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Bebop Spoken There

Van Morrison: ''Basically, I'm coming from jazz. Not pop, not rock, not what's commercial. That's where I started, and that's still where I am. I feel the same as I did when I was listening to Louis Armstrong, Lead Belly, Jelly Roll Morton''. (The Northern Echo, 12 June 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

1803759 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 480 of them this year alone and, so far, 58 this month (June 18).

From This Moment On ...

JUNE 2025

Mon 23: MSK Trio @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 1:00pm. £9.00. at the door; £8.20. (inc £0.20 bf) online, in advance.
Mon 23: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club (1:00pm). Free.

Tues 24: ???

Wed 25: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 25: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 25: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 25: The Magpies of Swing @ The Roxy, Leadgate, Co. Durham. 7:30pm. A Ginger Jitterbugs swing dance event, all welcome.

Thu 26: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: Brass Instruments & the use of mutes.

Fri 27: Lewis Watson Quartet @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm.
Fri 27: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 27: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 27: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 27: Strictly Smokin’ Big Band @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 8:00pm. ‘Time After Time’.

Sat 28: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Linskill Centre, North Shields. 4:00-10:30pm. Free, but ticketed (over 18s only). A multi-bill, multi-genre ‘Canny Shiels - North Shields 800’ event. Three Kings Brewery on site.
Sat 28: Joseph Carville Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 28: Jude Murphy & Dan Stanley @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 29: Jude Murphy & Dan Stanley @ Wallington, Northumberland. 12 noon-1:00pm & 2:00-3:00pm. Tel: 01670 773606. National Trust admission prices apply. ‘Tunes in the Blooms’.
Sun 29: Glenn Miller Orchestra UK @ The Fire Station, Sunderland. 3:00pm. Ray McVay & co.
Sun 29: Ruth Lambert Trio @ Juke Shed, North Shields. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 29: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 29: Zoë Gilby w. Ryton Choral Society @ Corbridge Middle School NE45 5HX. 5:30pm. £15.00. Gilby w jazz trio & choir. ‘An evening of jazz song for choir’.
Sun 29: Jazz Jam Sandwich! @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 29: John Wilson & the Sinfonia of London @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 7:30pm. ‘Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Greatest Hits’.
Sun 29: Out Front @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. JNE.

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

Monday, May 04, 2015

Book Review: Music is Forever - Dizzy Gillespie, the Jazz Legend and Me by Dave Usher w. Bert Falbaum

Jazz tomes these days are becoming increasingly more accessible, by which I mean that they tell a story the non-dedicated jazz person can relate to.
Edward Allan Faine's The Best Gig in Town gave us an insight into the various artists who appeared at the White House during the Nixon administration and Music is Forever also pays a few visits to the White House.
Music is Forever  is a fascinating recollection by Dave Usher of his association and deep friendship with Dizzy Gillespie - a friendship that began when Usher was 14 year-old and gave Dizzy and his wife a lift from a concert hall to their hotel. During the war years age restrictions on driving were lifted thus enabling young Usher to meet his idol and be of service.
This isn't a book riddled with "..and then Dizzy recorded 8 sides for RCA" or a technical analysis of solos accompanied by pages of musical notation. No, this is a personal recollection by a guy who was maybe Dizzy's closest friend. We get inside info on many of the trumpet star's state sponsored trips abroad. Like the South American jaunt where fellow trumpet player Joe Gordon complained he wasn't getting any solos. Dizzy said, "You can play Night in Tunisia on the next gig" The next gig happened to be in Quito, Ecuador, the highest capital city in the world where the air was extremely rarified - it almost killed the poor guy!
But the warmth that comes through in this book is incredible - these were two guys who had a bond forged through jazz. Dizzy, a black musician, Dave, a white, Jewish non musician, found. as I'd like to think all BSH readers do, that jazz transcends race, religion, politics - it certainly did with Diz (although he did run for President in 1964 against Johnson and Goldwater - imagine if he'd made it!) His manifesto included Charles Mingus as Minister of Peace he'll take a piece of your head faster than anyone I know! and Jon Hendricks as Poet Laureate.
Diz didn't make the final cut but he did play the White House in 1972 under Carter and 1978 when George H.W. Bush was top man.
Apart from Diz, Usher also has his own story to tell.
The family business was re-cycling oil and, before he became president of the company, he'd developed pioneering techniques and methods for cleaning up oil spills etc. He also, after meeting Dizzy, formed the Dee Gee label. Remember The Champ? that was on Dee Gee - I wonder why it has slipped out of the current bop bands' repertoires? 
Dave Usher was also involved with Chess Records via their Argo label recording artists such as Sonny Stitt and Ahmad Jamal.
Co-writer Berl Falbaum, who got in on the ground floor of the Usher/Gillespie association, realised there was a story to be told. It took him 20 years to get the project off the ground but I'm pretty damn sure it was worth waiting for. Can you wait for Christmas?
Lance.

1 comment :

Hilary S said...

Mike and I were newly wed and living in Glasgow. In 1972-3 our dear late beautiful friend Ruby Carter who was the vocalist in the Locarno band which Mike worked in, had been invited to a party that a local business man was giving in a large marquee. Lots of live music (even a pipe band) I can't now recall some of the other bands names.
In one corner Ruby saw Dizzy and trio setting up with the one and only Carmen McRae. We stood in awe listening to their set. Mike, being a trumpet player, was a huge fan of Dizzy. We were invited back to their hotel for drinks.
Being newly married to a musician I wasn't aware that one had to remain cool at all times in the presence of the great and good. Mike and I had just acquired a kitten and named him Dizzy. I started to tell the great man this, when I was aware of a certain pressure on my arm from Mike (trying to shut me up) However as Dizzy had this wonderful beaming smile on his face, I continued. Everyone relaxed and started to laugh as Dizzy said, “Gee you guy's called a little kitty cat after me?" Carmen then said laughingly, “I always knew you were an old dog John, I never knew you were a kitty cat".
Many years later when Zoe and I met the lovely Jeanie Bryson, Dizzy’s daughter, in New York, I told her the story...she also laughed.

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