Total Pageviews

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

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 ...

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.

Wed 05: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 05: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 05: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 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.

Fri 07: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 07: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 07: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 07: James Birkett & Emma Fisk @ Old Lowlight, Clifford’s Fort, North Shields NE30 1JE. 7:00pm. £15.00. + bf. www.oldlowlight.co.uk. Rescheduled from Friday 7th February.
Fri 07: Jake Leg Jug Band @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm. £12.00.

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

Thursday, February 26, 2015

CD Review: Carsten Dahl - Bach Goldberg Variations

Carsten Dahl (prepared piano).
(Review by Lance).
"What?" I hear you ask, "Is a 'prepared piano'?). To quote from the blurb:“Bach Goldberg Variations“ was recorded on a prepared piano, giving it its unique sound. Carsten Dahl placed snare wires on the piano wires to create a distorted sound that’s like a cross between a harpsichord, a sitar, a classical piano, an upright piano, a guitar and a banjo.
Carsten also has this to say: “The reason I flung myself into Bach’s work is partly because it’s the ultimate test of “manhood” for a pianist and partly because I wanted to bring out a side of Bach that you don’t often hear. In my opinion, Bach isn’t music for the posh, it’s music for the masses. So my interpretation grates on the ear and stinks of smelly feet when you hear it. I pull Bach down to the people, rather than letting him waft about on some highbrow cloud."
The album, which was Denmark's top selling classical album of 2014 also charted in the top 30 pop albums.
What do I think? An interesting experiment, although personally I'd sooner hear it played on a piano that didn't have snare wires across the strings!
Dahl is a fine pianist both classical and jazz although there's none of the latter genre here unless you class the snare wires as a form of improvisation.
The album is available on vinyl for a fiver or on CD for 3GBP from your nearest Tiger store which where I live is probably Edinburgh or the Faroe Islands it can also be downloaded from www.tiger-music.com/carstendahl.com.
Lance.

5 comments :

Patti D. said...

Hmmm - as you say Lance, an interesting experiment ..... Bach's music is so often interpreted in different styles. I can remember liking the Jacques Loussier Play Bach albums when I was an impressionable 15 year old .....

Lance said...

Yes Patti, I almost started smoking cigars after Loussier's version of Air on a G String was used in the Hamlet advert!

Anonymous said...

Well, Carsten Dahls version of Goldberg is a fake! He simply picked up the midi files from Open Goldberg - and he never would be able to survive playing even one of the variations...check the michinegun thrills...actually one of the biggest not yet discovered classical music recording scandals i modern time!

Lance said...

I wish you'd been more open rather than using the anonymous button. More credibility with a name. If you care to email me privately, and confidentially, I'd be interested to hear from you.

Anonymous said...

Here is Carsten Dahl. That is some acusement Mr. Anonymous pukes on the floor. I actually recorded them normally on a straight Hindsberg grandpiano before doing the prepared one. I DID NOT use open Goldberg but used to technical options. One is recording the voices in layers - another was moving the tempo here and there. Its today possible to use the studio advanteges since we live in new modern times. I could send you the piano version if you like. Since I was a drummer before playing the piano - I am very stricked and precise with the thrills and maybe my savant autism also plays a part in the Interpretation. Since you are an anonymous chicken - its not possible to answer you with more depth. You can e mail me : carstendahlmusic@gmail.com. Carsten.

Blog Archive