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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

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.

Thu 26: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: Brass Instruments & the use of mutes.

Fri 27: Lewis Watson Quartet @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm.
Fri 27: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 27: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 27: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 27: Strictly Smokin’ Big Band @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 8:00pm. ‘Time After Time’.

Sat 28: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Linskill Centre, North Shields. 4:00-10:30pm. Free, but ticketed (over 18s only). A multi-bill, multi-genre ‘Canny Shiels - North Shields 800’ event. Three Kings Brewery on site.
Sat 28: Joseph Carville Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 28: Jude Murphy & Dan Stanley @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 29: Jude Murphy & Dan Stanley @ Wallington, Northumberland. 12 noon-1:00pm & 2:00-3:00pm. Tel: 01670 773606. National Trust admission prices apply. ‘Tunes in the Blooms’.
Sun 29: Glenn Miller Orchestra UK @ The Fire Station, Sunderland. 3:00pm. Ray McVay & co.
Sun 29: Ruth Lambert Trio @ Juke Shed, North Shields. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 29: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 29: Zoë Gilby w. Ryton Choral Society @ Corbridge Middle School NE45 5HX. 5:30pm. £15.00. Gilby w jazz trio & choir. ‘An evening of jazz song for choir’.
Sun 29: Jazz Jam Sandwich! @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 29: John Wilson & the Sinfonia of London @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 7:30pm. ‘Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Greatest Hits’.
Sun 29: Out Front @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. JNE.

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

Thursday, August 11, 2016

CD Review: Zach Larmer Electric Band – Inner Circle

(Review by Russell)
Miami-based guitarist Zach Larmer states: People often tell me they hear Metheny in my playing, but that’s like hearing Charlie Parker in a saxophonist’s playing. Pat Metheny, an undoubted influence on a generation of guitarists, is, as Larmer’s press release states: a compulsory rather than conscious influence. Larmer’s debut recording as a band leader   dispels any notion of the young guitarist being a mere Metheny clone.

Zach Larmer’s Electric Band at its core is a quartet; Larmer, Tal Cohen (keyboards) and a choice of bassist (Juan Pablo Diaz and Jermaine Walden) and similarly, a choice between drummers Rodolfo Zuniga and David Chiverton. Recorded at 10k Islands in Miami Inner Circle is augmented by brass and reeds on this ‘live’ studio recording with no editing and with an audience present. Seven tracks spanning sixty six minutes, five tracks are Larmer originals, plus one from bassist Juan Pablo Diaz, and one standard to close it out – Softly, as in a Morning Sunrise.  
The musicianship is of the highest standard and the group sound – the quartet plus a brass and reeds’ section – references seventies’ jazz-rock with an insistent funk groove. Larmer knows his stuff; Joe Pass to John Scofield and more are assimilated in his playing.
I Left it Bayou hears killer bass and drums laying it down and Friedrichshain (comp. Juan Pablo Diaz) features the trumpet playing of Brian Lynch. Larmer’s other trumpeter on the session, John Daversa, who plays his EVI on the opening number On the Dock, and again on the title track, Inner Circle, is heard on the latter number alongside tenor saxophonist Aldo Salvent.
Russell.   
Inner Circle by the Zach Larmer Electric Band is available now. For further details of a fine debut recording visit: www.zachlarmer.com                          

Zach Larmer (guitar), John Daversa (trumpet, EVI), Brian Lynch (trumpet), Aldo Salvent (saxophone), Tal Cohen (keyboards), Juan Pablo Diaz (bass), Jermaine Walden (bass), Rodolfo Zuniga (drums) & David Chiverton (drums)

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