Bebop Spoken There

Dominick "Domo" Branch: ''Most people say drummers can't write, they're just time-keepers only beating on things. But I have a very musical brain.'' (DownBeat February, 2026)

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

18288 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 18 years ago. 142 of them this year alone and, so far this month (Feb. 14), 42

From This Moment On ...

February

Thu 19: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £5.00. Subject: George Shearing Jazz Moments.

Fri 20: Alex Clarke w. Dean Stockdale Trio @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT! Clarke w. Dean Stockdale, Mick Shoulder, Abbie Finn.
Fri 20: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 20: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 20: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 20: Squabble @ Warkworth Memorial Hall. 7:00pm. Steve Chambers (organ); Jude Murphy (double bass, vocals); Sid White (drums).
Fri 20: Jive Aces @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 7:00pm (6:30pm doors).
Fri 20: Alex Clarke w. Dean Stockdale Trio @ Sunderland Minster. 7:30pm. Clarke w. Dean Stockdale, Mick Shoulder, Abbie Finn.

Sat 21: ???

Sun 22: Musicians Unlimited: Big Band Blast @ West Hartlepool RFC. 1:00-3:00pm . Free.
Sun 22: Joe Steels Group @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm. A Blue Patch album tour.
Sun 22: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 22: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 22: Harben Kay Quartet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 23: Joe Steels Group @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 1:00pm. A Blue Patch album tour.
Mon 23: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 24: Finn-Keeble Group @ Newcastle House Hotel, Rothbury. 7:30pm. £11.00.
Tue 24: Liam Oliver & Shayo Oshodi @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 26: Castillo Nuevo Orquesta @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £6.50.
Thu 26: Shalala @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £7.00 adv.
Thu 26: Mick Cantwell Band @ The Harbour View, Roker, Sunderland. 8:00pm. 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, August 22, 2015

CD Review: Misha Mullov-Abbado - New Ansonia

Misha Mullov-Abbado (db bs.); Matthew Herd (alt); Tom Green (tmb); Jacob Collier (pno); Scott Chapman (dms) + James Davison (tpt/flug - 2 tks); Nick Goodwin (gtr - 2 tks); Viktoria Mullova (vln - 1 tk); Matthew Barley (cello - 1 tk).
(Review by Lance).
At first glance I suspected that I would be passing this one on to some of our outfielders. However, upon listening, it became obvious that I couldn't have been more wrong!
Mullov-Abbado, son of an Italian conductor and a Russian violinist, merges his classical upbringing with an eastern ethnic feel and a very much contemporary jazz approach, The writing brings to mind such disparate composers as Ellington; Gil Evans and Charles Mingus. The latter is very much in evidence, not only as the late bassist was, but as he might have been were he still with us.
Tom Green has become a familiar name to me and he epitomises the the way a trombone should sound in such a setting. Herd has that Shafi Hadi approach and I'm sure that, in a different era and in a different place, he'd have been one of Mingus' first callers. Leader/bassist Mullov-Abbado, winner of the 2014 Kenny Wheeler Award (he also picked up a Dankworth Prize for jazz composition that same year), composed all but one of the compositions and impressed on bass. The piece, Heal Me On This Cloudy Day was composed for his father's funeral.
Claudio Abbado would have been justifiably proud.
Lance.
Misha Mullov-Abbado - New Ansonia will be released by Edition Records on August 28.

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