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HOWAY THE LADS!

Bebop Spoken There

John McLaughlin: '' A Love Supreme coincided with my search for meaning in life". (DownBeat, March 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

17873 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 194 of them this year alone and, so far, 41 this month (March 14).

From This Moment On ...

MARCH 2025.

Sat 15: Hot Teapots @ St Augustine’s Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm.
Sat 15: Lagos to Longbenton + Belladonna @ Whitley Bay Big Social, Whitley Road, Whitley Bay. 2:00pm. Free. Afrobeat/jazz fusion + soul/funk/R&B
Sat 15: Creakin’ Bones @ Billy Bootleggers. Ouseburn, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free.
Sat 15: Joseph Carville Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 15: Is This Jazz? @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Tickets: www.eventbrite.co.uk. Performances by Mu Quintet, Jinjé, A Brief Utopia, John Pope & Co + André Marmot (author of Unapologetic Expression: The Inside Story of the UK Jazz Explosion) in conversation + DJ sets ‘til 3:00am. ‘A Festival of New Jazz’.
Sat 15: Vintage Explosion @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 7:30pm. SOLD OUT!
Sat 15: Alligator Gumbo @ The Forum, Darlington. 7:30pm. £15.00.
Sat 15: One Night Standards @ The White Room, Stanley. 8:00pm. £8.67 (inc. bf). Note - previously advertised Salty Dogs cancelled.
Sat 15: Howlin’ Mat @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Blues guitar.

Sun 16: Jason Isaacs @ STACK, Exchange Sq., Middlesbrough. 1:00-2:45pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sun 16: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 16: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 16: Pearl Blossoms @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Ragtime.
Sun 16: Hot 8 Brass Band @ Wylam Brewery. 7:30pm. ‘Big Tuba Tour’.
Sun 16: ARQ @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Sun 16: Air4ce @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 8:30pm (8:00pm doors). £12.00.; £10.00. Tom Atkinson’s all-star band (line-up inc. Lindsay Hannon & Sue Ferris).
Sun 16: Jazz Jam @ Fabio’s, Saddler St., Durham. 8:00pm. Free. A Durham University Jazz Society promotion. All welcome.

Mon 17: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 17: Jamie Toms Quartet @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £10.00.

Tue 18: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Laurence Harrison, Paul Grainger, Tim Johnston.
Tue 18: Phil Bancroft’s Beautiful Storm @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £13.20 & £11.00.. A JNE-Gem Arts co-promotion.

Wed 19: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 19: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 19: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 20: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, Holystone. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 20: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: Nicknames.
Thu 20: Terri Green Experience @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £15.90.
Thu 20: Lindsay Hannon Trio @ The Harbour View, Roker, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Hannon’s ‘Tom Waits for No Man’ set.
Thu 20: Ray Stubbs R&B All Stars @ Mill Tavern, Hebburn. 8:30pm. Free.

Fri 21: Paul Skerritt @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 21: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 21: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 21: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 21: Giles Strong Quartet @ 1719, Hendon, Sunderland. 7:30pm. CANCELLED!
Fri 21: New Century Ragtime Orchestra @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Featuring special guest Martin Litton (piano).

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, November 05, 2013

Tête à Tête with Cécile McLorin Salvant

(By Debra Milne).
(Photo Cécile (right) with Jean-Francois Bonnel and Daryl Sherman)
By the time I catch up with Cécile McLorin Salvant, it is towards the end of the Whitley Bay Classic Jazz Party, after her 2nd set of the day, which was devoted to ‘Empress of the Blues’ Bessie Smith. Cécile has performed here several times, and was first brought along  in 2009 by the French reedsman Jean-Francois Bonnel, with whom she studied and performed  for a number of years.  It is particularly poignant that the festival’s founder, the greatly missed Mike Durham,  triggered   her extensive  study  of the legendary singer, by asking her to perform more Bessie Smith repertoire at this event. 
Cécile’s musical training was initially classical before she focussed on jazz, and her début album ‘Womanchild’  reflects her  breadth of interest in American musical heritage, combined with a  more contemporary approach with much of the material. Her vocal technique is excellent, and I ask whether  this is due to her classical background. She thinks not, as voice projection without a microphone is very important in classical singing, whereas in jazz the interpretation of spoken word is at the forefront.  As if to reinforce  this point, whilst we are talking several festival goers stop to relate (in French or  in English)  how much they enjoyed her Bessie Smith set, and how moved they were by her singing .  She  cites many other influences as a jazz vocalist,  and  has spent a lot of time listening to Betty Carter, as well as  a host of others including Louis Armstrong, Sarah Vaughan, Billie Holiday, Shirley Horn, Blossom Dearie, Dinah Washington  and Nancy Wilson.
Jazz in all its forms seems peripheral to popular culture in the UK, so does Cécile feel it is more mainstream in the US? Not really, she says, the audience is diminishing and mainly older, with  occasional exceptions  such as at Dizzy’s in NYC which is  frequented by a lot of music students and their arty friends. Jazz is never on mainstream TV. Even in New York, the range and quality of musicians seems reduced compared to her impression of 20-30 years ago. Cécile  may have access to some of the best players around, but those with a genuine love of ‘20s and ‘30s jazz are scarce, and tend to be  more interested  in  the instrumental  perspective.  I note that, similarly, the musicians in the various sets this weekend do seem pretty obsessed with the recreation of legendary  arrangements, whereas her focus is on the interpretation of lyrics, rather than recreating  an icon from the past.
So what are Cécile's plans for the future? In the coming year she plans to record her second album, but the material, personnel and recording dates are still to be finalised. It probably will be a selection of lesser known jazz standards, and possibly 1 or 2 originals. She is writing material but feels that it is not ready to be recorded, comparing her position to that of an unnamed poet who  said that the first 200 compositions  had to be written (badly), before one was able to create good poems.  Meanwhile, she has a busy schedule performing worldwide, in Europe, North and South America and Japan, with artists such as the Christian McBride Trio and Wynton Marsalis, the latter at the Lincoln Center. It seems that her career is on the brink of a big change.  She modestly denies this,  however, when I suggest that her next visit to north-east England is more likely to be at a bigger venue such as Sage Gateshead, Cécile  is most enthusiastic.  But our time  for conversation is up, as she has to go and prepare for possibly her last ever  performance at the Whitley Bay Classic Jazz Party, in a set of later Ellingtonia.  She may now be moving  on  in  her  journey  to  internationally acclaimed jazz singer,  but the experience Cécile McLorin Salvant has gained from her participation in this unique event is likely to have  a  significant  influence on her entire career.
Debra Milne.

1 comment :

Lance said...

Debra, Cécile's CD may or may not be the CD of the year. Her gig's are in the running but, irrespective, this has to be our interview of the year!

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