Bebop Spoken There

Dominick "Domo" Branch: ''Most people say drummers can't write, they're just time-keepers only beating on things. But I have a very musical brain.'' (DownBeat February, 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

18288 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 18 years ago. 142 of them this year alone and, so far this month (Feb. 14), 42

From This Moment On ...

February

Thu 19: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £5.00. Subject: George Shearing Jazz Moments.

Fri 20: Alex Clarke w. Dean Stockdale Trio @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT! Clarke w. Dean Stockdale, Mick Shoulder, Abbie Finn.
Fri 20: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 20: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 20: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 20: Squabble @ Warkworth Memorial Hall. 7:00pm. Steve Chambers (organ); Jude Murphy (double bass, vocals); Sid White (drums).
Fri 20: Jive Aces @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 7:00pm (6:30pm doors).
Fri 20: Alex Clarke w. Dean Stockdale Trio @ Sunderland Minster. 7:30pm. Clarke w. Dean Stockdale, Mick Shoulder, Abbie Finn.

Sat 21: ???

Sun 22: Musicians Unlimited: Big Band Blast @ West Hartlepool RFC. 1:00-3:00pm . Free.
Sun 22: Joe Steels Group @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm. A Blue Patch album tour.
Sun 22: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 22: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 22: Harben Kay Quartet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 23: Joe Steels Group @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 1:00pm. A Blue Patch album tour.
Mon 23: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 24: Finn-Keeble Group @ Newcastle House Hotel, Rothbury. 7:30pm. £11.00.
Tue 24: Liam Oliver & Shayo Oshodi @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 26: Castillo Nuevo Orquesta @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £6.50.
Thu 26: Shalala @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £7.00 adv.
Thu 26: Mick Cantwell Band @ The Harbour View, Roker, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Blues.

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

Wednesday, June 22, 2016

CD Review: Redemption - Sands of Time.

Jim Hall (keys); John Hall (ten); Keith Tulip (bass); Martin Wake (dms).
(Review by Lance).
I currently have 19 CDs vying for poll position in the BSH Review Stakes and that's apart from the ones, hopefully, on the players of Russell, the two Steve's, Ann Alex, Hugh and anyone else who's foolishly volunteered to add their words of wisdom. There's probably also a zillion downloads that may have to wait for as many years before I get around to listening to them.
What I'm saying is that, if your pride and joy hasn't made it it's because it's either, not good enough or is still in the pile awaiting appraisal.
One disc that has made the cut is this one by north-east band Redemption.
I was, at first, hesitant about agreeing to post a review, as they are the only band in the world - to my knowledge - to have composed a tune and dedicated it to me! Fortunately, that tune, Free Lance, isn't included here so I'm free of any  charges of nepotism! 
In actual fact, the album is a cracker! Original compositions that genre-cross Jazz Rock, Fusion, Funk and Latin, the quartet have absorbed all those elements and created an exciting and original sound of their own. John Hall's tenor solos are as blistering as any I've heard locally or, indeed, further afield. His name should be dropped in any saxophone conversation and yet it rarely is!
Personally, I think they knighted the wrong John Hall.
Jim Hall, wisely plays keyboards to avoid comparision with his more illustrious guitar playing namesake, although if his pianistics were applied to guitar, maybe ...
On bass is Keith Tulip, I used to work in a band with a drummer named Neville Tulip, I also sold a guitar to his son who was also called Tulip. One of our most prolific reviewers is Steve Tulip and his son Francis Tulip is a comer on guitar leading me to think that there are more tulips on the jazz scene than there are in an Amsterdam flower market!
This particular Tulip does the business and, with Martin Wake on kit, gels with the Hall's to make Redemption a four piece band to look out for.
I've heard Redemption at many venues and, whilst they've all been good gigs I don't think the live sound compares with the balance they get here, It's about as perfect as you can get.
Credit for this goes to the Garage in South Shields. Matt Forster did the artwork and the photography was by Ken Drew.
Recommended!
Lance.

1 comment :

Ann Alex said...

Just to add to the flowery confusion, I have a friend named Keith Tulip, not the jazzman, although he is a jazz lover of such as Miles Davis.

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