Bebop Spoken There

John McLaughlin: ''It was then that Coltrane came along and single-handedly brought this dimension of spirituality into jazz. It was a pivotal experience to me.'' (DownBeat September, 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

18957 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 18 years ago. 821 of them this year alone and, so far this month (Sept. 30.) 100.

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

From This Moment On

October.

Wed 07: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free. Wed 07: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 07: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 07: Black is the Color of My Voice @ Northern Stage, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Apphia Campbell’s one-woman stage play inspired by Nina Simone. Second night of two.

Thu 08: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ The Millstone, Mill Rise, South Gosforth, Newcastle. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 08: Pete Tanton’s Chet Set @ Newcastle Arts Centre. 7:30pm. Free (donations).
Thu 08: Indigo Jazz Voices w. Little Big Band @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:45pm. £5.00.

Fri 09: Dean Stockdale Trio @ Bishop Auckland Methodist Church. 1:00pm. £9.00. Dean Stockdale (piano); Mick Shoulder (double bass); John Bradford (drums).
Fri 09: John Rowland Trio @ Jesmond Library, Newcastle. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 09: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 09: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 09: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 09: Shalala @ The Globe, Newcastle.

Sat 10: Catfish Keith @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £19.00. + bf. Jumpin’ Hot Club.

Sun 11: Am Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 11: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 2:30pm. Free. Feat. guest Jack ‘Banjo’ Courtney (trumpet).
Sun 11: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 11: Harry Christelis Quartet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A Jazz Co-op-JNE co-promotion.

Mon 12: Jack Pearce Quintet @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 1:00pm.
Mon 12: Friends of Jazz @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 13: Alan Law @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 2:00pm. Free. Alan Law (piano) w. Julija Jacenaite (vocals).

Sunday, September 20, 2015

CD Review: Sam Coombes Trio - Pace of Change

Sam Coombes (alt/sop); Yoni Zelnik (bs); Julien Charlet (dms).
(Review by Lance).
Sam Coombes first appeared on my radar in January 2011 when he played a Splinter gig at the Bridge Hotel. As you will gather from that original review I was impressed. This was a quartet gig with David Patrick (remember that name*) on piano. Piano has been dispensed with in this downsized ensemble making for an even tighter and, paradoxically, freer session.
Coombes remains Konitz inspired but now leans more towards later Konitz with perhaps a dash of Pepper (Art) added - the end product being pure Coombes.
Ten originals penned by Coombes show him to be as competent a composer as a player not least in the oft changed time signatures used. "Each composition uses a minimum of 3 non-standard time signatures - 13/4; 11/4; 9/4; 5/2 etc." (could be the odds for the 3.30 at Kelso!). 
This complexity surely places extra curricular demands on your average jazzer but, one assumes, these guys had been thoroughly woodshedded otherwise the results couldn't have been so perfect. I'm not suggesting that this was meticulously rehearsed - far from it - rather that they acclimatised themselves to the Pace of Change - a title as appropriate as Brubeck's Time Out was when the movement to explore other meters in jazz began. The fluidity of Coombes playing incorporates everything asked of a jazz musician i.e. to swing in a contemporary manner, to be explorative, to display command of his instrument and, most of all, connect with the listener. Coombes connects with this listener!
Zelnik and Charlet, à la basse et batterie respectively, provide a solid foundation. Les deux Frenchmen combine with Coombes to make this a truly integrated Anglais/Francais band. Coombes seems to commute 'twixt London, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Paris for gigs. Methinks there's a place at the epicentre of these cities where he may care to drop by again...
Check Sam Coombes out!
Available on Pol-e-MATH RECORDINGS SCPRO1 and distributed by Discovery Records from Oct. 16.
Lance.
*Sam Coombes is also featured on the David Patrick Octet's jazz version of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring - up for review here shortly.
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