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Bebop Spoken There

Stan Woodward: ''We're part of the British jazz scene, but we don't play London jazz. We play Newcastle jazz. The Knats album represents many things, but most importantly that Newcastle isn't overlooked". (DownBeat, April 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

17904 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 225 of them this year alone and, so far, 72 this month (March 24).

From This Moment On ...

MARCH 2025.

Fri 28: Giles Strong Quartet @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. £8.00 SOLD OUT!.
Fri 28: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 28: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 28: Spilt Milk @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 7:00-9:00pm. Free. Nolan Brothers (vocal harmonies).
Fri 28: Castillo Nuevo Orquesta @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £8.00.
Fri 28: Pete Tanton’s Chet Set @ Old Cinema Laundrette, Durham. 7:45pm.
Fri 28: Sue Ferris Quintet @ Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. £10.00. Opus 4 Jazz Club.
Fri 28: Mostly Moonlight @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Fri 28: Juliana Day & Manon McCoy @ Cumberland Arms, Byker, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £12.00.; £10.00. advance. JNE.

Sat 29: Edison Herbert Trio @ The Vault, Darlington 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 29: Doris Day Story @ Phoenix Theatre, Blyth. 7:30pm.
Sat 29: Squabble! @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 30: Jan Spencelayh & Dave Archbold @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 30: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 30: Jamil Sheriff Trio w. Nadim Teimoori @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm.
Sun 30: Ruth Lambert Trio @ The Juke Shed, Union Quay, North Shields. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 30: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 30: Jazz Jam Sandwich! @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 30: Jamil Sheriff Trio w. Nadim Teimoori @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 31: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

APRIL 2025

Tue 01: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Joe Steels, Paul Grainger, Mark Robertson.
Tue 01: Customs House Big Band @ The Masonic Hall, North St., Ferryhill DL17 8HX. 7:30pm. Free.

Wed 02: Lauren Bush: The Jazz Singer’s Toolkit @ The Pele, Corbridge. 1:00-4:00pm. Vocalist Lauren Bush with pianist Jamil Sheriff presents a jazz singing workshop. £40.00. (inc. evening concert, see below). Registration required for workshop: www.laurenbushjazz.com. All ability levels welcome.
Wed 02: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 02: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 2:30-4:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Wed 02: Lauren Bush & Jamil Sheriff @ The Pele, Corbridge. 7:00-9:00pm. £10.00. Concert performance. Tickets: www.laurenbushjazz.com.
Wed 02: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 02: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. POSSIBLE CANCELLATION. See website for updates: www.theglobenewcastle.bar.

Thu 03: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: Women in Jazz.
Thu 03: Eva Fox & the Jazz Guys @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 03: New ’58 Jazz Collective @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm. Free. A Tees Hot Club promotion. First Thursday in the month.

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

Sunday, October 02, 2016

CD Review: Verde - The Francisco Pais Lotus Project.

Francisco Pais (guitar, voice), Myron Walden (tenor), Godwin Louis (alto), Julian Shore (piano), Connor Schultze (bass), Ferenc Nemeth (drums). Additional vocals - Genetta Kha, Jacklyn Chan.
(Review by Steve T)
Jazz, rock, prog, country, blues, West Coast psychedelia, acid folk, indie, funk; it may be easier to define what this album isn't.
Unashamed synthesizer lines, that most scorned symbol of classic rock excess, though very little by way of needless flash in the guitar pyrotechnics stakes, which is a breath of fresh air.
The prog thing seems to me to come from fellow Europeans Focus from the Hammond of Thais Van Leer and guitar of Jan Akkerman, which I often hear in backward-looking forward thinking Jazzers, though I'm not sure it's always on a conscious level.

Pais’ Portuguese, another Berklee scholarship, now resides in New York City which must be bursting with guitarists.
On this, his fourth album, he pays tribute to his earliest guitar influences: Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, Howlin Wolf, Chuck Berry, Clapton and Hendrix.
The two names which sprung to mind on first play were Zappa and Beefheart. I certainly hear the blues strain of the Captain though he's gone back to Beefheart’s main influences, and particularly the Wolf. There's also loads of early Mothers in there but again, it may not be on a conscious level or maybe they've arrived at similar conclusions from comparable influences.
The song suite format 'without edits or isolation' was also prevalent in Frank’s music of that period resulting in a post-modern melting pot, though many have incorporated it since.
Certainly the short dance infused interludes are an addition to the format as I'm familiar with it, and these appear late in the album, interspersed with three songs with a West Coast feel in the vein of Crosby, Stills, Nash, Young or the band America, or perhaps a more British psychedelic folk thing not unlike the Incredible String Band or even pre T Rex Tyrannosaurus Rex, delivered in a frail voice reminiscent of Gerry Garcia or George Harrison but with more vulnerability than any Summer of Love fake hippy.
The sort of thing the post punk rock media in this country might call hippy nonsense.
I tried to find a good example of the lyrics but found that each verse would serve to illustrate the point, so I picked the final verse which is also amongst the shortest:

We lay by our dreams
We exhale a cloud
Find a sunset full of moons
Until the sun shines in our palm.

It's an awful long time since I've heard lyrics in that style though I've no doubt they've never entirely gone away
However, I hope not everyone is put off and some will buy it or download it or whatever; it's a bold and fascinating musical journey. 

Steve T.

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