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Bebop Spoken There

Van Morrison: ''Basically, I'm coming from jazz. Not pop, not rock, not what's commercial. That's where I started, and that's still where I am. I feel the same as I did when I was listening to Louis Armstrong, Lead Belly, Jelly Roll Morton''. (The Northern Echo, 12 June 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

1803759 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 480 of them this year alone and, so far, 58 this month (June 18).

From This Moment On ...

JUNE 2025

Thu 19: Gareth John & the SOS Big Band @ The Forum Music Centre, Darlington. 7:00pm. £25.00. CANCELLED!

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: David Gray's Flextet @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 20: Strictly Smokin’ Big Band @ Alnwick Playhouse. 7:30pm. £21.50. ‘Time After Time’.
Fri 20: Alexia Gardner Quintet @ Sunderland Minster. 7:30pm.
Fri 20: King Bees @ Billy Bootleggers, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. Superb Chicago blues band.

Sat 21: Milne Glendinning Band @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 21: Red Kites Jazz @ Staithes Café, Dunston. 7:00-9:00pm. Free.
Sat 21: Papa G’s Troves @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 22: Phoenix 4 @ Wallington, Northumberland. 12 noon-1:00pm & 2:00-3:00pm. Tel: 01670 773606. National Trust admission prices apply. ‘Tunes in the Blooms’.
Sun 22: Lapwing Trio @ Wallington, Northumberland. 1:00-2:00pm. Tel: 01670 773606. National Trust admission prices apply. ‘Tunes in the Blooms’.
Sun 22: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 22: Jason Isaacs Trio @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 4:00pm. £18.00. + £1.08 bf.
Sun 22: JazzMain @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 23: MSK Trio @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 1:00pm. £9.00. at the door; £8.20. (inc £0.20 bf) online, in advance.
Mon 23: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club (1:00pm). Free.

Tues 24: ???

Wed 25: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 25: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 25: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 25: The Magpies of Swing @ The Roxy, Leadgate, Co. Durham. 7:30pm. A Ginger Jitterbugs swing dance event, all welcome.

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

Friday, July 22, 2016

CD Review: Jazz-Philosophy Fusion - Continuum Of Selves

Jessica Radcliffe (vocals); Sonja Morgenstern (conceptual vocals); James Tartaglia (composer, tenor sax); Gareth Fowler (guitar); Steve Tromans (piano); David Hilton (electric bass);
Tymoteusz Jozwiak (drums)
(Review by Ann Alex)
First, an appeal to Mr Blogmaster to supply each of us humble (?) reviewers with a large magnifying glass: both CD’s I’m covering this week have inserts with microscopic print. At least in former vinyl days we had record sleeves with large print, even if the sound wasn’t so good. I’m always somewhat wary of ‘fusions’ with other disciplines, as jazz stands up well on its own, and the fusion in this case sort of works ok and is entertaining, but the jazz is indeed good enough on its own, and as I’ve said the print was a bit too small to read much about the ideas behind the CD anyway.
James Tartaglia is Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at Keele University, a much-published author, a previous soloist winner of Young Jazz Musician of The Year (Daily Telegraph 1991); he has studied in the USA and this is his third album.
Ms Radcliffe gives us word-rich rhyming lyrics about various philosophical ideas and Ms Morgenstern provides spoken word explanations of concepts, both performing to a modern, sometimes boppy jazz background which illustrates the ideas mentioned.  For instance, the track named Teletransportation explains how your body can be scanned, destroyed, then conveyed to another place and reassembled. The music thrusts us along with lengthy improvisations on piano, sax then bass, lively lyrics, then a mock-posh voice to explain the concepts, more travelling music, and words about death given in a amusingly cheerful voice. In fact the whole album has many thoughts about being and non-being, with track titles including Animalism; Dream, Death and the Self; Email Persona; No-Self (Onion); Spicy Crab; Me For You and You For Me; The Transcendental Ego; Philosopher Blues.
I hope I haven’t given the impression that the CD is pretentious as this is not the case and this is avoided by the use of humour, especially on Philosopher Blues, which lists various philosophers, such as Plato ‘get outta yer cave’ and Kant ‘when you gonna learn to smile’.
Reviewing this album has probably happened at the wrong time for me, as I’m still joyful from hearing the Zhenya Strigalev band at the Globe last week, a wonderful performance of highly original jazz, which was perhaps more philosophical in its way than Continuum of Selves, as for me ZS questioned the very nature of music without a word being spoken. Nevertheless, Continuum of Selves is good jazz with very thoughtful words.
The CD was released in May 2016, CTM001. See www.jazzphilosophyfusion.com
Ann Alex     

1 comment :

Russell said...

'former vinyl days...' it's never gone away!

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