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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

17733 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 53 of them this year alone and, so far, 53 this month (Jan. 20).

From This Moment On ...

January 2025

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. SOLD OUT!
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.

Sat 25: Boys of Brass @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 3:30-5:30pm. Free.
Sat 25: New '58 Jazz Collective @ Jackson's Wharf, Hartlepool. 6:30pm (doors). Free. A Burns' Night event. Jazz, swing, funk, soul, blues etc.
Sat 25: Edison Herbert Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 25: Red Kites Jazz @ Parish Hall, St Barnabas’ Church, Rowlands Gill. 7:30pm. £10.00. BYOB (tea & coffee available), raffle. Proceeds to St Barnabas’ Church. Performance feat. Shayo (vocals).
Sat 25: Jack & Jay’s Songbook @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 26: Musicians Unlimited @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 26: Graham Hardy Eclectic Quartet @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm.
Sun 26: Ruth Lambert Trio @ The Juke Shed, Union Quay, North Shields. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 26: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 26: Jazz Jam Sandwich! @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 26: Tweed River Jazz Band @ Barrels Ale House, Berwick-upon-Tweed. 7:30pm. Free.
Sun 26: Gratkowski, Tramontana, Beresford, Affifi @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £12.00. JNE.
Sun 26: Jazz Jam @ Fabio’s, Saddler St., Durham. 8:00pm. Free. A Durham University Jazz Society promotion. All welcome.

Mon 27: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 28: ???

Wed 29: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 29: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 29: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).

Thu 30: Matters Unknown (aka Jonathan Enser, Nubiyan Twist) + support TBA @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 8:00pm (7:00pm doors). £12.22 (gig & food); £9:04 (gig only).
Thu 30: Soznak @ The Mill Tavern, Hebburn. 8:00pm. Free.
Thu 30: Struggle Buggy @ Harbour View, Roker, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Rhythm & blues.

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, November 26, 2014

Vinyl Review: Nucleus with Leon Thomas – Live 1970

Leon Thomas (vocals), Ian Carr (trumpet & flugelhorn), Karl Jenkins (oboe & piano), Brian Smith (soprano & tenor saxophones, flute), Chris Spedding (guitar), Jeff Clyne (bass) & John Marshall (drums.)
(Review by Russell).
June 20 1970. The Montreux Jazz Festival. Forty fours years later we have the official release of Nucleus recorded live at one of Europe’s premier summer jazz festivals with American vocalist Leon Thomas. Gearbox Records’ lovingly packaged vinyl recording comes as a gatefold double album with a free download code enclosed for the avid fan.
Ian Carr’s Nucleus represented the UK at the festival and their collaboration with Leon Thomas was nurtured days earlier during a two week residency at Ronnie Scott’s. This album documents one aspect of a turbulent period in cultural/political history. Coltrane was dead, Miles set about capturing the zeitgeist, Leon Thomas sought an alternative to Vietnam and the British jazz-rockers were keen to be in on it all. The days of the Emcee 5 and Don Rendell seemed long ago as Ian Carr ventured into new territory with Nucleus. Miles Davis’ electric period – In a Silent Way, Bitches Brew, On the Corner – signalled a parting of the ways for many of his most ardent fans from the 50s and 60s. One fan, Ian Carr, went with him on the journey.
Much of the material on Live 1970 is reworked from Leon Thomas’ earlier recordings as a leader and with Pharoah Sanders. Thomas’ vocal style is an amalgam of American scat and Alpine yodelling (apposite given the location!). The band sound is that of a Coltrane vibe (Ascension, A Love Supreme) shifting gear to encompass the angry protestations of a burgeoning global movement to a committed take on the blues. The first of four sides is a one-track affair (all 18 minutes, 54 seconds); The Creator Has a Master Plan is Thomas’ jointly composed piece with Sanders (John McLaughlin and Carlos Santana were to mine a similar seam with Love, Devotion, Surrender).The British sextet on the recording are up to the mark as they lay down the groove; bassist Jeff Clyne and drummer  John Marshall perform admirably throughout although at times the sound quality doesn’t do Clyne any favours. Karl Jenkins’ oboe features on Echoes (the first of two tracks on side two) and a contrasting contribution is heard from Carr’s flugelhorn. In stark contrast Thomas’ Damn ‘Nam (Ain’t Going to Vietnam) is one angry piece of music. Thomas’ vocal defies the US foreign policy of the times; if Cassius Clay could go to prison, so would he. His stance is reaffirmed by a raging Chris Spedding. Thomas’ One hears the vocalist scatting full-on (a no-holds-barred performance, perhaps an acquired taste, the Montreux crowd adoring of it) and Brian Smith’s soprano work catches the ear. Chains of Love (a hit in the fifties for Big Joe Turner) is the atypical cut; excellent, no nonsense blues singing with a fine r ‘n’ b backing band!
Side four is taken up with The Journey (12 minutes, 5 seconds). This is a reprise of Leon Thomas’ spiritual compositions of the time. Live 1970 is essential listening for those who heard Nucleus first time round and indeed for the student of the genre.
Russell.
Nucleus with Leon Thomas – Live 1970 (Gearbox Records GB1529) is available now. 

1 comment :

Harry Monty said...

Hi Lance,

This record does take me back. I saw Nucleus perform both separately and then with Leon Thomas at Montreux in 1970 and it certainly was terrific being there in person. Nucleus won the top award at the Montreux Jazz Festival that year which I believe was a trip to the Newport Jazz Festival.

Best regards

Harry Monty

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