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Bebop Spoken There

Van Morrison: ''Basically, I'm coming from jazz. Not pop, not rock, not what's commercial. That's where I started, and that's still where I am. I feel the same as I did when I was listening to Louis Armstrong, Lead Belly, Jelly Roll Morton''. (The Northern Echo, 12 June 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

1803759 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 480 of them this year alone and, so far, 58 this month (June 18).

From This Moment On ...

JUNE 2025

Mon 23: MSK Trio @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 1:00pm. £9.00. at the door; £8.20. (inc £0.20 bf) online, in advance.
Mon 23: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club (1:00pm). Free.

Tues 24: ???

Wed 25: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 25: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 25: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 25: The Magpies of Swing @ The Roxy, Leadgate, Co. Durham. 7:30pm. A Ginger Jitterbugs swing dance event, all welcome.

Thu 26: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: Brass Instruments & the use of mutes.

Fri 27: Lewis Watson Quartet @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm.
Fri 27: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 27: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 27: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 27: Strictly Smokin’ Big Band @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 8:00pm. ‘Time After Time’.

Sat 28: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Linskill Centre, North Shields. 4:00-10:30pm. Free, but ticketed (over 18s only). A multi-bill, multi-genre ‘Canny Shiels - North Shields 800’ event. Three Kings Brewery on site.
Sat 28: Joseph Carville Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 28: Jude Murphy & Dan Stanley @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 29: Jude Murphy & Dan Stanley @ Wallington, Northumberland. 12 noon-1:00pm & 2:00-3:00pm. Tel: 01670 773606. National Trust admission prices apply. ‘Tunes in the Blooms’.
Sun 29: Glenn Miller Orchestra UK @ The Fire Station, Sunderland. 3:00pm. Ray McVay & co.
Sun 29: Ruth Lambert Trio @ Juke Shed, North Shields. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 29: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 29: Zoë Gilby w. Ryton Choral Society @ Corbridge Middle School NE45 5HX. 5:30pm. £15.00. Gilby w jazz trio & choir. ‘An evening of jazz song for choir’.
Sun 29: Jazz Jam Sandwich! @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 29: John Wilson & the Sinfonia of London @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 7:30pm. ‘Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Greatest Hits’.
Sun 29: Out Front @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. JNE.

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, March 29, 2017

CD Review: Akua Dixon - Akua's Dance

Akua Dixon (baritone violin, cello, voice); Freddie Bryant (guitar); Kenny Davis (bass); Victor Lewis (drums); Russell Malone (guitar); Ron Carter (bass).
(Review by Steve T)
This must be the lady who played the Newcastle Jazz Caff a while back which I, unfortunately, couldn't make.
No doubt others will be able to point to precedents but I'm unaware of any Jazz with a cello as lead instrument and I was further intrigued to learn, after a couple of plays, that some of it's actually a baritone violin.
Her playing is immense and there's some brilliant solo exchanges, particularly with the guitarists.

Her voice only features on one track, Throw it Away by Abbey Lincoln, and the notes describe her voice as soulful, but it isn't in any conventional way and I found it more suited to show tunes and musicals.
There's a traditional spiritual and a version of Sade's Sweetest Tabu to get you guessing where you've heard it before. Sade's career began as part of the British acid/Jazz/dance scene of the eighties which evolved from northern soul and Jazz-funk, but with almost immediate chart action, abandoned her long before this point. The rest of the album features originals by the lady.
The strongest track for me is the title track with an exotic feel and builds nicely. Also of note is Afrika! Afrika! with a deep, dark and powerful sound coming from the cello, mostly unaccompanied for almost four of its almost seven minutes. A couple of times it sounds like it could go into Paranoid by Black Sabbath.
I imagine this would have been fantastic live and have it on the best authority that it was, so I imagine she'll shift plenty of copies at gigs.
It's been out since February. 

Steve T.

4 comments :

Russell said...

Steve, you're thinking of Ayanna Witter-Johnson, and fabulous she was too! Aqua Dixon is an established NYC name working across the jazz to classical spectrum. If Dixon should ever turn up at the Jazz Cafe make sure you're second in the queue.

Steve T said...

So there are other cellists in Jazz. Thanks for that , I must investigate further.

Lance said...

Like Oscar Pettiford with Duke and Fred Katz with Chico Hamilton and, I bet, even Andy Champion has a cello hidden in the closet!

Steve T said...

Contemplated a Pettiford box set but too much music, too little time. Not a lot of people know this but if you put more than six hundred items (incl books, DVDs)in your Amazon basket, they randomly take stuff out without telling you.
I feel an excuse to explore my latest Duke box coming on though.

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