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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, November 10, 2014

CD Review: Leo Appleyard – Pembroke Road

Leo Appleyard (guitar), Duncan Eagles (tenor sax), Neil Yates (trumpet/flugelhorn), Max Luthert (bass), Eric Ford (drums/percussion).
(Review by Hugh C).
Pembroke Road is the début album by twenty-five year old London-based guitarist Leo Appleyard. The album is a testament to the strength of enduring musical relationships. Appleyard states: “I have played in bands with Duncan Eagles and Max Luthert for more of my life than I haven't”.
These musicians have well-honed habits of working together and loose tempos, rapid transitions of mood and tricky time signatures become as natural as breathing. Leo Appleyard is marked out as a musician by his deep understanding and care about sound. He was given his first mixing desk at the age of fourteen – just a year and a half after he started the guitar and he has been working as a sound engineer professionally since the age of 17. This experience enables him to integrate electronic effects into his sound, but at the same time fully exploit the resonances of the hollow-bodied guitar he invariably uses.
There are nine tracks on the album – coming in at just over 52 minutes in total. The Homeless Wizard is named after one of Appleyard's friends (not in the band) and features drummer/percussionist Eric Ford. Wales-based Neil Yard (trumpet/flugelhorn) guests on the album on three tracks, including the second, Mass. This has a deliberate filmic quality and in places has a folky feel, reflecting Yates' talent in that genre. The Cleaver features the paired lyrical tones of Yates' trumpet and Eagles' sax. Anywhere South started as an exercise on Coltrane's 'Giant Steps' and has contrasting sections of fast and energetic forward motion and repose. Mantra contains some of the most atmospheric material on the album and incorporates different styles – a blues element, a Bach chorale and a modal vamp. Appleyard's musical mantra is to combine different elements, forging them into one.
The album was recorded in StudioOwz in the middle of rural Pembrokeshire. The studio was set up by a friend of Appleyard's and the sense of space and isolation, together with the rural surroundings, captured Appleyard's imagination. The title track Pembroke Road (sixth on the album) was actually composed after a visit to the studio (accessed by a dusty off-the-grid track) by Appleyard five years before he returned with the other musicians and eight more compositions. Intro to a Waltz features a sombre bass solo from Max Luthert before the revelation of the happy tune in Walsio. The final track I Remember is a different take by Appleyard on a standard by Victor Schertzinger.
This album comes with the imprimatur of the F-IRE label, which to the older jazzer can have slightly scary connotations! There is however nothing scary about this album. It is beautifully melodic throughout and elegantly demonstrates the musicianship of all participants. The sensitive interplay of the five musicians on the album is a delight.
Pembroke Road is released on Monday November 10 (Today).
CD Launch Gig: November 16 (12am), EFG London Jazz Festival, Pizza Express, Dean Street
Pembroke Road is on the F-IRE Label No. F-IRE CD75
Currently listed tour dates feature nowhere North of Birmingham.
Hugh.

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