Bebop Spoken There

Ludovic Beier (Django Festival Allstars): ''Manouche means 'free man,' and gypsies have been travelers since they migrated west from India to Europe.'' (DownBeat March, 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

18383 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 18 years ago. 247 of them this year alone and, so far this month (Mar. 17 ), 57

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

Monday, February 08, 2016

Jazz Co-op @ The Globe: The Andy Lawrenson Trio - February 6

Andy Lawrenson (violin, vocals); Simon O’Byrne (guitar, vocals); Paul Carroll (upright bass, piano) + Also guests Stu Finden (soprano sax) Fiona Finden (vocals)
(Review by Ann Alex)
This was described by the band as their Stephane Grappelli show, so we held on to our hats (should it be berets?) for an evening of stonking, swinging Grappelli/Reinhardt gypsy jazz.  A large audience (donate more chairs?) heard such numbers as My Dear Mr Shane (Mei Bir Mist Du Schoen), sung by Andy; Tea For Two, with its beautiful verse from the guitar, main theme from a luscious-sounding violin, and loads of improvisation all round.
That’s just a small sample of what we enjoyed: other numbers included Reinhart’s 1940s tune Nuages; a 1937 tune of just introduction and chords, the band make up the rest: I Can’t Give You Anything But Love; It Don’t Mean A Thing; Honeysuckle Rose; How High The Moon; Misty; a very dramatic Jealousy tango; Besame Mucho. For good measure, to show what the fiddle could do, we had the well known Caprice No. 24 (Paganini), with Paul using the piano as a bass line.  I especially liked the slightly husky tone of Simon’s voice on Misty and Besame Mucho. Sorry about any tunes I’ve missed or mistitled, but I was also counting the money we’d taken – we volunteers get to do all sorts.
Then came the surprise guests, the Findens, to join the band for the mad lyrics of Bernie’s Tune (twangy guitar and Fi scatting) and also Lester Leaps In.
This was when I leapt out to catch the Metro. Another night of wonderful music at the Globe.
Ann Alex    

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