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Bebop Spoken There

Steve Coleman: ''If you don't keep learning, your mind slows down. Use it or lose it''. (DownBeat, January 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

17680 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 23 of them this year alone and, so far, 23 this month (Jan. 9).

From This Moment On ...

January 2025

Tue 14: Zoë Gilby Quintet @ Newcastle House Hotel, Rothbury. 7:30pm.

Wed 15: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 15: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 15: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 15: Hot Club of Heaton @ Elder Beer, Heaton, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘third Wednesday in the month’ session. TBC.

Thu 16: Pete Tanton & the Cuban Heels @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Fri 17: Lindsay Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 17: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 17: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 17: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 17: Joe Steels Trio w. Graham Hardy @ The Pele, Corbridge. 7:00pm. £10.00. (inc. a welcome drink & table reservation). Book at: www.drinks@thepele.co.uk. A ‘Jazz at the Pele’ promotion.
Fri 17: Russ Morgan Quartet @ Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. Opus 4 Jazz Club.
Fri 17: Redwell @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sat 18: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 18: Alter Ego + Jamie Toms/Graham Don Duo @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 7:30pm. £15.00. at the door; £14.35. (inc £0.35 bf) online, in advance.
Sat 18: Delta Prophets @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 19: Glenn Miller Orchestra UK @ Glasshouse, Gateshead. 3:00pm. ‘Glenn Miller & the Rat Pack Era’.
Sun 19: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 19: Spilt Milk @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 5:15-7:00pm. Free. Nolan Brothers (vocal harmonies).
Sun 19: Tenement Jazz Band @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 19: Nick Ross Orchestra @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 7:30pm.
Sun 19: Freight Train (Tobin/Noble/Clarvis) @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 20: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 21: ???

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, October 31, 2015

Pannonica @ The Lit & Phil - Oct. 30.

Zoe Gilby, vocals, Andy Champion, bass and Paul Edis, Piano.
(Review/photo by Jerry)
Pannonica is Zoe Gilby’s tribute to the music of Thelonius Monk (via Carmen McRae i.e. Monk with lyrics). I’d not seen the show before but was glad I caught this abbreviated version today as it was a real treat: nine Monk tunes interspersed with anecdotes and explanations and, in passing, a top-notch impersonation of Graeme Wilson! I look forward to seeing the full programme sometime soon.
Many of the lyrics were penned by Jon Hendricks including the zingy opener Rhythm-a-ning and the three tunes which followed. Pannonica, re-titled with lyrics, became Little Butterfly – a beautiful love song in which I’m sure the lyrics captured Monk’s feelings:
Like the lovely flowers / I wait for hours Just to feel that touch / The touch that I love so much
One day she'll flutter by I'll hold out my hand / And capture my butterfly.
Monk’s Dream, or Man, That’s A Dream featured some scat and a nice bass solo and Reflections, or Looking Back had a lovely piano finish. The line: “Thank God I’m a woman who knows” sounded like Zoe justifiably defending her choice of material!
Think of One, with lyrics by a Dutch vocalist, became When I Think of One. I’m not sure how the lyrics reflect the original unless it was about insecure love: When I think of one, I think of you / When you think of one, you think of who? There was a groovy piano solo and the final “who” sounded like a Tawny Owl in full cry.
I Mean You, with lyrics by Coleman Hawkins and Hendricks featured a great bass solo and was as near to “catchy” as Monk gets. Ugly Beauty, with lyrics by Mike Ferro, became And Still We Dream – a beautiful ballad / waltz about the end of a love affair. I like the way rhymes like “charming / alarming” crop up in Ferro’s lyrics echoing the oxymoronic original title.
My two favourites on the day were Blue Monk/Monkery’s the Blues and Brilliant Corners  When I’m Alone. The latter was amazing, musically – so complex that Monk’s band in 1956 (including Sonny Rollins), after no fewer than 25 takes, gave up and an edited “composite” had to go on the album. Today’s musicians were undeterred and the audience whooped their approval. Blue Monk was the closing number and Edis and Champion, who had solo-ed brilliantly throughout, saved their best till last and Zoe, whose vocals had been mesmerising elsewhere was really at home on this “blue highway”. I loved the lyrics, too – Abbey Lincoln, I believe:
Finding your one Place in the sun, Doesn't come the easy way Shallow or deep, Nothing is cheap, Measured by the dues you pay..
The lyrics perfectly fitted the tune – but not the occasion: I paid £4 and this was worth SO much more. I loved every minute!
Jerry

1 comment :

Nonsociopath Skin said...

An excellent gig. I wasn't sure I liked Thelonius Monk's music until then ...

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