Bebop Spoken There

Donovan Haffner ('Best Newcomer' 2025 Parliamentary Jazz Awards): ''I got into jazz the first time I picked up a saxophone!" - Jazzwise Dec 25/Jan 26

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

18146 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 24 of them this year alone and, so far this month (Jan. 7), 24

From This Moment On ...

JANUARY 2026

Thu 08: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £5.00. Subject: Jazz Milestones of 1976.

Fri 09: The House Trio @ Bishop Auckland Methodist Church. 1:00pm. £9.00.
Fri 09: Nauta @ Jesmond Library, Newcastle. 1:00pm. £5.00. Trio: Jacob Egglestone, Jamie Watkins, Bailey Rudd.
Fri 09: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 09: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 09: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 09: Warren James & the Lonesome Travellers @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm. £15.00.
Fri 09: The Blue Kings @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £10.00. (£8.00. adv.). All-star band.

Sat 10: Mark Toomey Quintet @ St Peter’s Church, Stockton-on-Tees. 7:30pm. £12.00. (inc. pie & peas). Tickets from: 07749 255038.

Sun 11: New ’58 Jazz Collective @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 11: Am Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 11: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 11: Eva Fox & the Sound Hounds @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 12: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 12: Saltburn Big Band @ Saltburn House Hotel. 7:00-9:00pm. Free.

Tue 13: Milne Glendinning Band @ Newcastle House Hotel, Rothbury. 7:30pm. £11.00. Coquetdale Jazz.
Tue 13: Jazz Jam Sandwich @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Wed 14: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 14: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 14: Jam Session @ The Tannery, Hexham. 7:00pm. Free.
Wed 14: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

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

Wednesday, August 27, 2014

CD Review: Manu Katché - Touchstone for Manu

(Review by Lance)
This is an absolutely enthralling compilation. Contemporary? Yes! Melodic? Most certainly!! Touchstone For Manu is one of those very rare occasions when it DOES mean a thing if it ain't got that swing! Then again, maybe it does have that swing, Upon reflection, that swing is there in all good jazz, even if we don't always recognise it! We can be fooled as sometimes it's disguised in different forms, time signatures, even when there is no discernible  time signature, key or changes. But, if it's got it, it's got it.
As Lieber and Stoller, Peggy Lee and Zoe Gilby have said - Some Cats Know.
These cats know!
Released August 18 on ECM.
Lance..
Notes: A specially-priced limited edition compilation of the best of Manu Katché on ECM. 
Here the French drummer - his strongly propulsive yet relaxed groove is unlike any other drummer's - is joined in performances of his tunes by an outstanding cast of soloists including Jan Garbarek, Tomasz Stanko, Nils Petter Molvaer, Trygve Seim, Mathias Eick, Marcin Wasilewski, Tore Brunborg, and Jacob Young. 
Recorded between 2004-2012 in Oslo, New York and Pernes-les-Fontaines, and drawn from his widely acclaimed albums Neighbourhood, Playground, Third Round, and the eponymously-titled Manu Katché.
Collective Personnel: Manu Katché (drums), Mathias Eick, Tomasz Stanko (trumpet), Nils Petter Molvær (trumpet, loops), Jan Garbarek, Trygve Seim (tenor saxophone), Tore Brunborg (saxophones), Jacob Young (guitars), Marcin Wasilewski, Jason Rebello (piano), Jim Watson (piano, Hammond B3 organ), Slawomir Kurkiewicz (double bass), Pino Palladino (bass)

No comments :

Blog Archive