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Bebop Spoken There

George Porter Jr.: ''To me, syncopation is like jazz. It wasn't meant for the masses. It was meant just for a hip few". (DownBeat, May 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

18043 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 364 of them this year alone and, so far, 42 this month (May 15).

From This Moment On ...

MAY 2025

Fri 16: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 16: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 16: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 16: Sophie Speed with the Dean Stockdale Trio @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 16: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 1:00-2:45pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Fri 16: Jason Isaacs @ STACK, Exchange Sq., Middlesbrough. 4:00-6:00pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Fri 16: Giles Strong Quartet @ Longframlington Memorial Hall. 7:00pm (doors). Tickets: £12.00. from 01665 570984.
Fri 16: Hot Club du Nord @ St Cuthbert’s Centre, Crook. 7:30pm. £10.00.
Fri 16: Peter Donegan & Anthony Donegan @ The Witham, Barnard Castle. 7:30pm. ‘Lonnie Donegan - The Stories’.

Sat 17: Teresa Watson Band @ Billy Bootleggers, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. Blues.
Sat 17: The Society Quartet @ Hilton Garden Inn, Sunderland. 6:00pm. Tel: 0191 500 9494. £26.00 (inc. two course meal). Line-up: Jason Holcomb, Hannah Taylor, Alix Shepherd & Abbie Finn.
Sat 17: Milne Glendinning Band @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 17: Archie Brown & the Young Bucks @ Billy Bootleggers, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. Rhythm & blues, Americana etc.
Sat 17: Bellavana @ Newcastle Arts Centre. 7:30-10:00pm. Free. A Late Shows event.
Sat 17: Rockin’ Turner Brothers @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Rockabilly, Western swing etc.

Sun 18: Jason Isaacs @ STACK, Seaburn. 12 noon-2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sun 18: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 18: Ruth Lambert & Giles Strong @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 18: Steve Summers Quintet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 19: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 19: Lewis Watson Quartet @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £10.00.

Tue 20: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Stu Collingwood, Paul Grainger, Bailey Rudd.
Tue 20: Alexia Gardner Quintet @ Pleased to Meet You, Bridge St., Morpeth NE61 1ND. 8:00pm.

Wed 21: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 21: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public). b Wed 21: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 22: Nuevo Castillo Orquesta @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £5.00.
Thu 22: Anna Reay & Deon Krishnan @ STACK, Exchange Sq., Middlesbrough. 7:30-9:15pm. Free.
Thu 22: Pedal Point Trio @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. 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

Monday, July 21, 2014

CD Review: Tommaso Starace Quartet - Italian Short Stories.


Tommaso Starace (alt/sop); Michele Di Toro (pno); Attilio Zanchi (bs); Tommy Bradascio (dms) + Paolo Fresu (tpt/flg - 4 tracks).
(Review by Lance).
After writing yesterday in favour of American jazz, along comes this one from Italy that compares favourably with just about anything I've heard Stateside in recent years.
Subtitled "Plays the photos of Gianni Berengo Gardin", Starace's inspiration is the black and white photos of internationally renowned Italian photographer Gardin.
Those who heard Starace and Di Toro at the JNE promoted gig at The Chilli in May 2011 will know that quality is the name of the game here, even if it is totally different from that momentous evening.
The melodic content is high with each photo providing the spark for composition and improvisation by Starace. Indeed listening whilst viewing seems to bring the photos alive. The couple dancing to an old phonograph at the Lido of Venice in Recollection could be dancing in your living room. In The Bubble Vendor, the bubbles drift upwards helped by Starace's soprano which has an almost clarinet-like purity of sound with Di Toro assisting their flight.
Motion in Stillness depicts a priestly like figure clad in his robes of office next to a blurred image of maybe carousers or card-players sitting round a table. The motion comes again from the soprano, the stillness, the breaks in between.
Ravel's Waltz is pure romanticism. The alto sax perfectly capturing the moment two lovers kiss in the Piazza San Marco.
Let The Magic Begin brings the muted trumpet of Fresu into the musical picture adding a piquancy to the photo of some fairground entertainment. Olivetti's Touch is a picture of a clown and Di Toro gives out with the stride piano whilst Starace darts around slipping in an off-key note purely for effect - and it is effective!
Jamme! opens discordantly as befits the picture of two men and child on a motor bike in Naples. Fresu and Starace blow some bop phrases here.
The Amused Gypsy Girl has two sheep rubbing noses watched by the girl and depicted with an up tempo blast by the two horns.
These are just some of the fourteen shots that inspire the 4/5 musicians. Believe you me the whole album is such that the above rhetoric could be dispensed with and simply replaced by Ti amo!.
And this applies to Gianni Berengo Gardin as well as the musicians.
Lance.
PS: Listen to Fresu's flugel on Ravel's Adagio Assai from Piano Concerto in G Major (Cover photo).

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