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Bebop Spoken There

Sullivan Fortner: ''I always judge it by the bass player: If the bass player is happy, it's going to be a good night". (DownBeat, February 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

17755 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 76 of them this year alone and, so far, 1 this month (Feb.1).

From This Moment On ...

February 2025

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. SOLD OUT!
Fri 07: Stuart Turner Trio @ Billy Bootlegger’s, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. Jazz, blues, Americana etc.
Fri 07: Dean Stockdale Quartet @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm. £12.00.
Fri 07: Rose Room @ Wylam Institute. 8:00pm. £19.67.
Fri 07: John Rowland Quartet @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sat 08: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 12:30-2:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 08: Jason Isaacs @ Seaburn STACK, Seaburn. 3:30-5:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 08: Milne Glendinning Band @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 08: Lewis Watson Quartet @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 7:30pm. £15.00. at the door; £14.35. (inc £0.35 bf) online, in advance.
Sat 08: Anth Purdy @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. ‘Swing Jazz Guitar’.
Sat 08: NUJO Jazz Jam @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A Newcastle University Jazz Orchestra event. All welcome.

Sun 09: Glenn Miller & Big Band Spectacular @ The Forum, Billingham. 3:00pm.
Sun 09: The New ’58 Jazz Collective @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 09: Am Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 09: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 09: Tom Remon & Mark Williams @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 09: Rod Oughton’s Tomorrow’s New Quartet with Ben van Helder @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Line-up inc. Deschanel Gordon.
Sun 09: Jazz Jam @ Fabio’s, Saddler St., Durham. 8:00pm. Free. A Durham University Jazz Society promotion. All welcome.

Mon 10: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 11: Steve Summers Quintet @ Newcastle House Hotel, Rothbury. 7:30pm.

Wed 12: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 12: Jam session @ The Tannery, Gilesgate, Hexham. 7:00-9:00pm. Free.
Wed 12: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 12: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 13: Student Performances @ King’s Hall, Newcastle University. 4:00pm. Free. Inc. Olly Styles (tenor sax).
Thu 13: MOBO Awards Fringe 2025: Artist Showcase @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 7:00pm. Free (ticketed). Line-up inc. Hannabiell & Midnight Blue.
Thu 13: Indigo Jazz Voices @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:45pm. £5.00.

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, September 17, 2015

CD Review: Jeff Benedict Big Band - Holmes.

Jeff Benedict (sop/alt) Adrian Williams (alt); Jeff Ellwood, Ken Foerch (ten); Charlie Richard (bar); Steve Hawk. Jeff Jarvis, Tom Tallman, Frank Rico (tpt); Paul McKee, Jacques Voyemant ; Otto Granillo, Gerry Amoury (tmb); Dave Askren (gtr); Matt Harris (pno); Tim Emmons (bs); Paul Romaine (dms).
(Review by Lance).
I've procrastinated doing this review for too long! It hit the streets in July but - big confession coming up - it's easier to post a trio review with only 3 names to type in as opposed to the 17 here!
However, I've bitten the bullet and typed - and listened! Boy have I listened! This is one cracking CD totally representative of the current big band scene both in the UK and the USA.
I get the message from this (and locally) that big band jazz is alive and well. A mix of originals by Benedict and trombonist McKee interspersed with compositions by Sting, Duke, Metheny, Zawinal, Coltrane and Michael Brecker.
The roots aren't in Kenton or Herman (maybe a little of the latter in Benedict's alto feature on Easy Living) rather, it's Jones-Lewis/Clarke-Boland that springs to mind with, as is unavoidable in just about any quality big band, a hint of contemporary Basie.
The joy of big band jazz for me is not just the exciting soloists (of which there are plenty here) but that of hearing 5 saxes phrasing as one. They may be blowing Selmer. Yamaha, Conn, Buescher or whatever horns. The mouthpieces may be one of the many gobstoppers crafted  by Link, Guardala, Dukoff, Lawton or what came with the instrument and, using a variety of reeds from the usual suspects, still manage to get that blend of 5 people speaking with unforked tongues. Brassmen too somehow seem to be able to blend as one - at least they do here !
That the bands of Ellington, Gillespie and early Basie rarely achieved this perfection was both their strengths and their weaknesses. The power of their soloists and arrangers more than made up for any loose ensemble work.
Here we get the best of both worlds! I'm not going to suggest that these guys are better than their illustrious predecessors - far from it but, and it's a big but (no lewd comments please!) they have absorbed, learned and developed their own style whilst, incorporating contemporary influences along the way - even Gonsalves never played a tenor solo like Ellwood does on Caravan!
Benedict takes the alto solos, Ellwood and Foerch the tenor spots, McKee puts in some expressive slidework on most whilst Voyemant solos on Brecker's Delta City Blues, Jarvis on Coltrane's Naima and Tallman on Benedict's Holmes are the featured trumpet soloists and Harris, Ascram and Romaine are also in there pitching,
There won't be many better big band records this year - next year either!
Lance
Available Tapestry Records.

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