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Bebop Spoken There

Steve Coleman: ''If you don't keep learning, your mind slows down. Use it or lose it''. (DownBeat, January 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

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

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.

Sat 11: Jason Isaacs @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 12:30-2:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 11: Under the Wellie @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 12: The New ’58 Jazz Collective @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 12: Am Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 12: King Bees @ The Tyne Bar, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. Superb Chicago blues band.
Sun 12: Dave Bottomley @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Country blues guitar.
Sun 12: Jack Pearce Quintet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

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, August 10, 2016

CD Review: Scott Morgan - Songs of Life

Scott Morgan (vcl); Fred Hersch (pno); Matt Aronoff (bs); Ross Pederson (dms) + Joel Frahm (ten); Janis Siegel (vcl).
(Review by Lance).
In a world, seemingly, populated by Divas it's quite refreshing to have a male entry on the starting line - does that make him a Giva? Not sure as the word probably doesn't exist!
Whatever, of late there hasn't been that many out and out male jazz singers. Lots of Sinatra clones, plenty blues guys, but few who move in the area that was once the property of Tormé, Murphy, Hendricks, Lambert and co.

Scott Morgan isn't quite that man although he makes a damn good fist of it!
It's You Or No One swings nicely with some vocalese (on a Chet Baker solo) reminiscent of Jon Hendricks - maybe James Moody too. Hersch, Morgan's partner on and off stage, plays the kind of swinging piano we associate with him.
Little Prayer, a tune by AIDS victim Dave Catney, segues into Wouldn't it be Loverly whilst Song of Life has some good blowing from Frahm - I wanted more Frahm Joel and got it later.
Hersch's Lazin' Around could have been written by Carmichael or Mercer - that's how good it is!
It's fantastic when you discover a GASbook song you've missed. I Just Found About Love by Jimmy McHugh and Harold Adamson is just such a tune. Chances are I have heard it before but maybe never as good as this - Frahm blows his top on this one too!
There's more: James Taylor provides Secret O'Life and Don't Let me be Lonely Tonight. The Bergmans' kick in with Like a Lover; Duke gives us Just a Lucky So and So and Frahm once more chips in; Kurt Weill is Lost in the Stars; a Morgan/Hersch composition - I'll Follow - has ex Man Tran's Janis Seigel adding her vocal chords - Janis returns on The Beatles I Will
This Heart of Mine - from an old Astaire movie benefits from the swingier tempo.
So, why haven't we heard of Scott Morgan until now?
We don't live in NYC.
It's a fine record of original interpretations of the familiar and an individual take on the unexpected.
Well worth checking out.
Lance.
Available  on Miranda Music  Sept. 12

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