Total Pageviews

Bebop Spoken There

Kurt Elling: ''There's something to learn from every musician you play with''. (DownBeat, December 2024).

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

17630 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 904 of them this year alone and, so far, 49 this month (Dec. 20).

From This Moment On ...

December

Wed 25: Wot? No jazz!

Thu 26: The Boneshakers @ Tyne Bar, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. The 17th annual Boneshakers’ Shindig.

Fri 27: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 27: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free. Business as usual!.
Fri 27: Jason Isaacs @ Seaburn STACK, Seaburn. 3:30-5:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Fri 27: Michael Woods @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Country blues guitar & vocals.

Sat 28: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 11:30am. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 28: Fri 20: Castillo Nuevo @ Revoluçion de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30pm. Free.
Sat 28: Jude Murphy, Rich Herdman & Giles Strong @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sat 28: Ray Stubbs R & B All-Stars @ Billy Bootlegger’s, Stepney Bank, Newcastle. 9:00pm. Free.

Sun 29: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 29: Alexia Gardner Quintet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 30: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 30: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Wheatsheaf, Benton Sq., Whitley Road, Palmersville NE12 9SU. Tel: 0191 266 8137. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 30: Jason Isaacs @ STACK, Exchange Sq., Middlesbrough. 4:00-6:00pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.

Tue 31: Jason Isaacs @ Seaburn STACK, Seaburn. 12 noon-2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Tue 31: Lapwing Trio @ Wallington (National Trust), Cambo, Morpeth NE61 4AR. 12 noon & 2:00pm. Admission to site £19.00.
Tue 31: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 3:30-5:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Tue 31: Archie Brown & Friends @ Tyne Bar, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 4:00-8:00pm. Free.

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, January 30, 2016

CD Review: Great American Music Ensemble - It's All in the Game

(Review by Lance).  
Most of my contemporaries would have shied away when they noted that In the Mood was the opening track! If it had sailed under previous titles such as Tar Paper Stomp or Hot and Anxious they may have been more welcoming - such is jazz snobbery!
Not me! When, as a callow youth, I received my first pay packet, I cycled along to our local record shop and plonked down a couple of bob (shillings) for Glenn Miller's [in]famous version of the tune. As such, it still has a place in my heart and, on my 78rpm shelf.
This version bares no resemblance to the original and is none the worse for that!
 A punchy American big band that takes standards and injects new life into them.
The guests play their part. Jon Faddis is in incredible form - West End Blues = Louis Armstrong Meets Dizzy Gillespie meets Maynard meets Cat! He does a rather special workout on Stardust too. Memories of Jon at Durham's Brass Festival.
Rene Marie has one of those voices that exude intimacy, the suggestion that she's in love with you!
Joe Kennedy Jr swings like Stephane and the band swings like Basie.
Apart from the guests, Gailes blows sop and ten as if his parents had given him them as a dummy substitute!
John D'earth ensures that Faddis doesn't collect all the trumpet points and, but what the 'eck? you don't get on this band from Amateur Hour - you need the chops.
They've got the chops!
Of course, the guy who made it all happen was composer and arranger Doug Richards. One of the relatively unsung legends of the American jazz/music scene.
Lance.
Doug Richards (md); Marty Nau, Jim Nesbit, Skip Gailes, John Winn, Rob Holmes (reeds); Roy Muth, Bob Ransom, John D'earth, Rob DeDominick (tpt/flug); Jim McFalls, Dean Englert, Lee Gause (tmb); Weldon Hill (pno); Victor Dvoskin (bs); Howard Curtis (dms) + Rene Marie (vcl); Jon Faddis (tpt); Joe Kennedy, Jr (vln).

2 comments :

Jr. Williams said...

Big band jazz to listen to?
Big Big Bands by FinnyCapp

Anonymous said...

Big big band jazz by FinnyCap? Funky beats - I see they also do a number called Praying to the Plug? I don't think Glenn Miller ever recorded that one ......

Blog Archive