Bebop Spoken There

Melissa Aldana: ''Having to play a ballads album, which is something very revealing for a saxophone player, would help me to question some new aspects of how to go deeper into sound." (DownBeat May, 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

18656 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 18 years ago. 520 of them this year alone and, so far this month (June 25) 72

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

June

Mon 29: Friends of Jazz @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 30: Alan Law Trio @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 2:00pm. Free.
Tue 30: Eva Fox & the Sound Hounds @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

July

Wed 01: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ 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: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ The Millstone, Mill Rise, South Gosforth, Newcastle. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 02: Paul Skerritt @ Angels' Share, St George's Terrace, Jesmond, Newcastle NE2 2SX. 8:00pm. Free. Booking advised (0191 200 1975). Skerritt w. backing tapes.
Thu 02: De’Sean Jones & Blaque Dynamite feat. Urban Art Orchestra @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). De’Sean Jones (MD, tenor sax); Blaque Dynamite (Mike Mitchell, drums); Jamie Murray (drums) with UAO horns & strings.
Thu 02: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm.
Thu 02: Howlin’ Mat @ Newcastle Arts centre. 7:30pm. Free. Acoustic

Fri 03: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 03: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 03: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 03: Paul Donnelly Quartet @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm.
Fri 03: Martin Taylor @ Arc, Stockton. 8:00pm. Taylor (solo guitar).

Sat 04: Spats Langham’s Hot Fingers @ St Augustine’s Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm. £10.00. Darlington New Orleans Jazz Club.
Sat 04: Michael Woods @ Cycle Hub, Quayside, Ouseburn. 1:30-2:30pm & 3:00-4:00pm. Free. Acoustic blues guitar. An Ouseburn Festival event.
Sat 04: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. £27.50. Tutor: Steve Glendinning. Take the ‘A’ Train to Summertime: From Melody to Masterclass. Enrol at: learning@jazz.coop.
Sat 04: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00.

Sun 05: Smokin’ Spitfires @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:45pm. £10.00.
Sun 05: Ian Bosworth Quintet @ Chapel, Middlesbrough. 1:00pm. Free. Feat. guest TBC.
Sun 05: Michael Woods @ Cycle Hub, Quayside, Ouseburn. 1:30-2:30pm & 3:15-4:00pm. Free. Acoustic blues guitar. An Ouseburn Festival event.
Sun 05: Lydia Rae Quintet @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00pm. £10.00. Rae (vocals); Sam Lightwing (alto sax, tenor sax); Ben Lawrence (piano); Andy Champion (double bass); John Bradford (drums).
Sun 05: Sax Choir @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 05: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Table reservations (0191 261 8000). Skerritt w. backing tapes.
Sun 05: Storytellers Street Band @ Ouseburn Woodland, Ouseburn. 5:00-6:00pm. Free. An Ouseburn Festival event.
Sun 05: Gerry Richardson’s Big Idea @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Sun 05: Jambone @ Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:15-9:45pm. Free but ticketed.

Thursday, July 13, 2017

CD Review: Liane Carroll - The Right To Love

Liane Carroll (vocals/piano); Mark Edwards, Malcolm Edmonstone (piano); Mark James (guitars); Kirk Whalum (sax); Loz Garratt, Roger Carey (bass); Ralph Salmins, Russell Field (drums)  Which tracks each musician played on is not stated.
(Review by Ann Alex).
Blogmaster Lance handed me this CD for review, casually declaring that I’d have few problems in dealing with it, but he failed to mention that it was a real gem. He gets so many of these CDs, poor lamb. I reckon that the 27 bus should do the next review.  But less of this nonsense.  Liane Carroll, a resident of Hastings, is a stellar singer and pianist (classically trained from the age of 3), whose vocals are ‘deeply soulful, wonderfully honest’, as quoted by The Times newspaper. The Right to Love is Ms. Carroll’s tenth CD, and it was produced and recorded by James McMillan in his studio in Hastings.
The album concerns many different facets of love, some of them unusual. Skylark concerns hopeful beginnings, with a soulful sax opening and some clever vocal scat; The Right To Love was written originally about the taboo of interracial marriage; It’s a Fine Line is a jazz take on a Nashville country song; If You Go Away, a beautiful song of insecure love, is performed very sensitively with tasteful piano and striking nature images in the lyrics. Then comes You Don’t Know What Love Is, with a superb guitar solo, and honest lyrics about ‘love that cannot live yet never dies'; there’s an atmospheric feel on the song Goin’ Back and this is followed by Stevie Wonder’s Lately, with a tasty piano and guitar duet. The happiest song on the CD is Georgia On My Mind, cheerfully scatted, which I believe to be about both a woman and the USA state; then comes an interesting Tom Waits number, In The Neighbourhood, led by guitar, a description of a run-down neighbourhood, which somehow manages to sound like a place you could nevertheless love. The final track is heartfelt, voice and piano only, I Get Along Without You Very Well, heartfelt because it is sung about Ms Carroll’s Mother, who died last year. The lyrics mean the opposite of the title, of course. 
The CD is due to be released on July 28, 2017, on Quiet Money QMR0004, and if you care to travel, there are launch shows at Hastings on July 22 and at Soho's  Pizza Express on August 1 and 2 [both nights sold out].
Ann Alex

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