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Bebop Spoken There

Kurt Elling: ''There's something to learn from every musician you play with''. (DownBeat, December 2024).

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

17655 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 929 of them this year alone and, so far, 74 this month (Dec. 31).

From This Moment On ...

January 2025

Sat 04: Jason Isaacs @ STACK, Exchange Square, Middlesbrough. 3:30-5:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 04: Rivkala @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sat 04: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00. Xmas party (rescheduled from early December).

Sun 05: Smokin’ Spitfires @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:45pm. £7.50.
Sun 05: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 05: Salty Dog @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Americana, jazz & blues.
Sun 05: Papa G’s Troves @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free (donations).

Mon 06: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 07: Customs House Big Band @ The Masonic Hall, North St., Ferryhill DL17 8HX. 7:00pm. Free.

Wed 08: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 08: The Tannery Jam Session @ The Tannery, Gilesgate, Hexham. 7:00-9:00pm. Free.
Wed 08: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 08: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).

Thu 09: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: John H Hammond.
Thu 09: FILM: Soundtrack to a Coup D’Etat @ Tyneside Cinema, Newcastle. 2:35pm. Documentary (dir. Johan Grimonprez) ‘about jazz, (de)colonial history and activism featuring Louis Armstrong, Nina Simone and Dizzy Gillespie’.
Thu 09: Happy Tuesdays @ Ye Olde Cross, Ryton. 7:30pm. Free.
Thu 09: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. Ragtime piano. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 09: Mark Toomey Quartet @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm. Free. A Tees Hot Club promotion. The session now monthly, next one Thursday 2nd Feb, then first Thursday in the month thereafter.

Fri 10: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 10: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 10: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 10: Joe Steels Trio @ The Pele, Corbridge. 7:00pm. Free.

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

Thursday, February 09, 2017

Southport Jazz Festival - Fabien Mary Quartet. February 5

Fabien Mary (trumpet), Hugo Uppi (guitar), Fabien Marcoz (bass), Steve Brown (drums).
(Review by Steve T/Photos courtesy of Neil Hughes; © Robert Burns).
To say the thought of two quartets on Saturday night had caught my attention is something of an understatement; the contrast between the two palpable. Firstly the standard sax, piano, bass and drums line-up, which says to many, myself included, John Coltrane, one of the greatest Jazz groups of all time. Then the young French group with a trumpet/guitar frontline and I'm at a loss to come up with a precedent, though I've no doubt it exists.

Matching suits and ties, this was slick and enigmatic, like Borg facing McEnroe or Connors. It felt like one Golden Age to another but we're still in this one. If you think Miles, it's like going from the quintet with Trane to the Second Great Quintet, both brilliant in different ways but, while Miles with Trane are known worldwide for the most famous, successful and iconic album in Jazz history, the Second Great Quintet haven't yet entirely slipped into the collective consciousness, even of Jazzers, so it feels more on-going, a work in progress.
We'd heard the guitarist is awesome and, unlike the waters in Casablanca, we weren't misinformed. Perfect, but in the best possible way, where each note is exacted the precise same value, nothing is missed or half struck with no slipping or sliding, the solos melodic, thoughtful and wonderfully inventive, but making perfect sense even as they unfold.
Even when harmonising with the trumpet, but then I realised the trumpet was exactly the same, they all were. Think Clifford Brown or Freddie Hubbard and yip, he is that good.
Pieces selected from an impressive array of writers, including Kenny Durham, Chick Corea, Grant Green and Horace Silver and don't you just love the contradictions in art, music, Jazz - life, having said earlier in the day I'm not too preoccupied with who wrote the melody.
For the first half of just one-hour long set the guitarist looked like the happiest man alive. Then he looked terrified, then bewildered and ultimately relaxed at the adulation they received, and I wondered whether they get this response everywhere they go.
You can Take me Home said the trumpeter in his sexy French accent, and I thought there were a lot of ladies in the audience. Better grab a CD before they all go.
Terrific contrast with the Derek Nash Quartet and while this one had the edge, I'd rather have both than more of this one. Hard bop, free bop, cool bop, nu bop, it sounds classic without being retro and contemporary without threatening to fall off a cliff. Exquisite.

Steve T.




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