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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, January 21, 2014

CD Review: Tim Kliphuis - The Grappelli Album

Tim Kliphuis (vln); Nigel Clark (gtr); Roy Percy (bs).
A few years back, at the Saville Exchange, North Shields - remember those wonderful sessions the late Mike Durham organised there and the top class musicians he brought to the historic building? Ken Peplowski, Marty Grosz and Daryl Sherman to mention but a few. Oh yes, and there was a Dutch violinist - Tim Kliphuis, in the company of Keith Stephen, Roly Veitch and Bruce Rollo. I remember it well, the man from Holland swung it like the man from Paris! Let me tell you he does it again here - Grappelli Lives!
The opening Honeysuckle Rose reminded me the song had a verse. I first encountered Honeysuckle Rose in a book of Fats Waller tunes and, in those days (I was about 14), I assumed that if a piece of music had a verse it was played as part of the tune or else why bother writing it? So I learned the verse. As my education progressed I discovered that playing the verse was the exception rather than the norm. Shame. Might as well cut out the When shall we three meet again, in thunder lightning or in rain? from the opening scene of  Macbeth.
However, I digress, this is jazz violin at its finest and, dare I say it? Unlike Stephane, Tim doesn't have the chugging clunk clunk Hot Club rhythm to hold him back.
Don't get me wrong, Django was marvellous and the bands that recreate the Hot Club music such as Djangologie do it very well but I have to say that Grappelli sounded so much better in his later years with Martin Taylor, John Etheridge etc.
I'm going to savour this disc as long as I have taste buds in my ears. Not just the classic gassers such as Honeysuckle, I Surrender Dear, How High the Moon, J'Attendrai, Shine, The Nearness of You and the Hot Club faves - Swing 39 and Stompin' at Decca - but also the five rare Grappelli compositions relatively unknown to other than the connoisseur - every one a gem.
On guitar Clark, makes no attempt to re-create the Django role, although he does occasionally nod in the gypsy's direction, but instead takes the latterday approach of Grappelli's later sidemen and does it brilliantly.
Roy Percy - Scotland's Mr Bassman lives up to his title.
Love it!
Lance.  

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