Total Pageviews

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 16: MOBO Song @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 12 noon. Free, performances on the concourse. Line-up inc. Jazz Attack (on stage time TBC) & Jambone (12:20pm).
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: MOBO Awards Fringe 2025: BBC Introducing NE X MOBO Showcase @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 6:00pm. Free (ticketed). Line-up inc. Jambone, Knats, Rivkala, SwanNek.
Sun 16: The Shayo Experience @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 16: Gerry Richardson Quartet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. .

Mon 17: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 17: Matt Forster Quartet @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 1:00pm. £9.00. at the door; £8.20. (inc £0.20 bf) online, in advance.
Mon 17: Russ Morgan Quartet @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £10.00.

Tue 18: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Alan Law, Paul Grainger, John Hirst.

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: James Birkett & Emma Fisk @ King’s Hall, Newcastle University. 1:15pm. Free.
Thu 20: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: Jazz Milestones - 1975.
Thu 20: Renegade Brass Band @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors).
Thu 20: Orange Claw Hammer + Peony @ The Globe, Newcastle.7:30pm. Orange Claw Hammer play Captain Beefheart.
Thu 20: Jeremy McMurray & the Pocket Jazz Orchestra @ Arc, Stockton. 8:00pm. Featuring special guest Zoë Gilby.

Fri 21: JazzMain @ 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: Joe Steels Trio @ The Pele, Corbridge. 7:00pm. £10.00. TBC.
Fri 21: Emma Rawicz w. Strictly Smokin’ Big Band @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm.

Sat 22: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 12:30-2:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 22: Jason Isaacs @ Seaburn STACK, Seaburn. 3:30pm-5:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 22: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 22: Mississippi MacDonald @ Claypath Deli, Durham. 7:00pm. Blues.
Sat 22: Lindsay Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ Old Cinema Laundrette, Durham. 7:45pm. £16.50. SOLD OUT!
Sat 22: Michael Woods @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Country blues guitar & vocals.

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

Friday, May 23, 2014

Francois Carrier Trio @ Recital Rooms, Newcastle Uni. May 22.

 Francois Carrier (alto saxophone & Chinese oboe), Michel Lambert (drums) & Steve Beresford (piano)
(Review by Russell/Photos courtesy of Ken Drew).
Jazz North East’s latest On the Outside promotion featured the French-Canadian duo of reeds man François Carrier and drummer Michel Lambert working with the experienced improvising pianist Steve Beresford.

François Carrier explored the full range of his alto, at times nearing (and sustaining) the sound of the tenor horn. Richly melodic, frequently intense (during the interval Carrier spoke of his admiration for Coltrane), the altoist presented a series of short pieces from a clutch of recordings, which, conveniently, were available at the door. Drummer Michel Lambert, a long-time musical partner of Carrier, is surely a ‘first call’ musician on the Canadian scene. A quiet man, a quiet musician (working extensively with brushes), Lambert listened intently to Carrier and Steve Beresford, frequently executed devastating rhythmic patterns. Carrier’s understanding (and love of) the bop idiom broke cover from time to time amidst the freely improvised material. Beresford, in expansive mood, prepared the canvas as a focused Carrier busily worked an expressionist palette.
Carrier picked up and played the Chinese oboe. A small, flute-like instrument with a sound veering from piccolo to bagpipe (the reed a combination of plastic and fuse wire), the genial Canadian was later to explain he acquired the instrument in a shop in Camden, London. He spent four hours in the shop trying every exotic instrument in there, no doubt trying the patience of the sales assistant!
Beresford’s prepared piano antics were at a premium. A clockwork toy dispatched into the Steinway’s inner workings so intrigued Lambert he stopped playing, got up and looked under the lid. Laughter, the end of the piece! Carrier has worked with some of the stellar names on the improv scene. He is a top-drawer attraction in his own right. Next time make sure you’re there to hear him.     
Earlier, a short opening set by a music department ad hoc grouping of lecturer, undergraduates and Tyneside’s low-fi man Posset - on-the-night collaborators. Posset (functioning/malfunctioning old-school cassette recorders, empty drinks can) and vox humana experimentalists won the Best Name of the Week award with Posset Reads to Impossibility Knocks. Sitting comfortably (ostensibly members of the audience), the ‘vocal ensemble’ got up one by one to join the drinks can cassette man. Bottom-end guttural drawls escaped from the hastily assembled menagerie. One of the caged beasts exited through a door, soon to return, whistling, via another door (Student? £5.00 please).
Ken Drew Photos.
Russell.

1 comment :

Joe Posset said...

Thanks for the write up. It was an honor to play for JNE in such dignified company. Joe Posset.

Blog Archive