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Bebop Spoken There

Sullivan Fortner: ''I always judge it by the bass player: If the bass player is happy, it's going to be a good night". (DownBeat, February 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

17805 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 126 of them this year alone and, so far, 51 this month (Feb.16).

From This Moment On ...

February 2025

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: Mark Williams Trio @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm.
Sun 23: Ruth Lambert Trio @ The Juke Shed, Union Quay, North Shields. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 23: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 23: Jazz Jam Sandwich! @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 23: Mississippi MacDonald @ Georgian Theatre, Stockton. 3:00pm. Blues.
Sun 23: Mu Quintet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. CANCELLED!
Sun 23: Jazz Jam @ Fabio’s, Saddler St., Durham. 8:00pm. Free. A Durham University Jazz Society promotion. All welcome.

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

Tue 25: ?

Wed 26: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 26: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 26: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 27: Jamie McCredie @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Fri 28: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free. THIS WEEK ONLY JAMES BIRKETT (guitar)!
Fri 28: Luis Verde Quartet @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. £8.00. SOLD OUT!
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: Knats @ Lubber Fiend, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £11.50. (inc bf.). Album launch gig. Support act TBC.
Fri 28: Black is the Color of My Voice @ The Gala, Durham. 7:30pm. Apphia Campbell’s one-woman show inspired by the life of Nina Simone, performed by Florence Odumosu.
Fri 28: Great North Big Band Jazz Festival: Musicians Unlimited @ Park View Community Centre, Chester-le-Street. 8:00pm. £10.00. (Weekend ticket £20.00., available on the door). Day 1/3. Musicians Unlimited in concert.
Fri 28: Redwell @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

MARCH 2025

Sat 01: Great North Big Band Jazz Festival @ Park View Community Centre, Chester-le-Street. 11:00am. £15.00. Day 2/3.
Sat 01: TJ Johnson Band @ St Augustine’s Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm. £10.00.
Sat 01: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. £25.00. Tutor: Steve Glendinning. Get your funk on! Enrol at: learning@jazz.coop.
Sat 01: Shunyata Improvisation Group @ The Watch House, Cullercoats. 2:00-3:30pm. Free.
Sat 01: Ray Stubbs R&B All Stars @ Billy Bootleggers. Ouseburn, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free.
Sat 01: Struggle Buggy @ The Peacock, Sunderland. 6:00pm. Blues band.
Sat 01: Edison Herbert Trio @ The Vault, Darlington 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 01: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00.
Sat 01: Jack & Jay’s Vintage Songbook @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

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, November 21, 2016

Liberation Music Orchestra @ Cadogan Hall. EFG London Jazz Festival – November 20

(Review by Peter Jones).
Who are the Liberation Orchestra, and why do they exist? Well, there’s currently 12 of them, and their full name supplies at least a clue to their origins: the Charlie Haden Liberation Music Orchestra has been going since 1969. From the outset, the late bassist and composer worked with pianist, composer and arranger Carla Bley, with the idea that jazz could be used to highlight social and political abuses around the world.
Introduced by Haden’s widow Ruth Cameron, this EFG London Jazz Festival gig featured material taken largely from their wonderful new album Time/Life – the last one to which Haden himself contributed. You might have expected some anguished speeches about recent events in the USA. In fact no mention was made, nor did it need to be: as they trooped on stage they looked less like an orchestra than the shell-shocked remnants of a defeated army. After all, every principle they have ever stood for or made albums about – human rights, political freedom, the environment, an end to poverty - is about to be trashed on their own doorstep.

 What was left to do but simply play music? They began, as the album begins, with Blue In Green, the frail-looking 80-year-old Bley sketching patterns in the air to cue the band. The Davis/Evans composition is a perfect choice for this ensemble: with its unusual 10-bar structure, it feels somehow infinite because it never resolves musically and your ears can’t tell where one chorus ends and the next begins. Time/Life, the album’s title track, is typical of the Orchestra: Matt Wilson’s bleak military snare drum was followed by a long, mournful tenor solo by Tony Malaby, and then there was a gradual build-up with French horn, tuba, trombone and trumpets joining in one by one to create waves of brass on an ever-ascending chord sequence.

In the circumstances, playing America The Beautiful might seem provocative. However, it was an idea of Haden’s to use patriotic corn like this in conjunction with songs like We Shall Overcome. Context is all. In truth, America The Beautiful didn’t always sound so beautiful (maybe it should be re-titled America the Post-Factual). It sounded dark and uneasy to begin with, as Wilson rapped out a funeral march, with some nice trumpet from Seneca Black, followed by a traditional waltz-time rendition of the tune. Earl McBride’s tuba then coughed into life and played a somewhat comical solo, which had the effect of making everyone on stage smile and relax for the first time in the evening. The tune continued with a discordant harmonic sequence, out of which emerged a more tuneful final chorus.

This was a potentially tough gig for Oles, having to replace Haden on the bass, but he responded magnificently, with a number of solo spots, particularly the impressionistic intro to Song for the Whales.


The Orchestra has survived the departure of Charlie Haden. One hopes very much that it will survive the eventual departure of Carla Bley. If we never needed it before, we sure do need it now.
Peter
Vincent Chancey (French horn), Tony Malaby (tenor saxophone) Earl McBride (tuba), Seneca Black (trumpet), Michael Rodriguez (trumpet), Loren Stillman (alto saxophone), Chris Cheek (tenor saxophone), Marshall Gilkes (trombone), Steve Cardenas (guitar), Matt Wilson (drums), Carla Bley (piano), Darak Oles (double bass)

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