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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

17744 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 64 of them this year alone and, so far, 64 this month (Jan. 26).

From This Moment On ...

January 2025

Mon 27: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 27: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 6:30pm. 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.

Fri 31: Alan Barnes Quartet @ The Old Library, Auckland Castle, Bishop Auckland. 12 noon-2:00pm (two sets). £12.00. admission (card or cash at the door). Barnes (alto sax, baritone sax, clarinet); Alan Law (piano); Mick Shoulder (double bass); Tim Johnston (drums). Note change of venue, no longer at Mrs M’s as advertised, the concert will be in the Old Library (Bishop Auckland Jazz’s regular venue). Important! It’s a ‘BYOB’ arrangement - ie bring your own booze (and/or tea, coffee, soft drinks).
Fri 31: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 31: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 31: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 31: Café Orkestar @ Café Under the Spire, Gateshead. 6:00pm. ‘Klezmer, Gypsy Jazz, Balkan & More!’.
Fri 31: Nothing in Rambling @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. £10.00. + bf. Country blues duo.
Fri 31 Zoë Gilby Quartet @ Wylam Institute. 7:30pm (7:00pm doors). £15.00. + £1.50. bf.
Fri 31: Creakin’ Bones & the Sunday Dinners @ White Room, Stanley. 7:45pm. £10.00 + bf. Jazz, blues , jump jive, rock ‘n’ roll.
Fri 31: Alan Barnes Quartet @ The Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. £15.00 Barnes (alto sax, baritone sax, clarinet); Alan Law (piano); Mick Shoulder (double bass); Tim Johnston (drums).
Fri 31: SwanNek + Rivkala @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 8:00pm. SwanNek’s new single launch gig. Pilgrim, formerly Hoochie Coochie.

February 2025

Sat 01: Alan Barnes & John Hallam with the Tom Kincaid Trio @ 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 - Cy Coleman’s Witchcraft. Enrol at: learning@jazz.coop.
Sat 01: Darling Dollies @ St George’s Church, Jesmond, Newcastle. 3:00pm. £10.00. Vocal trio.
Sat 01: Jason Isaacs @ STACK, Exchange Sq., Middlesbrough. 3:30-5:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 01: Jeff Hewer Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 01: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00.
Sat 01: Rockin’ Turner Brothers @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Western swing etc.

Sun 02: Smokin’ Spitfires @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:45pm. £7.50.
Sun 02: Lewis Watson Quartet @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00pm. £10.00.
Sun 02: Sax Choir @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free (donations).
Sun 02: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 02: Spilt Milk @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 5:15-7:00pm. Free. Nolan Brothers (vocal harmonies).
Sun 02: Jive Aces @ The Fire Station, Sunderland. 7:00pm. Sun 02: John Pope + Andy Champion + Ian Paterson @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. ‘Subterranean Explorations 1’. Three (half hour) solo bass sets.
Sun 02: Jazz Jam @ Fabio’s, Saddler St., Durham. 8:00pm. Free. A Durham University Jazz Society promotion. All welcome.

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, April 11, 2015

GIJF Day One: Stan Tracey’s Under Milk Wood

Bobby Wellins (tenor saxophone), Steve Melling (piano), Andy Cleyndert (double bass), Clark Tracey (drums) & Ben Tracey (narration.)
(Review by Russell/photo courtesy of Ken Drew)
First night of the festival and Hall Two was near, as damn it, full to capacity. No real surprise given that one of the seminal works of British jazz was being revisited by a stellar line-up. Stan Tracey’s Under Milk Wood is fifty. Recorded in 1965, composer Tracey is no longer with us, but the tenor saxophonist on the recording date – Bobby Wellins – continues to perform, his powers undiminished.
The first set featured, effectively, the Bobby Wellins Quartet. The genial Scot clearly took great pleasure in leading an A-list band. Pianist Steve Melling played Melling, a good idea too, as who could emulate Stan Tracey? A fine pianist in his own right, the frame a little fuller, Melling’s flowing lines, light of touch, echoed those of Wellins.
A handful of tunes, forty five minutes flew by. Bass and drums – Andy Cleyndert and Clark Tracey – have worked together for years. The pair look little different from days gone by; Cleyndert now wearing spectacles (his music stand some distance from eyes), Tracey’s hang-dog visage much the same as it’s always been. Set highlights included Lover Man and an achingly good It Never Entered My Mind.
What to say about the Dylan Thomas-inspired work heard second set? The album (the original vinyl issue a collector’s item) has entered British jazz lore. Hearing B Wellins (tenor saxophone) play it live was a privilege. The Tracey family dynasty maintained a connection to the piece – drummer Clark and grandson Ben as narrator. Clark has it in DNA, Ben, word perfect, similarly has inherited the family jazz gene. I Lost My Step in Nantucket is a rarity – a British jazz standard, that’s the hallmark of Under Milk Wood. Thomas’ dark comic verse, delivered impeccably by Ben Tracey, frequently elicited a chuckle in the dimmed auditorium. It was, surely, as the author intended. The jazz was superb; solos punctuated the drama, the audience aware that on this occasion, applause should be reserved for an appropriate pause in the story. Under Milk Wood is a work to be heard on special occasions, this the 50th anniversary year, is one of them. Gateshead Jazz Festival got it right – an ‘I was there’ occasion.
Russell.
at

2 comments :

Hugh said...

Exellent summary, Russell. I too was pleased that the applause was reserved for those appropriate breaks in the delivery of Under Milk Wood - apart from that one man in the front...

Sunday, April 12, 2015 2:55:00 pm
Ken D said...

We've all seen it, heard it and enjoyed it quite a few times - but it still has a freshness when played live to this day. For me, seeing Bobby smile at various points of the prose was priceless. Ken D.

Wednesday, April 15, 2015 8:32:00 pm

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