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Bebop Spoken There

Sullivan Fortner: ''I always judge it by the bass player: If the bass player is happy, it's going to be a good night". (DownBeat, February 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

17822(and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 143 of them this year alone and, so far, 68 this month (Feb.25).

From This Moment On ...

February 2025

Thu 27: Jamie McCredie @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Fri 28: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free. THIS WEEK ONLY JAMES BIRKETT (guitar)!
Fri 28: Luis Verde Quartet @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. £8.00. SOLD OUT!
Fri 28: Spilt Milk @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 7:00-9:00pm. Free. Nolan Brothers (vocal harmonies).
Fri 28: Castillo Nuevo Orquesta @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £8.00.
Fri 28: Knats @ Lubber Fiend, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £11.50. (inc bf.). Album launch gig. Support act TBC.
Fri 28: Black is the Color of My Voice @ The Gala, Durham. 7:30pm. Apphia Campbell’s one-woman show inspired by the life of Nina Simone, performed by Florence Odumosu.
Fri 28: Great North Big Band Jazz Festival: Musicians Unlimited @ Park View Community Centre, Chester-le-Street. 8:00pm. £10.00. (Weekend ticket £20.00., available on the door). Day 1/3. Musicians Unlimited in concert.
Fri 28: Redwell @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

MARCH 2025

Sat 01: Great North Big Band Jazz Festival @ Park View Community Centre, Chester-le-Street. 11:00am. £15.00. Day 2/3.
Sat 01: TJ Johnson Band @ St Augustine’s Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm. £10.00.
Sat 01: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. £25.00. Tutor: Steve Glendinning. Get your funk on! Enrol at: learning@jazz.coop.
Sat 01: Shunyata Improvisation Group @ The Watch House, Cullercoats. 2:00-3:30pm. Free.
Sat 01: Ray Stubbs R&B All Stars @ Billy Bootleggers. Ouseburn, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free.
Sat 01: Lapwing Jazz Trio @ Three Sheets to the Wind, Alnwick. 5:15pm or 5:45pm (times tbc). Part of the Alnwick Story Festival's music fringe programme: Free.
Sat 01: Struggle Buggy @ The Peacock, Sunderland. 6:00pm. Blues band.
Sat 01: Edison Herbert Trio @ The Vault, Darlington 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 01: Joseph O’Brien: The Ultimate Tribute to Frank Sinatra @ Fire Station, Sunderland. 7:30pm. O’Brien & seven piece band (inc. Wendy Kirkland, Jim Corry & Pat Sprakes).
Sat 01: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00.
Sat 01: Jack & Jay’s Vintage Songbook @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 02: Great North Big Band Jazz Festival @ Park View Community Centre, Chester-le-Street. 11:00am. £10.00. Day 3/3.
Sun 02: Smokin’ Spitfires @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:45pm. £7.50.
Sun 02: Nauta @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00pm. £10.00.
Sun 02: Sax Choir @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free (donations).
Sun 02: Side Café Orkestar @ Café Under the Spire, Derwentwater Road, Gateshead. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 02: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 02: Milne Glendinning Band @ The White Room, Stanley. 6:30pm.
Sun 02: Bella by Barlight @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 02: Tweed River Jazz Band @ Spittal Bowling Club, Berwick. 7:00pm. Free.
Sun 02: Ali Watson Quartet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 03: Milne Glendinning Band @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 1:00pm. £9.00. at the door; £8.20. (inc £0.20 bf) online, in advance.
Mon 03: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 04: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ Victoria & Albert Inn, Seaton Delaval. Tel: 0191 237 3697. 12:30pm. £8.00. ‘Jazz ‘n’ Pancakes’.
Tue 04: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Stu Collingwood, Paul Grainger, Abbie Finn.
Tue 04: Customs House Big Band @ The Masonic Hall, North St., Ferryhill DL17 8HX. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 06: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, Holystone. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 06: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: The Jazz Music of Quincy Jones.
Thu 06: BBC Big Band @ The Hippodrome, Darlington. 7:30pm. £32.00., £25.00., £16.00. ‘The Sound of Cinema’ featuring Emer McPartland (vocals).
Thu 06: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 06: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm. Free. Guests: Dan Johnson (sax); Josh Bentham (sax); Gary Hadfield (keys); Adrian Beadnell (bass). A Tees Hot Club promotion. First Thursday in the month.

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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