Bebop Spoken There

Ludovic Beier (Django Festival Allstars): ''Manouche means 'free man,' and gypsies have been travelers since they migrated west from India to Europe.'' (DownBeat March, 2026)

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

18383 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 18 years ago. 247 of them this year alone and, so far this month (Mar. 17 ), 57

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

From This Moment On

March

Mon 30: Gerry Richardson Quartet @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 1:00pm.
Mon 30: Friends of Jazz @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 31: Bede Trio @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. Albert Hills Wright (alto sax); Finn Carter (piano); Michael Dunlop (double bass).

April

Wed 01: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 01: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 01: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 02: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £5.00. Subject: Musicians playing classical & orchestral music.
Thu 02: The Noel Dennis Band @ Prohibition Bar, Albert Road, Middlesbrough TS1 2RU. 7:00pm (doors). £10.84. Quartet plus special guest Zoë Gilby. Over 21s only.
Thu 02: Renegade Brass Band @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors).
Thu 02: Shalala @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £7.00. adv..
Thu 02: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm.

Saturday, January 21, 2017

Triggerlawross @ The Jazz Café. Jan 20 - and a wedding...

Alan Law (piano), Katy Trigger (bass) & Matti Ross (drums)
A third successive Friday evening gig at Newcastle’s Jazz Café to attract an attentive full house.  The trio’s name suggests a lumbering beast, perhaps grazing on swampland vegetation, a king beast ruling the primordial roost. Triggerlawross is/are pianist Alan Law, eschewing the upright, favouring his keyboard, face-on to in-the-pocket bassist Katy Trigger and tight-ass drummer Matti Ross.
Several musicians were in the house checking out this developing project. Original material – the names of which seemingly of little importance to the trio – focused upon the groove. A constantly changing soundscape, eye contact determining a change in tempi, Trigger laying down killer riffs, Ross inventing patterns, discarding one for another, then another, Law finding choice chords and taking off on improvisatory flights…this Triggerlawross could fly!
Eons in the making, this Triggerlawross grooves to a Latin, Dr Billy Taylor soul-jazz beat, drum ‘n’ bass incursions/excursions and left field keyboard impressionism. It’s a shy beast, doing its thing, perhaps it will venture further afield. It isn’t every day you see a Triggerlawross – if and when this protected species appears next make sure you get to see and hear it.
Russell.    
(Editor; The photo has nothing to do with the gig and, yet, it has everything to do with it! Dave Carke and his longtime partner Pam Young decided to make January 20  the most important day of their lives - as did other people, elsewhere. Yes, they decided to tie the knot. Marry in haste, repent at leisure was obviously not one of their maxims.
What has this to do with the gig? Well, apart from choosing the flowers and booking the venue for the nuptials, they, Dave being gig programmer at The Caff, also had to organise a band for the regular Friday night session.  
From Russell's review, it seems as though that one worked and judging by the smiling faces on the photo, that  one was good too. We wish them well.
Meanwhile, over in Washington DC...
Lance.)                   

2 comments :

Rach said...

Did you ever work out what the conceptual theme was Russell?

Russell said...

I wasn't party to the 'conceptual' debate, although I did hear the comment 'I've never liked that f******* s***'. A man with a well tuned jazz ear, me thinks!

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