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Bebop Spoken There

Sullivan Fortner: ''I always judge it by the bass player: If the bass player is happy, it's going to be a good night". (DownBeat, February 2025).

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

17777 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 98 of them this year alone and, so far, 23 this month (Feb.8).

From This Moment On ...

February 2025

Sun 09: The New ’58 Jazz Collective @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 09: Am Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 09: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 09: Glenn Miller & Big Band Spectacular @ The Forum, Billingham. 3:00pm.
Sun 09: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 09: Tom Remon & Mark Williams @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 09: Rod Oughton’s Tomorrow’s New Quartet with Ben van Helder @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Line-up inc. Deschanel Gordon.
Sun 09: Jazz Jam @ Fabio’s, Saddler St., Durham. 8:00pm. Free. A Durham University Jazz Society promotion. All welcome.

Mon 10: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 11: Steve Summers Quintet @ Newcastle House Hotel, Rothbury. 7:30pm.

Wed 12: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 12: Jam session @ The Tannery, Gilesgate, Hexham. 7:00-9:00pm. Free.
Wed 12: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 12: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 13: Student Performances @ King’s Hall, Newcastle University. 4:00pm. Free. Inc. Olly Styles (tenor sax).
Thu 13: MOBO Awards Fringe 2025: Artist Showcase @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 7:00pm. Free (ticketed). Line-up inc. Hannabiell & Midnight Blue.
Thu 13: Indigo Jazz Voices @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:45pm. £5.00.

Fri 14: John Rowland Trio @ Jesmond Library, Newcastle. 12:30-1:30pm. £5.00. at the door. New second Friday in the month concert series.
Fri 14: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 14: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 14: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 14: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 4:00-6:00pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Fri 14: Archipelago + Anna Tempest @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm. £12.00., £10.00., £8.00.
Fri 14: Paul Jones & Dave Kelly @ Alnwick Playhouse. 7:30pm. Rhythm & blues.
Fri 14: Alexia Gardner Quintet @ The White Room, Stanley. 7:45pm.
Fri 14: Jazz Sabbath @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm.

Sat 15: Joseph Carville Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 15: James Birkett & Emma Fisk @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 7:30pm. £15.00. at the door; £14.35. (inc £0.35 bf) online, in advance.
Sat 15: Elkie Brooks @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 7:30pm. ‘The Long Farewell Tour’.
Sat 15: Milne Glendinning Band @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

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, June 11, 2016

When Charlie Met Sonny: Mark Toomey/Lewis Watson Quintet - Jazz Café. June 10.

Mark Toomey (alt); Lewis Watson (ten); Jeremy McMurray (keys); Peter Ayton (bs); Paul Smith (dms).
(Review by Lance/photos courtesy of Mike Tilley).
Lewis Watson could be likened to the Loch Ness Monster. Sightings are reported but rarely are they confirmed. Submerged as he is in the Jason Isaacs Band this is not surprising. Tonight, though, the Monster arose from his slumbers and unleashed a mighty roar. A roar that sent every saxophone player north of Plymouth Sound and south of John O'Groats reaching for their Jerry Bergonzi tutor books.
Well not everyone. Co-bandleader Toomey is the perfect foil for Watson. Charlie Parker, Cannonball his Gods - meeting the Rollins/Coltrane juggernaut with his own serpentine lines that made for the perfect match.
In the engine room, McMurray comped and soloed in his own inimitable style, Smith was in overdrive and Ayton on, was it a Fender upright?, bass provided the heartbeat. Together, the five combined to produce some fine post-bop modern jazz.
I recognised the opener but couldn't put a name to it. What's in a name anyway as Shakespeare once said, - or was it John Surman?  In Walked Bud kept us on 52nd St., Mark Time, the first of Toomey's toons, then A Weaver of Dreams. This latter tune featured Watson who began and ended the ballad with lengthy Rollins-like cadenzas.
The set ended with a blast On Green Dolphin Street.
Wayne Shorter's Footprints began with a bass intro before the horns took off. Toomey the more orthodox, Watson less so, extending the range of the tenor into sopranino territory! 
Another Toomey original, Rain is for Today would have been deemed appropriate by anyone peering outside past the Bordello Red drapes, as the backdrop was described by our man JC who obviously knows a thing or two about these matters. Whatever, it was a good number as the altoists compositions invariably are.
Toomey's ballad feature, One Time There, was also one of his own. An enigmatic title for a melancholic piece that reminded me in places of Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most.
Joe Henderson's Recorda Me ended my evening as I had a train to catch and for once I caught it!
Great gig. 
The band can be heard again at the Opus 4 Jazz Club in the Traveller's Rest, Darlington on July 15.
Lance.

6 comments :

Pam Young (on f/b) said...

Excellent review Lance great night

Francis Tulip (on f/b). said...

Great concert! I believe 'Sonnymoon for two' was the opener?

Patti said...

Oh yes - a fabulous gig ...... just a pity that the footie fans had booked all the cabs for after the concert was due to end, so I had to leave early ...... but another stonking night at the Jazz Caff!

Steven T. said...

All you missed Lance - I say all - was described as a Bebop Warhorse I know as Allens Alley from Miles and Tadd Dameron Paris 49 but I know it has a more famous title I can't remember but I'm sure you will, and an encore of Softly. Great night.

Lance said...

Dam(eron)! I wish I'd stayed a Tadd longer. I'd have sooner missed my train than miss that. A.K.A. 'Wee'. Allen's Alley featured Allen Eager on a Coleman Hawkins recording and Eager was actually part of the Bebop Spoken Here logo in the blog's early days. Wee recorded by The Quintet of the Year at Massey Hall in Canada (Bird, Diz, Bud, Mingus, Roach in 1953).

Steven T. said...

Yea, I didn't like to say but it was kinda special; and I'd forgotten it's on Quintet of the Year/ Massey Hall - surely the greatest band ever.
Once left a wedding night only to find out a week later that Bobby Womack turned up and played for 90 mins - it took about a week to get over it but I felt much better after he played Glastonbury the following year and was terrible.

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