Total Pageviews

Bebop Spoken There

Steve Coleman: ''If you don't keep learning, your mind slows down. Use it or lose it''. (DownBeat, January 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

17733 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 53 of them this year alone and, so far, 53 this month (Jan. 20).

From This Moment On ...

January 2025

Sat 25: Boys of Brass @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 3:30-5:30pm. Free.
Sat 25: New '58 Jazz Collective @ Jackson's Wharf, Hartlepool. 6:30pm (doors). Free. A Burns' Night event. Jazz, swing, funk, soul, blues etc.
Sat 25: Edison Herbert Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 25: Red Kites Jazz @ Parish Hall, St Barnabas’ Church, Rowlands Gill. 7:30pm. £10.00. BYOB (tea & coffee available), raffle. Proceeds to St Barnabas’ Church. Performance feat. Shayo (vocals).
Sat 25: Jack & Jay’s Songbook @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 26: Musicians Unlimited @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 26: Graham Hardy Eclectic Quartet @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm.
Sun 26: Ruth Lambert Trio @ The Juke Shed, Union Quay, North Shields. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 26: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 26: Jazz Jam Sandwich! @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 26: Tweed River Jazz Band @ Barrels Ale House, Berwick-upon-Tweed. 7:30pm. Free.
Sun 26: Gratkowski, Tramontana, Beresford, Affifi @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £12.00. JNE.
Sun 26: Jazz Jam @ Fabio’s, Saddler St., Durham. 8:00pm. Free. A Durham University Jazz Society promotion. All welcome.

Mon 27: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 27: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 6:30pm. Free.

Tue 28: ???

Wed 29: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 29: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 29: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).

Thu 30: Matters Unknown (aka Jonathan Enser, Nubiyan Twist) + support TBA @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 8:00pm (7:00pm doors). £12.22 (gig & food); £9:04 (gig only).
Thu 30: Soznak @ The Mill Tavern, Hebburn. 8:00pm. Free.
Thu 30: Struggle Buggy @ Harbour View, Roker, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Rhythm & blues.

Fri 31: Alan Barnes Quartet @ The Old Library, Auckland Castle, Bishop Auckland. 12 noon-2:00pm (two sets). £12.00. admission (card or cash at the door). Barnes (alto sax, baritone sax, clarinet); Alan Law (piano); Mick Shoulder (double bass); Tim Johnston (drums). Note change of venue, no longer at Mrs M’s as advertised, the concert will be in the Old Library (Bishop Auckland Jazz’s regular venue). Important! It’s a ‘BYOB’ arrangement - ie bring your own booze (and/or tea, coffee, soft drinks).
Fri 31: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 31: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 31: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 31: Café Orkestar @ Café Under the Spire, Gateshead. 6:00pm. ‘Klezmer, Gypsy Jazz, Balkan & More!’.
Fri 31: Nothing in Rambling @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. £10.00. + bf. Country blues duo.
Fri 31 Zoë Gilby Quartet @ Wylam Institute. 7:30pm (7:00pm doors). £15.00. + £1.50. bf.
Fri 31: Creakin’ Bones & the Sunday Dinners @ White Room, Stanley. 7:45pm. £10.00 + bf. Jazz, blues , jump jive, rock ‘n’ roll.
Fri 31: Alan Barnes Quartet @ The Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. £15.00 Barnes (alto sax, baritone sax, clarinet); Alan Law (piano); Mick Shoulder (double bass); Tim Johnston (drums).
Fri 31: SwanNek + Rivkala @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 8:00pm. SwanNek’s new single launch gig. Pilgrim, formerly Hoochie Coochie.

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

Thursday, May 01, 2014

Zoe Gilby Interviews Ian Chalk

Zoe Gilby interviewed Ian Chalk of the Firebird Quartet who are this coming Sunday's (May 4 - 8.15pm) Splinter @ The Bridge band. Zoe's questions are in blue.
Tell us a bit about your band. How it formed? band line up and their influences?
The band in its current form was created about 4 months ago.  Previously I had a quartet for 4 years (Ian Chalk Quartet) which, although fun to play in and they guys were great, wasn't really going in the direction I wanted to go.  So the decision was made to create a quartet to perform contemporary jazz with best the musicians I could find to force me to up my game and they've certainly done that! The name of the band was changed to reflect the new start ....'Firebird Quartet' (and to remind people of our Sunday night residency at The Phoenix in York).
The line up is Bass - John Marley, Drums - Tim Carter, Piano - Martin Longhawn and myself on trumpet. Musically, I suspect we're influenced by everything we've ever heard as jazz musicians tend to soak up whatever music is around them but currently we're listening to (and performing the music of) people like Terence Blanchard, Kendrick Scott, Christian Scott, Roy Hargrove, Dean Taba and Wynton Marsalis. In addition, we perform a number of original compositions.  We play music in a range of styles from driving swing to grooves with a hint of hip hop.
Fundamentally, we believe that our music should be enjoyable to listen to.  I know that sounds like it should be an obvious thing to say but it isn't necessarily a view shared by the whole jazz community where, sometimes, the 'art' of the music can leave some of the audience behind.  We're firm believers in creating music with sufficient complexity to appeal to a contemporary jazz audience but will also make you want to tap your foot!
Best gig you've seen?
This is an easy question to answer although not a 'jazz' performance as such (although we could have a long conversation about what 'jazz' really is!).... Stevie Wonder at the Manchester Arena a few years back.  We had really good seats near the front and you could almost feel the amazing energy of the man.  I'm not a religious man (far from it!) but that is the nearest I've come to a spiritual experience. The start of the gig was Stevie being led onto the stage by his daughter while he played Miles's 'All Blues' on harmonica... more than a little thrilling! In our house, my kids have been taught that whenever Stevie's name is mentioned they must place a finger on their forehead and say the word 'genius'!
Favourite album?
Hmmm...tricky one as it tends to change on a daily basis.  Thinking on a 'Desert Island Discs' basis where I only have one album to choose then I think it would have to be 'Hot House Flowers' by Wynton Marsalis.  This was one of the first jazz albums I ever bought (possibly the very first) and I was seduced by the very cool album sleeve of Wynton stood in the middle distance, cool suit, lit in a spotlight, trumpet in hand.  The album is quite melancholic with sweeping orchestral arrangements but with joyous versions of 'When You Wish Upon A Star' and 'I'm Confessin'. It also includes a stunningly gorgeous version of 'Stardust' which is the music I want playing at my funeral (just so you know!).
What has been the highlight of your bands musical career so far?
The highlight is less to do with any one moment on any one gig than with how the quartet has gelled into such a fluid and coherent unit which has already far exceeded my expectations.  This has been helped by our regular Sunday night residency at The Phoenix in York (8pm till 10:30, free entry!) which has allowed us to develop our group sound as well as our material so that we can be relaxed in our work and can focus on the creative side of jazz.
If you could meet, talk with and jam with any musician (alive or deceased) who would it be?
Wow! Where do you start with this one? Duke Ellington? Dizzy? Miles? Stravinsky? Mozart?Bach?? I think the answer would probably be Miles.  I suspect he wouldn't necessarily welcome jamming with me as he could be something of a 'prickly character' but I would learn so much from him, not just about trumpet playing but about how to approach playing music.  Famously, he said "Do note fear wrong notes, there are none" and I'd love to have the same free approach.
Thank you Ian.

No comments :

Blog Archive