blue Moon @ The Forum Cinema, Hexham. 2:00pm. Dir. Richard Linklater’s biopic of Lorenz Hart.
Wed 07: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 07: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 08: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £5.00. Subject: Jazz Milestones of 1976.

Fri 09: The House Trio @ Bishop Auckland Methodist Church. 1:00pm. £9.00.
Fri 09: Nauta @ Jesmond Library, Newcastle. 1:00pm. £5.00. Trio: Jacob Egglestone, Jamie Watkins, Bailey Rudd.
Fri 09: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 09: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 09: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 09: Warren James & the Lonesome Travellers @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm. £15.00.
Fri 09: The Blue Kings @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £10.00. (£8.00. adv.). All-star band.

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.

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, September 03, 2013

CD Review: Nicky Schrire - Space And Time: Songs For Voice and Piano

Nicky Schrire (voice and arrangements) ; Fabian Almazan, Gerald Clayton, Gil Goldstein (piano, various tracks)
(Review by Ann Alex.)
Lance handed this CD to me and said ‘This is jazz Lieder’, and he couldn't have been more right.  These well-sung songs with beautiful piano accompaniment are as skilled as any song cycle from Schubert or Mahler.  Ms Schrire performs with a youthful, unaffected tone, tender yet strong, with subtle improvisation and an unusual type of vocalese on some tracks, which wanders far from the tune but always returns to base.

There are 4 original songs: A Song For A Simple Time (a cheerful celebration of song with the piano doing a fairground type of tune, round and round, and lyrics such as ‘collect all the notes and then set them free’.): And So I Sing (the singer compares herself to a bird and the piano soars upwards): When You Go (a sad love song, sung pleadingly) Space & Time, the final track, which has a spiritual feel.  Add to that 4 standards, You're Nobody Till Somebody Loves You; I Wish You Love; Someone To Watch Over Me; and Say It Isn't So and 4 general rock-type songs Teardrop; Bless The Telephone; Seliyana and George Harrison’s  Here Comes The Sun, and you have a well-balanced collection. For example, Someone To Watch Over Me has the verse sung a capella, discreet piano and pleasing wandering vocalese. Seliyana has an African sound, (wish I knew more about this song) and Bless The Telephone sings the praises of the part played by that piece of equipment in love affairs!
I’ll be extremely pleased to add this CD to my collection.
Nicky Schrire - Space And Time is released on September 10 on Magenta Records.
Ann Alex


1 comment :

Nicky Schrire (on F/b) said...

"Lance handed this CD to me and said ‘This is jazz Lieder’, and he couldn't have been more right. These well-sung songs with beautiful piano accompaniment are as skilled as any song cycle from Schubert or Mahler."

Thanks to Ann Alex (and Lance Liddle!) at Bebop Spoken Here for this nice review! I love the above quote. I'll take it.

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