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HOWAY THE LADS!

Bebop Spoken There

John McLaughlin: '' A Love Supreme coincided with my search for meaning in life". (DownBeat, March 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

17873 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 194 of them this year alone and, so far, 41 this month (March 14).

From This Moment On ...

MARCH 2025.

Sat 15: Hot Teapots @ St Augustine’s Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm.
Sat 15: Lagos to Longbenton + Belladonna @ Whitley Bay Big Social, Whitley Road, Whitley Bay. 2:00pm. Free. Afrobeat/jazz fusion + soul/funk/R&B
Sat 15: Creakin’ Bones @ Billy Bootleggers. Ouseburn, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free.
Sat 15: Joseph Carville Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 15: Is This Jazz? @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Tickets: www.eventbrite.co.uk. Performances by Mu Quintet, Jinjé, A Brief Utopia, John Pope & Co + André Marmot (author of Unapologetic Expression: The Inside Story of the UK Jazz Explosion) in conversation + DJ sets ‘til 3:00am. ‘A Festival of New Jazz’.
Sat 15: Vintage Explosion @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 7:30pm. SOLD OUT!
Sat 15: Alligator Gumbo @ The Forum, Darlington. 7:30pm. £15.00.
Sat 15: One Night Standards @ The White Room, Stanley. 8:00pm. £8.67 (inc. bf). Note - previously advertised Salty Dogs cancelled.
Sat 15: Howlin’ Mat @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Blues guitar.

Sun 16: Jason Isaacs @ STACK, Exchange Sq., Middlesbrough. 1:00-2:45pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sun 16: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 16: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 16: Pearl Blossoms @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Ragtime.
Sun 16: Hot 8 Brass Band @ Wylam Brewery. 7:30pm. ‘Big Tuba Tour’.
Sun 16: ARQ @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Sun 16: Air4ce @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 8:30pm (8:00pm doors). £12.00.; £10.00. Tom Atkinson’s all-star band (line-up inc. Lindsay Hannon & Sue Ferris).
Sun 16: Jazz Jam @ Fabio’s, Saddler St., Durham. 8:00pm. Free. A Durham University Jazz Society promotion. All welcome.

Mon 17: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 17: Jamie Toms Quartet @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £10.00.

Tue 18: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Laurence Harrison, Paul Grainger, Tim Johnston.
Tue 18: Phil Bancroft’s Beautiful Storm @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £13.20 & £11.00.. A JNE-Gem Arts co-promotion.

Wed 19: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 19: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 19: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 20: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, Holystone. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 20: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: Nicknames.
Thu 20: Terri Green Experience @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £15.90.
Thu 20: Lindsay Hannon Trio @ The Harbour View, Roker, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Hannon’s ‘Tom Waits for No Man’ set.
Thu 20: Ray Stubbs R&B All Stars @ Mill Tavern, Hebburn. 8:30pm. Free.

Fri 21: Paul Skerritt @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 21: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 21: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 21: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 21: Giles Strong Quartet @ 1719, Hendon, Sunderland. 7:30pm. CANCELLED!
Fri 21: New Century Ragtime Orchestra @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Featuring special guest Martin Litton (piano).

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

Monday, October 03, 2016

CD Review: Andrew Cyrille Quartet - The Declaration of Musical Independence

Bill Frisell – Guitar; Richard Teitelbaum  - synthesiser, piano; Ben Street – double bass; Andrew Cyrille – drums.
(Review by Hugh C)
In a previous blog post, Lance has alluded to fact that I am his preferred recipient of the slightly more outré offerings that drop through his letterbox.  I was not surprised therefore, bumping into Lance at the Sirkis/Bialis gig at the Globe, when I was greeted with “I've got something for you – Bill Frisell?”.  As my answer was in the affirmative, I was handed a smart red CD still in its polythene wrap, placed it in my coat pocket and thought nothing more of it – the International Quartet were starting up.

Lance knows I like the ECM product.  Many, but by no means all, of the CDs I am offered for review are on the ECM label – this appeared to be an exception, no moody black and white photograph on the front, just a smart red cover with white lettering.  The packaging, in the cold light of Sunday morning, however, felt familiar – an outer cardboard sleeve concealing the CD jewel case.  Yes, this was ECM.
I was surprised to read that this CD was by the Andrew Cyrille Quartet, Bill Frisell being second in the listing.  This is, apparently, avant-garde drummer, Andrew Cyrille's ECM leader debut. Unusually, no promotional material (other than the CD itself) was sent to BSH for review.  When reviewing a CD I tend to read through the promotional literature before listening to the CD, this often provides me with a hook on which to hang my additional verbiage.  The CD booklet has the usual moody photographs of the band and the individual members during the recording session.  Uncharacteristically for an ECM recording, there are also four pages of commentary on the CD.  Unfortunately (for me, as reviewer) I can barely understand a word of it!  Apparently in the musical world of the 20th century we had “become enmeshed completely and needlessly in steady, even time signatures deriving from military applications, to the exclusion of any other understanding of musical flow” - and so it goes on.

To the music then – this CD comes in at 45 minutes or thereabouts.  There are 9 tracks, the first being composed by John Coltrane and the remainder by individual, or a combination of the band members.  Some are previous compositions and three are new improvisational pieces involving all four musicians.  The languorous guitar style of Frisell is dominant throughout. 

As the title of the CD and the sleeve notes suggest, the music is largely devoid of the metrical contstraint of a time signature, one does get the impression from time to time (no pun intended!) that the output is a series of interesting, but unconnected noises rather than a continuous whole.  This is not to detract from the beauty of some of the more lyrical passages.

As I have commented before in respect of some of the CDs I have been offered for review, this is likely to appeal to the enthusiast, but perhaps not to the more general audience.  Would I buy this CD - no.  Would I recommend it to others – possibly, with the enthusiast proviso above.  Will I use this review copy to scare the birds in my allotment – no, I don't have an allotment

All in all then, an interesting (to coin a phrase) adventure – but not over-inspiring.  As Jazzwise Magazine's regular correspondent, The Colonel, might say:  “Could do with some military discipline!”
Hugh C.
Track Listing:
Coltrane Time  [Coltrane]
Kaddish [Frisell]
Sanctuary [The Quartet]
Say [Street]
Dazzling (Perchordially Yours) [The Quartet]
Herky Jerky [Teitelbaum]
Begin [Frisell]
Manfred [The Quartet]
Song for Andrew No. 1 [Frisell]


The Declaration of Musical Independence is released on ECM, Cat No.  ECM2430 and is available now.

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