Bebop Spoken There

Melissa Aldana: ''Having to play a ballads album, which is something very revealing for a saxophone player, would help me to question some new aspects of how to go deeper into sound." (DownBeat May, 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

18621 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 18 years ago. 485 of them this year alone and, so far this month (June 14) 37

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

June

Tue 23: Alan Law Trio @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 2:00pm. Free.
Tue 23: Jude Murphy & Dan Stanley @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Wed 24: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 24: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 24: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 25: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ The Millstone, Mill Rise, South Gosforth, Newcastle. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 25: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £5.00. Subject: Forgotten Ones & Any Quintets.
Thu 25: Edgar Ho Trio @ Newcastle Arts Centre. 7:30pm. Free. Brilliant alto sax, piano & double bass trio. Unmissable!
Thu 25: Paul Skerritt @ Angels' Share, St George's Terrace, Jesmond, Newcastle NE2 2SX. 8:00pm. Free. Booking advised (0191 200 1975). Skerritt w. backing tapes.

Fri 26: Finn-Keeble Group @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. £9:00.
Fri 26: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 26: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 26: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 26: Clark Tracey @ Live Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Newcastle Jazz Festival. £26.00. Day 1/2.

Sat 27: OUTRI @ Live Theatre, Newcastle. 1:00pm. £13.01. 1:00-1:45pm. Newcastle Jazz Festival. Day 2/2.
Sat 27: House of the Black Gardenia + Magpies of Swing @ The Cumberland Arms, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sat 27: Mark Toomey Quartet @ Live Theatre, Newcastle. 2:15-3:15pm. £13.01. Newcastle Jazz Festival. Day 2/2.
Sat 27: Alexia Gardner Quintet @ Live Theatre, Newcastle. 3:45-4:45pm. £13.01. Newcastle Jazz Festival. Day 2/2.
Sat 27: Rory Ingham @ Live Theatre, Newcastle. 5:30-6:30pm. £19.51. Newcastle Jazz Festival. Day 2/2. Ingham w. Dean Stockdale, Ian Paterson, Dave McKeague.
Sat 27: Castillo Nuevo Trio @ Revoluçion de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30pm. Free.
Sat 27: Laura Jurd @ Live Theatre, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £26.00. Newcastle Jazz Festival. Day 2/2. Sat 27: Brass Fiesta @ Revoluçion de Cuba, Newcastle. 10:30pm. Free.

Sun 28: Musicians Unlimited: Big Band Blast @ West Hartlepool RFC. 1:00-3:00pm . Free.
Sun 28: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 28: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Table reservations (0191 261 8000). Skerritt w. backing tapes.
Sun 28: Tim Kliphuis Trio @ St Mary’s Church, Wooler. 3:00pm. £18.00., £6.00. A Wooler Arts Summer Concerts event. Tim Kliphuis (violin); Nigel Clark (guitar); Roy Percy (double bass).
Sun 28: Ruth Lambert Trio @ Juke Shed, North Shields. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 28: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 28: An Evening of Jazz @ St James’ Church, Copper Chare, Morpeth. 7:30pm. Tickets: £10.00 from 01670 788869 or 01670 519923. Mid Northumberland Chorus (MD Robin Forbes, Emma Straughan, piano) w. jazz trio featuring Edgar Ho, Oscar Ho & Dave McKeague & special guest Emily Masser. Performance inc. Bob Chilcott’s A Little Jazz Mass + George Shearing’s Songs & Sonnets.
Sun 28: Led Bib @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £15.00., £12.00. JNE.

Mon 29: Friends of Jazz @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Wednesday, April 20, 2016

GIJF: Terence Blanchard e-collective @ Sage Gateshead. April 16

Terence Blanchard (trumpet & synths), Fabian Almazan (keyboards & synths), Charles Altura (guitar), DJ (bass) & Oscar Seaton (drums)
(Review by Russell/Photo Credit: John Watson/Jazzcamera.co.uk)
The second set of this festival double bill presented Terence Blanchard. Yes, the one-time Jazz Messenger really was in the building! Messengers’ alumni constitute a post-WWII ‘who’s who’ of the music…Kenny Dorham, Bill Hardman, Donald Byrd, Lee Morgan, Wynton Marsalis and Terence Blanchard. And these were just the trumpet players! 1980 or thereabouts, T Blanchard appeared at the Newcastle Playhouse with Art Blakey. The young man cut the mustard, decades later would he affirm his place in the jazz pantheon?
1980 sharp suits, 2016 Apple Mac, a sign of the times. The sartorial elegance gone, jeans and t-shirt the uniform, an Apple Mac-processed sound the jazz of today. Drummer Oscar Seaton drove/bludgeoned this gig to the max. Immense power (check out the biceps), this was one impressive performance. Bassist DJ stood his ground, his in-the-pocket playing undisturbed by the sledgehammer to his left. Blanchard was looking for a guitar player to join him in the e-Collective. YouTube flagged-up Charles Altura. An email invitation to tour the world elicited a one-word reply: Cool.
Blanchard has done a Miles. The past is in the past, electricity is the thing. The trumpeter played plenty of trumpet – all of it processed via a software programme. A jazz club horn player of a gig? Not a chance! To quote from the festival programme notes a hard-hitting fusion of funk, R'n'B and rock. Accurate and apposite. Terence Blanchard’s Blue Note CD Breathless addresses his response to the death of Eric Garner whilst in the custody of the NYPD. Weighty subject matter requiring an appropriate creative response.           
Russell.           
at

3 comments :

Jude Murphy (on F/b) said...

LOVED this performance!

Wednesday, April 20, 2016 1:46:00 pm
Anonymous said...

An awe inspiring, immense, uncompromising and brutalist performance. I thought bands didn't play like this nowadays. This was music with a purpose, making Courtney Pine seem merely a (fabulous) technician!

One query - I don't think the bass player was Blanchard's long time collaborator Donald Ramsey - he's righthanded and older than "DJ" from S Carolina who was introduced here. Chris K

Wednesday, April 20, 2016 9:09:00 pm
Russell said...

Agreed. Blanchard did introduce the bass player as 'DJ'. I'm sure the BSH editor will make the necessary amendment to the line-up.

Thursday, April 21, 2016 9:04:00 am

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