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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

17719 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 39 of them this year alone and, so far, 39 this month (Jan. 15).

From This Moment On ...

January 2025

Sat 18: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 18: Alter Ego + Jamie Toms/Graham Don Duo @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 7:30pm. £15.00. at the door; £14.35. (inc £0.35 bf) online, in advance.
Sat 18: Tweed River Jazz Band @ Repas 7 by Night, West St., Berwick TD15 1AS. 7:30pm. Free. Album launch gig.
Sat 18: Delta Prophets @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 19: Glenn Miller Orchestra UK @ Glasshouse, Gateshead. 3:00pm. ‘Glenn Miller & the Rat Pack Era’.
Sun 19: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 19: Spilt Milk @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 5:15-7:00pm. Free. Nolan Brothers (vocal harmonies).
Sun 19: Tenement Jazz Band @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 19: Nick Ross Orchestra @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 7:30pm.
Sun 19: Freight Train (Tobin/Noble/Clarvis) @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Sun 19: Jazz Jam @ Fabio’s, Saddler St., Durham. 8:00pm. Free. A Durham University Jazz Society promotion. All welcome.

Mon 20: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 21: ???

Wed 22: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 22: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 22: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 22: Pasadena Roof Orchestra @ Fire Station, Sunderland. 7:30pm.

Thu 23: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, Holystone. 1:00pm. Free. Fortnightly.
Thu 23: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: Obituaries 2024.
Thu 23: Jason Isaacs @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 4:30-6:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Thu 23: Pedal Point Trio @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Fri 24: Zoë Gilby Quartet @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm.
Fri 24: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 24: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 24: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 24: Creakin’ Bones & the Sunday Dinners @ Lindisfarne Social Club, Wallsend. 9:00pm. Admission: TBC. Jazz, blues , jump jive, rock ‘n’ roll.

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: Red Pellini & Emanuele Basentini - "Red" & "Boss" Gang

(Review by Lance.)
Colin, Our Man in Hong Kong, presented me with this superb tribute to Bix recorded by a group of Italian musicians. The tunes may be Bixian but the approach is more of a mid to late thirties Harlem small group which, with hindsight, could well have been a logical progression for Bix had he not died so young.
Sure, they're playing well within the idiom, the difference being these guys have got a rhythm section that swings. Plus the solos are more modern. Not bebop and beyond modern, but late 1930s small group swing - imagine Bix ten years on with say, Chu Berry or Benny Carter and you'll get the idea.
Gravish captures the spirit of Beiderbecke and Pellini, an international authority on Bix, is, even on straight alto, more  inspired by Bob Wilber than Trumbauer. Not surprising as he has recorded, I'm led to believe, with Wilber. Basentini on guitar is perhaps the most modern of them all. His "solo flights" are absolute gems. He's heard all the great swing guitarists - listened and assimilated - and is now very much his own man.
Although the tunes are well known; Fidgety Feet, China Boy, Clarinet Marmalade etc. there is one number, new to me, Blue River. What a lovely, mournful song
This isn't a disc to single out individuals - each and everyone contributes - but special attention should be drawn to Pellini 's arrangements - you can almost taste the bathtub gin!
Recommended - available on Amazon.
Lance.
Red Pellini (straight alto); Emanuele Boss Basentini (guitar); Max D'Avola (tenor); Andy Gravish (trumpet); Paolo Farinelle (alto); Leonardo Borghi (piano); Vincenzo Florio (bass - 3 tracks); Marco Loddo (bass - 3 tracks); Guiseppe Talone (bass - 5 tracks);  Marco Valeri (drums - 3 tracks); Nicola Angelucci (drums - 3 tracks); Roberto Pistolesi (drums - 5 tracks) - special guest Carlo Atti (sax); Greg (vocal on From Monday On.)

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