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Bebop Spoken There

John McLaughlin: '' A Love Supreme coincided with my search for meaning in life". (DownBeat, March 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

17873 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 194 of them this year alone and, so far, 41 this month (March 14).

From This Moment On ...

MARCH 2025.

Thu 20: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, Holystone. 1:00pm. Free. CANCELLED PERMANENTLY!
Thu 20: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: Nicknames.
Thu 20: Terri Green Experience @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £15.90.
Thu 20: King Bees @ The Cumberland Arms, Byker, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). Superb blues band.
Thu 20: Lindsay Hannon Trio @ The Harbour View, Roker, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Hannon’s ‘Tom Waits for No Man’ set.
Thu 20: Ray Stubbs R&B All Stars @ Mill Tavern, Hebburn. 8:30pm. Free.

Fri 21: Paul Skerritt @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 21: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 21: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 21: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 21: Giles Strong Quartet @ 1719, Hendon, Sunderland. 7:30pm. CANCELLED!
Fri 21: New Century Ragtime Orchestra @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Featuring special guest Martin Litton (piano).

Sat 22: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 12:30-2:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 22: Jason Isaacs @ Seaburn STACK, Seaburn. 3:30pm-5:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 22: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 22: Swamp Stomp String Band @ The White Room, Stanley. 7:45pm.
Sat 22: Rivkala @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Country blues guitar & vocals.

Sun 23: Musicians Unlimited @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 23: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 23: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 23: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 23: Mississippi MacDonald @ Georgian Theatre, Stockton. 3:00pm. Blues.
Sun 23: Tweed River Jazz Band @ Barrels Ale House, Berwick. 7:00pm. Free.
Sun 23: The Great Deceivers @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Tom Atkinson & co play King Crimson (1969-1974). Atkinson (guitar); Josh Bentham (alto sax); Stu Dawson (bass); Jeff Armstrong (drums).

Mon 24: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 24: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 6:30pm. Free.

Tue 25: Fred Wesley & the New JB’s @ The Cluny. 7:30pm (doors). £27.50. POSTPONED! New date Wednesday 26 November.

Thu 27: Hannabiell & Midnight Blue @ King’s Hall, Newcastle University. 1:15pm. Free.
Thu 27: Michael Littlefield & Scott Taylor @ The Harbour View, Roker, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Superb blues duo.

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

Friday, January 16, 2015

CD Review: Troyka – Ornithophobia

Kit Downes (Hammond, synthesizers), Chris Montague (guitar, loops) & Josh Blackmore (drums)
(Review by Russell).
Ornithophobia is Troyka’s third studio album and their first for Naim. Petter Eldh, producer and musician (bassist with Marius Neset), is on board, reaffirming recent investigation of the dance/ trip-hop scene. Eldh’s Berlin base – influential in dance, electronica, visual arts – contributes to the trio’s ambitious reach; part mixed in the capital city, re-sampling two of the nine tracks.
Guitarist Chris Montague has a Hitchcockian phobia…birds! In an avian-free studio Gateahead-born Montague creates an avian mutant virus threatening to wipe-out the human population across London. A ghostly post-Apocalyptic landscape (the radio announcer details the inescapable transmutation, human form will cede to the avian) stretches across the album. Kit Downes’ scurrying synthesis of sound frightens poor Montague – the guitarist plays as if it his last session on Planet Earth! The terrifying guitar work is as good as it gets from any twenty first century music school graduate. Ornithophobia (composed by the ornithophobic one) is best heard in black and white (Bernard Herrman telegraph wires, an unsuspecting, sleepy fishing village). R Taylor (aka C Montague) picks up on the strange behaviour overhead. Downes won’t give a break to his terrified bandmate as drummer Josh Blackmore drills holes into his skull.
Magpies, Bamburgh and Seahouses (all composed by the ornithophobic one) must be therapy of sorts. The northeasterner knows all too well the proliferation of feathered friends on the Northumberland (Hitchcockian) coastline. Face your demons Chris! A traditional al fresco meal (fish and chips) will bring you closer than ever before to the subject of your irrational fear! Kit Downes’ The General references the blues…hear it Chris/Jimi (…And the Wind Cries). The closing number – Seahouses – takes it down, perhaps Montague has conquered his Ornithophobia.
Troyka head out on a twelve date tour in February calling at three music colleges and a students’ union along the way, perhaps indicating their target audience. Their music has wider appeal. Hearing Troyka live is key. Ornithophobia is released on January 26 on Naim Jazz Records (NaimCD210). It is available on CD, LP (180gm vinyl) and as a digital download. Visit www.naimlabel.com.          
Russell.

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