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Bebop Spoken There

Sullivan Fortner: ''I always judge it by the bass player: If the bass player is happy, it's going to be a good night". (DownBeat, February 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

17777 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 98 of them this year alone and, so far, 23 this month (Feb.8).

From This Moment On ...

February 2025

Sun 09: The New ’58 Jazz Collective @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 09: Am Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 09: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 09: Glenn Miller & Big Band Spectacular @ The Forum, Billingham. 3:00pm.
Sun 09: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 09: Tom Remon & Mark Williams @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 09: Rod Oughton’s Tomorrow’s New Quartet with Ben van Helder @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Line-up inc. Deschanel Gordon.
Sun 09: Jazz Jam @ Fabio’s, Saddler St., Durham. 8:00pm. Free. A Durham University Jazz Society promotion. All welcome.

Mon 10: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 11: Steve Summers Quintet @ Newcastle House Hotel, Rothbury. 7:30pm.

Wed 12: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 12: Jam session @ The Tannery, Gilesgate, Hexham. 7:00-9:00pm. Free.
Wed 12: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 12: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 13: Student Performances @ King’s Hall, Newcastle University. 4:00pm. Free. Inc. Olly Styles (tenor sax).
Thu 13: MOBO Awards Fringe 2025: Artist Showcase @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 7:00pm. Free (ticketed). Line-up inc. Hannabiell & Midnight Blue.
Thu 13: Indigo Jazz Voices @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:45pm. £5.00.

Fri 14: John Rowland Trio @ Jesmond Library, Newcastle. 12:30-1:30pm. £5.00. at the door. New second Friday in the month concert series.
Fri 14: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 14: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 14: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 14: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 4:00-6:00pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Fri 14: Archipelago + Anna Tempest @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm. £12.00., £10.00., £8.00.
Fri 14: Paul Jones & Dave Kelly @ Alnwick Playhouse. 7:30pm. Rhythm & blues.
Fri 14: Alexia Gardner Quintet @ The White Room, Stanley. 7:45pm.
Fri 14: Jazz Sabbath @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm.

Sat 15: Joseph Carville Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 15: James Birkett & Emma Fisk @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 7:30pm. £15.00. at the door; £14.35. (inc £0.35 bf) online, in advance.
Sat 15: Elkie Brooks @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 7:30pm. ‘The Long Farewell Tour’.
Sat 15: Milne Glendinning Band @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

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, February 09, 2014

CD Review: Chris Ingham Quartet - Hoagy.

Chris Ingham (pno/vcl); Paul Higgs (tpt); Rev. Andrew Brown (bs); Russ Morgan (dms).
(Review by Lance).
No offence ladies - I loves y'all - but it is such a treat to have a male vocalist invading your, what sometimes seems to be, overpopulated ranks. That Chris Ingham also plays mighty fine piano is another bonus but the icing on the cake is the material - Hoagy Carmichael. 
Unlike the Broadway Grandmasters of popular song - Kern, Berlin, Porter, Rodgers and Gershwin - whose music was ultimately taken from the quasi operatic settings of the composers and enhanced by jazz musicians and popular crooners, Carmichael's classics were aimed at the jazz and popular market from the moment he put pen to manuscript paper. Add Hoagy's laconic vocal presence and his sympathetic piano and you have the composite all-rounder.
Fast forward to 2014 - enter the Chris Ingham Quartet.
Whilst imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery, and there is plenty of sincere flattery here, this is no mere hanging on the shirt-tails of the great man. Ingham has his own personality vocal-wise and his piano playing is marginally more contemporary without losing the flavour of the originals.
Higgs' trumpet playing, whether open or using a variety of mutes, slots nicely into the idiom. Perhaps if Bix had lived longer he may have went in this direction.
On Bixian matters, my favourite track wasn't actually written or even recorded by Hoagy. Dear Bix was composed by Dave Frishberg. Dedicated to the late charismatic genius Bix Beiderbecke it is one of the most emotional pieces I've ever listened to. If we could shift time scales around I think Hoagy would have sung this at Bix's funeral. It almost had me in tears such was the emotive content.
It's not a tune you hear too often - Roly Veitch does a fine version. Next time you're at Blaydon ask him nicely!
The other Carmichael classics on this outstanding CD are - Riverboat Shuffle; Washboard Blues; Old Music Master; Memphis in June; My Resistance is Low; Lazy Bones; Hong Kong Blues; How Little We Know; Old Man Harlem; Baltimore Oriole; Old Buttermilk Sky; Skylark; Huggin' and Chalkin'; Georgia on my Mind and Stardust.
Special mention also of bass and drums who provide the perfect underpinnings. Perhaps Rev. Brown received spiritual guidance or maybe he just practiced in between sermons. Morgan, no relation to the bandleader who recorded So Tired many decades ago, may not have been tired but he is certainly relaxed.
Final accolade. The contrived antiquity of the CD cover is just so appropriate.
The CD: Chris Ingham Quartet - Hoagy is available from March 14, 2014 on Downhome Records.
Lance.

1 comment :

Liz said...

Hoagy, a master of all he performed and wrote. His work was so diverse. When I listen to Memphis in June, I can feel the heat...it's palpable

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