Bebop Spoken There

Warne Marsh: "At some point, you have to be prepared to create—to perform. It's vital, man, if we're talking about jazz, the original jazz, the performing art. It fulfils its meaning only when you play it live in front of an audience." DownBeat January 1983.

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

18191 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 45 of them this year alone and, so far this month (Jan. 14), 45

From This Moment On ...

JANUARY 2026

Fri 16: Giles Strong Quartet @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. £8.00. SOLD OUT!
Fri 16: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 16: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 16: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 16: Darlington Big Band @ The Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. Opus 4 Jazz Club.
Fri 16: Leeds City Stompers @ Billy Bootleggers, Newcastle. 9:00pm. Free.

Sat 17: Homer’s Lane + John Garner & John Pope @ St John’s Church, Riding Mill. 2:00-4:00pm. Free. Gabriele Heller’s audio play + Garner & Pope.
Sat 17: Martyn Roper @ Billy Bootleggers, Newcastle. 5:00pm. Free. Roper’s ‘One Man Blues Band’.
Sat 17: Ray Stubbs R&B All Stars @ Billy Bootleggers, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 17: Alexia Gardner Trio @ FIKA Art Gallery, Morpeth. 7:00pm (6:30pm doors). Gardner, Alan Law & Jude Murphy.

Sun 18: Louis Louis Louis @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 2:00pm (doors). £15.00. Swing, jump jive, rhythm & blues. Fundraiser for St Oswald’s Hospice.
Sun 18: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 2:30pm. Free. Trio + Rod Sinclair.
Sun 18: Glenn Miller Orchestra UK @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 3:00pm.
Sun 18: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 18: Herdman-Strong Quartet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 19: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 20: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Ben Lawrence, Paul Grainger, Joe Deans.

Wed 21: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 21: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 21: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 22: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £5.00. Subject: 2025 obituaries.
Thu 22: Ronnie Scott’s Soho Songbook @ The Fire Station, Sunderland. 7:30pm. SOLD OUT!
Thu 22: Castillo Nuevo Orquesta. @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 8:00pm (doors). £6.50 (inc. bf).

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

Tuesday, September 15, 2015

CD Review: Tiffany Austin - Nothing But Soul

Tiffany Austin (vcl); Howard Wiley (ten/vcl); Glen Pearson (pno); Ron Belcher (bs); Sly Randolph (dms).
(Review by Lance.)
There are some tunes that make you cringe upon hearing. Not that there's anything wrong with the songs. Summertime is one of the greatest songs ever written but my well documented aversion to the song is not directed at George Gershwin but at the thousands of wannabees  who wouldn't dream of stepping on stage without the feeling that, if  Cry Me a River doesn't get them, then Summertime will!
Familiarity, contempt etc.
Stardust (like the pale moon) is another that no longer excites me, as with Summertime, the definitive versions have been set in stone, or rather vinyl. 
Or so I thought!
Enter Tiffany Austin.
On this, her debut album, she has given a completely new take to Hoagy's classic song. Even the verse is given a new, rhythmic, lease of life. And this is but track one! What follows are more Carmichael gems. Songs either composed by the great man or associated with him. I'm not quite sure how Johnny Cash's I Walk The Line fits in (seemingly Hoagy  cut a 45rpm in '56), but they are all belters with a band that rocks and rolls and swings like the proverbial! Wiley in particular blows up a storm.
This is a difficult disc to review - I mean how can you type when you're dancing around the room?!
Ah, Georgia on my Mind cools things and allows me to to jump down from the ceiling and get back to the keyboard.
Baltimore Oriole; I Get Along Without You Very Well; I May Be Wrong (sung by Hoagy but not one of his comps); Skylark; Sing me a Swing Song are some of the others.
Tiffany Austin is the most exciting singer I've heard since first hearing Cecile McLorin Salvant  at Mike Durham's Classic Jazz Party/Festival although, up here in Newcastle, Alice Grace isn't far behind.
There may be better vocal discs this year but there won't be many and certainly not a better first timer!
YouTube.
Released October 16. Con Alma Music CAM 001.
Lance
at

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