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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

17655 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 929 of them this year alone and, so far, 74 this month (Dec. 31).

From This Moment On ...

January 2025

Sat 04: Jason Isaacs @ STACK, Exchange Square, Middlesbrough. 3:30-5:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 04: Rivkala @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sat 04: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00. Xmas party (rescheduled from early December).

Sun 05: Smokin’ Spitfires @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:45pm. £7.50.
Sun 05: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 05: Salty Dog @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Americana, jazz & blues.
Sun 05: Papa G’s Troves @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free (donations).

Mon 06: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 07: Customs House Big Band @ The Masonic Hall, North St., Ferryhill DL17 8HX. 7:00pm. Free.

Wed 08: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 08: The Tannery Jam Session @ The Tannery, Gilesgate, Hexham. 7:00-9:00pm. Free.
Wed 08: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 08: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).

Thu 09: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: John H Hammond.
Thu 09: FILM: Soundtrack to a Coup D’Etat @ Tyneside Cinema, Newcastle. 2:35pm. Documentary (dir. Johan Grimonprez) ‘about jazz, (de)colonial history and activism featuring Louis Armstrong, Nina Simone and Dizzy Gillespie’.
Thu 09: Happy Tuesdays @ Ye Olde Cross, Ryton. 7:30pm. Free.
Thu 09: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. Ragtime piano. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 09: Mark Toomey Quartet @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm. Free. A Tees Hot Club promotion. The session now monthly, next one Thursday 2nd Feb, then first Thursday in the month thereafter.

Fri 10: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 10: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 10: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 10: Joe Steels Trio @ The Pele, Corbridge. 7:00pm. 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, May 14, 2016

CD Review: Sari Kessler - Do Right.

Sari Kessler (vocals); John Di Martino (piano); Ron Affif (guitar); Steve Whipple (bass);  Willard Dyson (drums); James Shipp (percussion, 4 tracks); Houston Person (ten sax, 3 tracks);
Nadje Noorhuis (trpt, flug, 3 tracks)
(Review by Ann Alex)
Sari Kessler is a very talented woman, a clinical psychologist who has given up her profession to concentrate on music, a New York based jazz singer, songwriter, arranger and also a keen runner. And a very good jazz singer indeed, if this debut album is anything to go by. Sari has performed in the San Francisco Bay Area and various leading venues in Manhattan, and has wide experience of singing pop, soul, as well as studio and radio work.
Kessler states that she wishes to ‘invest each word with meaning’ (a singer after my own heart), and does so straight from the off, with Walk On By, a soulful rendering in a clear pleasant voice, with muted brass and a sad guitar. After You’ve Gone is skilfully sung quite fast yet still managing to be full of pathos, with effective variations of the tune followed by a more hardboiled Why Don’t You Do Right.
The bleakest song on the CD is new to me, The Gal from Joe’s, which I gather is a song about a girl who has died, who must travel the ‘last mile all alone’. The rest of the CD gives us happier songs, such as Sunny; It’s A Wonderful World (not the Louis Armstrong Song); I Thought About You; The Frim Fram Sauce; Feeling Good; Moonglow. But there’s also, an original by Ms. Kessler My Empty Bed Blues, as well as Too Close for Comfort, this one is so well sung that it became quite sinister.  And she does right by her musicians as well (always a good idea!) as they have whole chorus solos, not just the snatches that some singers allow, and they are all well competent, especially the tricksy piano on Sunny and the happy Latin percussion on Feeling Good.
Lance has discussed whether there is ‘room’ for all these new singers.  I would say that there’s no end to talent, locally, nationally and worldwide, and if talent exists, then there’s room for it and it should be celebrated wherever it crops up. Many people would hate to be really famous, to be laid open to criticism on twitter and persecution by the media, along with the praise.
Anyway, before I jump on a soapbox, I should say that Do Right is available on the Ruby Street Music label, from  www.sarikessler.com
Ann Alex

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