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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

17733 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 53 of them this year alone and, so far, 53 this month (Jan. 20).

From This Moment On ...

January 2025

Wed 22: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 22: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 22: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 22: Pasadena Roof Orchestra @ Fire Station, Sunderland. 7:30pm.

Thu 23: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, Holystone. 1:00pm. Free. Fortnightly.
Thu 23: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: Obituaries 2024.
Thu 23: Jason Isaacs @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 4:30-6:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Thu 23: Pedal Point Trio @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Fri 24: Zoë Gilby Quartet @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 24: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 24: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 24: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 24: Creakin’ Bones & the Sunday Dinners @ Lindisfarne Social Club, Wallsend. 9:00pm. Admission: TBC. Jazz, blues , jump jive, rock ‘n’ roll.

Sat 25: Boys of Brass @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 3:30-5:30pm. Free.
Sat 25: New '58 Jazz Collective @ Jackson's Wharf, Hartlepool. 6:30pm (doors). Free. A Burns' Night event. Jazz, swing, funk, soul, blues etc.
Sat 25: Edison Herbert Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 25: Red Kites Jazz @ Parish Hall, St Barnabas’ Church, Rowlands Gill. 7:30pm. £10.00. BYOB (tea & coffee available), raffle. Proceeds to St Barnabas’ Church. Performance feat. Shayo (vocals).
Sat 25: Jack & Jay’s Songbook @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 26: Musicians Unlimited @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 26: Graham Hardy Eclectic Quartet @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm.
Sun 26: Ruth Lambert Trio @ The Juke Shed, Union Quay, North Shields. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 26: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 26: Jazz Jam Sandwich! @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 26: Tweed River Jazz Band @ Barrels Ale House, Berwick-upon-Tweed. 7:30pm. Free.
Sun 26: Gratkowski, Tramontana, Beresford, Affifi @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £12.00. JNE.
Sun 26: Jazz Jam @ Fabio’s, Saddler St., Durham. 8:00pm. Free. A Durham University Jazz Society promotion. All welcome.

Mon 27: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 28: ???

Wed 29: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 29: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 29: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).

Thu 30: Matters Unknown (aka Jonathan Enser, Nubiyan Twist) + support TBA @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 8:00pm (7:00pm doors). £12.22 (gig & food); £9:04 (gig only).
Thu 30: Soznak @ The Mill Tavern, Hebburn. 8:00pm. Free.
Thu 30: Struggle Buggy @ Harbour View, Roker, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Rhythm & blues.

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, November 09, 2016

Jazz North East ‘On the Outside’: Hans Peter Hiby Trio @The Bridge Hotel, Newcastle – November 6.

Hans Peter Hiby (tenor, alto & soprano); Mick Bardon (bass); Paul Hession (drums)
(Review/photos courtesy of Ken Drew)
Tremendous!!  This was the last of a four part mini-tour by the group, taking in Scotland and the Midlands and leaving the best till last for their final performance at the Bridge Hotel.   And what a blast – still full of such brutal energy, constantly driving power and a raw attack associated with the likes of Peter Brötzmann whom I’d seen over a decade ago, yet the Hans Peter Hiby performance tonight seemed so much more considered and accessible to me.

Hiby/Hession have played throughout Germany as well as Switzerland, Austria, Belgium and the Netherlands and on occasions augmented the duo with bass players Marcio Mattos, Roberto Bellatalla, Peter Kowald and recently Dieter Manderscheid.   Paul Hession is such a sympathetic partner on drums since Hiby has worked with him on and off since the mid-‘80s, often just as a duo.  For this short UK tour, Leeds-based bass player Michael Bardon completes the trio. He has played throughout the UK and Europe including festivals in Sardinia, Germany, Italy and Poland and his dynamic playing is the perfect fit for this trio.  So the addition of Bardon presented opportunities of greater interaction and dynamic variety across the group, producing a performance that combined high octane power with many moments of thoughtful and carefully crafted subtlety.  

And what a performance.  They hit the ground running.  It was immediately apparent that the key elements would be hugely energetic and thrilling, yet was soon to be intertwined with nicely contrasting melodic sections at a slower, albeit temporary pace.   All pieces in the concert were mined a similar vein, yet each developed and flowed differently – each having its own personality and mood.
It was not just Hiby on the sax simply producing the notes, but his gentle swaying and occasional thrusting of the sax into the air all added to the final delivery of an extraordinarily energetic performance.   It was not just an energetic delivery, but vibrant, screaming, flowing, thrilling, pounding, soaring, swirling, gesturing, grovelling, altogether coaxing the sound out of the sax and into the room.  And what a space this is for such an acoustic performance.  Hiby afterwards, as others have in the past, commented on the joy of playing in this space.

Was the sax driving the others, or maybe it was the drums driving the others ….. or maybe they took turns, who knows ?  The resultant sound of the sax produced by Hiby had a generally soft but very confident and strident delivery, rarely whispering, but more often tonally pure.  But occasionally a harsher Brotzman-like sound pushed it further into a split-tone producing complex harmonics, perfectly supported and followed by the others.

Motian’s facial expression changed very little throughout.  Admittedly,  his eyes closed once in a while to aid concentration, and occasionally looked across at Hiby and Bardon to assess the next area of exploration. But generally all of Motian’s expressions were in his musical output – conservation of energy and all that to power the continuous onslaught from the drum kit.  And Bardon’s contribution was equally full of vigour and drive.

The result?  It was Brotzman-like power jazz, industrial strength improv and a very memorable performance at that.  Aptly given on November 6 – indoor pyrotechnics were the norm.  Tremendous.

Ken.

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