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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

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

Saturday, November 01, 2014

Philip Clouts Quartet - Jazz Café. October 31

Philip Clouts (pno); Tom Ward (alt/sop); Tim Fairhall (bs); Dave Ingamells (dms).
(Review by Lance/photo courtesy of Mike Tilley.).
The streets were awash with Draculas, Frankensteins, Ghouls, Wizards and Witches - the children too were dressed for the occasion which of course was Halloween. 
No such frippery at the Jazz Café - the Werewolf was well and truly kept from the door.
Fortunately, the Philip Clouts Quartet were allowed through the portals en route to Carnegie Hall (Dunfermline).
Apart from leader Clouts, the personnel differed from that on their impressive CD The Hour of the Pearl although much of the material played was from that album, an album inspired by a passage from Steinbeck's Cannery Row - "It is the hour of the pearl--the interval between day and night when time stops and examines itself."
However, I digress. The music was varied and never less than compelling. The compositions were all by Clouts who played powerful piano coaxing the best out of the 87.5 keys on the upright. At times he reminded me of Cecil Taylor but that may have been due to the idiosyncrasies of the beast he was taming. Maybe Mike, in the time honoured Jazz Club owner tradition, will offer to get it painted!
Tom Ward excelled on both alto and soprano, Tim Fairhill proved to be a rock on bass and impressive on his occasional solo flights ,whilst Dave Ingamells gave a display that told us his graduation from Guildhall (a First) was no fluke and likewise his Yamaha Scholarship award. At 24, fame and fortune await him. Alternatively he may continue a career in jazz.
Clef Mona, apart from its multi-inspirational sources ie Flamenco/European Folk/African etc., also had some additional effects from the Espresso machine!
On West Hill had a gospel flavour - didn't know whether to clap or to yell "Hallelujah"! Dreamy Driving was cool as was Walking in Starlight - dedicated to Nigerian activist and multi-instrumentalist the late Fela Kuti.
The final Flamingo-ing was calypsotic with a tension building climax that left me breathless. The audience demanded more and got it.
Just time to catch the Metro.
Well, as it turned out, like in Cannery Row and The Hour of the Pearl, time had indeed stopped and examined itself at Central Station where delays on The Metro (Tyneside's 'Rapid Transport System') meant an additional 20 minutes wait before the last train arrived - possibly a Broomstick had broken down.
But this was but a minor irritant (like the noisy revellers) totally eclipsed by the evening's music.
Catch the quartet in Edinburgh, Aberdeen and other kilted communities including the aforementioned Carnegie Hall.
Lance. 

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