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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.

Thu 20: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, Holystone. 1:00pm. Free. CANCELLED PERMANENTLY!
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: King Bees @ The Cumberland Arms, Byker, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). Superb blues band.
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).

Sat 22: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 12:30-2:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 22: Jason Isaacs @ Seaburn STACK, Seaburn. 3:30pm-5:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 22: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 22: Swamp Stomp String Band @ The White Room, Stanley. 7:45pm.
Sat 22: Rivkala @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Country blues guitar & vocals.

Sun 23: Musicians Unlimited @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 23: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 23: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 23: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 23: Mississippi MacDonald @ Georgian Theatre, Stockton. 3:00pm. Blues.
Sun 23: Tweed River Jazz Band @ Barrels Ale House, Berwick. 7:00pm. Free.
Sun 23: The Great Deceivers @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Tom Atkinson & co play King Crimson (1969-1974). Atkinson (guitar); Josh Bentham (alto sax); Stu Dawson (bass); Jeff Armstrong (drums).

Mon 24: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 24: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 6:30pm. Free.

Tue 25: Fred Wesley & the New JB’s @ The Cluny. 7:30pm (doors). £27.50. POSTPONED! New date Wednesday 26 November.

Thu 27: Hannabiell & Midnight Blue @ King’s Hall, Newcastle University. 1:15pm. Free.
Thu 27: Michael Littlefield & Scott Taylor @ The Harbour View, Roker, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Superb blues duo.

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

Tuesday, November 15, 2016

Kandace Springs @ Rich Mix, Bethnall Green. EFG London Jazz Festival - November 13.


 Kandace Springs (vocal, piano), Jesse Harris (acoustic guitar, vocal), Jesse Beadenberg (acoustic bass), Dylan Tracey (drums).  
(Review by Steve T)
Some readers, including some in the North East, will have seen her support Gregory Porter. Everybody who's seen Gregory Porter, whenever they saw him, tends to think they caught him just in the nick of time, before he cozied up to Jools and the rest of the BBC, playing Glastonbury and generally becoming part of the establishment. I saw him at Cheltenham in 2013 so I didn't see him at Sage Gateshead and haven't seen Kandace.
I was convinced her album was on the revitalised Stax label, so when I read she's on Blue Note I dug the album out and it was. In my defence, the two labels are comparable within soul and Jazz respectively, and it's impossible to say categorically whether she's one or the other, and does it actually make any difference anyway? For what it's worth I think she's a soul singer, but every soul singer comes, at least in part, from Jazz and the best Jazz singers come from the more soulful end of things.
She's less 'down home' than Tasha (daughter of Johnnie) Taylor and less hip-hop than Angie Stone, probably the greatest soul singer of the last quarter century, who turned up on Stax.
Her album Soul Eyes doesn't take your breath away like some debuts but shows great promise for the future. For anyone who knows their soul, think Brenda Russell and if not, Roberta Flack is near enough.
Little Mix is a small venue where Jambone played last year, and this was one of the first gigs of the festival to sell out, prompting her to add another date.
The room was set theatre style and when she arrived on stage and immediately sat at a grand piano stage right, a large number of the audience couldn't see her at all. Some of us made for the far wall securing a rear view which was better than none.
You know you're on to something when the live voice is better than the record. With bass and drums and key songwriter, acoustic guitarist and occasional vocalist Jesse Harris joining them intermittently, his singing affording us an opportunity for a comfort break, she served up confident, accomplished versions of most (perhaps all) of her album, some Oscar Peterson, some Chopin, some Duke, some Norah Jones, some Prince and Someone to Watch Over Me. 
Highlight for me, unsurprisingly, was her fine version of the War classic World is a Ghetto, though their own instrumental remake is better and the Benson version remains the best.
Apparently, she ends every show with Roberta Flack’s The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face and if anybody hasn't seen the Clint Eastwood film Play Misty for Me, you will not be disappointed.  
Etta James At Last as an encore and I don't think she could have pitched it better, the audience lapping it up.
This particular gig wasn't the main reason for this trip to London, the expense and hassle on older, broader, shoulders, but was a fine taster. She warned us not to forget the K or we wouldn't find her. Nobody who's seen her is likely to forget the K and I think we'll be hearing a lot more from her in the coming years.
Steve T.

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