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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

18037 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 458 of them this year alone and, so far, 36 this month (June 11).

From This Moment On ...

JUNE 2025

Wed 18: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 18: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:30pm. Free. Concert performance (open to the public)..
Wed 18: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

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

Wednesday, September 14, 2016

More Quotes From Simon Spillett

"There are techniques involved in the making of the music of which the average critic is often unaware."
Rahsaan Roland Kirk, sleeve notes to Ben Webster: 'Webster's Dictionary' (Philips 1970).

"Unfortunately, the fan of yesterday's jazz often becomes an opponent of today's."
Graham Collier, 'Inside Jazz' (Quartet Books, 1973)

"Hardly any of them would know a good jazz chorus if it fell on them. They have learned, parrot-fashion, the litany of American star names and that is that."
Benny Green on British record producers, 'Scene' magazine, October 5th 1962

"Putting live modern jazz across in this country has been like trying to sell balloons in a cemetery."
Peter Clayton, 'Sunday Telegraph', August 30th 1964
"I'm always suspicious of a man in a clean trench coat. Watch for it - nine times out of ten, he's a square."
Cannonball Adderley, sleeve notes to 'Cannonball Adderley Quintet in Chicago' (Mercury, 1960)

"The avant-garde cannot expect basic stylistic changes to develop among mature players through artificial stimuli; for the hysterical cry for change tends to give sanctuary to charlatans."
Cannonball Adderley, sleeve notes to 'The Young Lions' (VeeJay) 1960

"He is the most unimaginative tenorist I have heard this year. His improvisations seem to be solely based on unusual noises (one can hardly describe them as sounds) placed in the most awkward places."
John Martin, review of Wayne Shorter on Wynton Kelly's Kelly Great LP, 
Jazz News May 24th 1961


"He was interested in non-chordal playing, and I had cut my teeth on that stuff. He later sent me a letter which included 30 dollars for each lesson, and thanked me."
Ornette Coleman on John Coltrane studying with him during 1960, quoted in sleeve notes to CD reissue of John Coltrane/Don Cherry: 'The Avant-Garde' (issued in 2000)

"Please take that off - discontinue that. I have one word for that - tragedy."
Eddie 'Lockjaw' Davis, listening to Archie Shepp's recording of 'In A Sentimental Mood', Blindfold Test, DownBeat, 1967

"Great jazz playing is that which is still listenable after the style has ceased to be modern."
Ronnie Scott, Daily Dispatch Jazz Book, 1954

1 comment :

Nick Gould said...

Excellent quotes, must check out Archie Shepp Sentimental Mood

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