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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

17755 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 76 of them this year alone and, so far, 1 this month (Feb.1).

From This Moment On ...

February 2025

Fri 07: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 07: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 07: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 07: James Birkett & Emma Fisk @ Old Lowlight, Clifford’s Fort, North Shields NE30 1JE. 7:00pm. £15.00. + bf. www.oldlowlight.co.uk. SOLD OUT!
Fri 07: Stuart Turner Trio @ Billy Bootlegger’s, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. Jazz, blues, Americana etc.
Fri 07: Dean Stockdale Quartet @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm. £12.00.
Fri 07: Rose Room @ Wylam Institute. 8:00pm. £19.67.
Fri 07: John Rowland Quartet @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sat 08: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 12:30-2:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 08: Jason Isaacs @ Seaburn STACK, Seaburn. 3:30-5:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 08: Milne Glendinning Band @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 08: Lewis Watson Quartet @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 7:30pm. £15.00. at the door; £14.35. (inc £0.35 bf) online, in advance.
Sat 08: Anth Purdy @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. ‘Swing Jazz Guitar’.
Sat 08: NUJO Jazz Jam @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A Newcastle University Jazz Orchestra event. All welcome.

Sun 09: Glenn Miller & Big Band Spectacular @ The Forum, Billingham. 3:00pm.
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: 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.

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

Monday, July 14, 2014

CD Review: Pulcinella – Bestiole

Ferdinand Doumerc (saxophones, flute & metallophone), Florian Demonsant (accordion, kaval), Jean-Marc Serpin (double bass & metallophone) & Frédéric Cavallin (drums, metallophone & glockenspiel) + Patrick Vaillant (mandolin) & Daniel Casimir (trombone).
(Review by Russell).
Pulcinella are based in Toulouse, France. On the road the band comprises four musicians, on Bestiole there is the addition of two musicians (Patrck Vaillant – mandolin and Daniel Casimir – trombone). The CD, Pulcinella’s third, is an eleven track journey across such a diverse musical landscape it is difficult to categorise.
The core quartet’s playing credits encompass blues, flamenco, funk, gypsy jazz, hip-hop, jazz funk, rhythm and blues, salsa and tango. The use of metallophone (glockenspiel, vibes) is shared between bandleader Ferdinand Doumerc, bassist  Jean-Marc Serpin and drummer Frédéric Cavallin. Florian Desmonsant plays accordion (the rather obvious Gallic component) and kaval (flute). Serpin’s double bass is straight out of the jazz idiom and Cavallin’s drumming is highly accomplished (track four Sur le pave la lune is a particularly good example of it). Tu parles trop (track eight) is brief, taut, not unlike John Zorn.
La Tarentelle invites fevered Balkan dancing. Forceful rhythms buoy Doumerc’s manic tenor as Demonsant’s accordion jibbers and jabbers, the insatiable party animal. Bestiole concludes with an atypical piece. Envoûtement is a reflective composition. The slow, if not funereal, tempo, skips around a glockenspiel-mandolin nursery rhyme punctuated by Casimir’s sonorous trombone.
Pulcinella are on tour. Their first British date is on July 15 at the Jazz Café, Newcastle. They share a double bill with Troyka. The Match & Fuse circus pitches up in Cardiff (16) and Coventry (17) before the Gallic Four meet up with Brass Mask in London on July 18. Bestiole awaits a release date. Get along to one (or more!) of the gigs and ask the band about its availability. 
Visit: www.pulcinellamusic.comhttp://www.matchandfuse.co.uk/
Russell.
PS: Available via digital download.

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