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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

18037 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 458 of them this year alone and, so far, 36 this month (June 11).

From This Moment On ...

JUNE 2025

Sun 15: Lewis Watson Quartet @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm.
Sun 15: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 15: Pasadena Roof Orchestra @ Alnwick Playhouse. 7:00pm.
Sun 15: Under the Wellie @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 15: Hannah Brine Quartet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 16: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club (1:00pm). Free.
Mon 16: Giles Strong Quartet @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £10.00.

Tue 17: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Alan Law, Paul Grainger, Abbie Finn.

Wed 18: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 18: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:30pm. Free. Concert performance (open to the public)..
Wed 18: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 19: Gareth John & the SOS Big Band @ The Forum Music Centre, Darlington. 7:00pm. £25.00.

Fri 20: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 20: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 20: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 20: David Gray's Flextet @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 20: Strictly Smokin’ Big Band @ Alnwick Playhouse. 7:30pm. £21.50. ‘Time After Time’.br/> Fri 20: Alexia Gardner Quintet @ Sunderland Minster. 7:30pm.
Fri 20: King Bees @ Billy Bootleggers, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. Superb Chicago blues band.

Sat 21: Milne Glendinning Band @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 21: Red Kites Jazz @ Staithes Café, Dunston. 7:00-9:00pm. Free.
Sat 21: Papa G’s Troves @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. 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

Wednesday, July 12, 2017

Tom Rivière Family Band @ TESTT Space, Durham - July 11

Kim Macari (trumpet), Riley Stone-Lonergan (tenor saxophone), Tom Rivière (double bass) & Steve Hanley (drums)
(Review by Russell)
The Empty Shop’s satellite venue on North Road, Durham is a temporary affair as the bus station building is to be demolished in another major redevelopment in the city. Visual artists are tenants alongside other ‘creatives’ until such time as they’re given notice to quit. A makeshift performance space on the second floor (no stage, blacked-out windows) with a bottle bar and a warm welcome from Durham Brass Festival/Empty Shop staff, this the venue for Cutting Edge Brass.

Cutting Edge Brass presented Tom Rivière’s Family Band. The ‘cutting edge’ refers to the ‘new’, to the ‘contemporary’, to the ‘innovative’ or so it would seem. Do labels such as ‘cutting edge’ attract? Do they deter? Remove the label and what have we got? A quartet comprising of Leeds College of Music alumni, the musicians no longer live in one another’s student pockets, living miles apart and meeting up for rehearsals and gigs – gigs such as this Durham date. The late Ornette Coleman is a stated influence on the band, and, to the ears of your correspondent, John Coltrane equally so.

Tenor saxophonist Riley Stone-Lonergan’s big frame generates a big sound, and frontline partner, by comparison the physically diminutive trumpeter Kim Macari, plays fearlessly, not giving an inch. The guys in the shadows – bassist Tom Rivière and drummer Steve Hanley – make it possible for the horns to do their thing. A Stone-Lonergan original for openers, Macari’s Rashtam and Scorpi (a tale of a pet scorpion!) to follow, the Family Band was in the zone. Time and again RSL took a first solo, Macari replying. The in-the-pocket playing of Rivière and Hanley would have secured them a slew of gigs on the 1960s New York free jazz scene had they been around; metronomic, swinging, frequent change in tempi, all taken in their stride. Drummer Hanley is a composer; the quartet took a look at one of his new tunes – Mind Hoover. Hanley is a supremely talented musician/composer, Rivière, nominally the leader of the Family Band, as assured a performer as you’re likely to hear.

At some gigs you can sense you’re at the heart of it, you can hear it. The numbers preceding, the numbers following, this, the ‘in-the-moment’, is it. Impressions was the moment. Glorious playing, the reason one goes to a gig, file under ‘memorable moments’.             

TESTT Space will, perhaps, be gone this time next year when Durham Brass Festival is once more in full swing, but Durham’s Empty Shop is sure to find itself another quirky pop-up venue which will contribute to this big, bold, brasstastic event, Durham Brass Festival.

Russell.        

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