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Bebop Spoken There

Steve Coleman: ''If you don't keep learning, your mind slows down. Use it or lose it''. (DownBeat, January 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

17733 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 53 of them this year alone and, so far, 53 this month (Jan. 20).

From This Moment On ...

January 2025

Wed 22: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 22: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 22: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 22: Pasadena Roof Orchestra @ Fire Station, Sunderland. 7:30pm.

Thu 23: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, Holystone. 1:00pm. Free. Fortnightly.
Thu 23: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: Obituaries 2024.
Thu 23: Jason Isaacs @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 4:30-6:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Thu 23: Pedal Point Trio @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Fri 24: Zoë Gilby Quartet @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 24: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 24: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 24: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 24: Creakin’ Bones & the Sunday Dinners @ Lindisfarne Social Club, Wallsend. 9:00pm. Admission: TBC. Jazz, blues , jump jive, rock ‘n’ roll.

Sat 25: Boys of Brass @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 3:30-5:30pm. Free.
Sat 25: New '58 Jazz Collective @ Jackson's Wharf, Hartlepool. 6:30pm (doors). Free. A Burns' Night event. Jazz, swing, funk, soul, blues etc.
Sat 25: Edison Herbert Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 25: Red Kites Jazz @ Parish Hall, St Barnabas’ Church, Rowlands Gill. 7:30pm. £10.00. BYOB (tea & coffee available), raffle. Proceeds to St Barnabas’ Church. Performance feat. Shayo (vocals).
Sat 25: Jack & Jay’s Songbook @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 26: Musicians Unlimited @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 26: Graham Hardy Eclectic Quartet @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm.
Sun 26: Ruth Lambert Trio @ The Juke Shed, Union Quay, North Shields. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 26: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 26: Jazz Jam Sandwich! @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 26: Tweed River Jazz Band @ Barrels Ale House, Berwick-upon-Tweed. 7:30pm. Free.
Sun 26: Gratkowski, Tramontana, Beresford, Affifi @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £12.00. JNE.
Sun 26: Jazz Jam @ Fabio’s, Saddler St., Durham. 8:00pm. Free. A Durham University Jazz Society promotion. All welcome.

Mon 27: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 28: ???

Wed 29: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 29: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 29: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).

Thu 30: Matters Unknown (aka Jonathan Enser, Nubiyan Twist) + support TBA @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 8:00pm (7:00pm doors). £12.22 (gig & food); £9:04 (gig only).
Thu 30: Soznak @ The Mill Tavern, Hebburn. 8:00pm. Free.
Thu 30: Struggle Buggy @ Harbour View, Roker, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Rhythm & blues.

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

Monday, September 11, 2017

CD Review: Enrico Pieranunzi Trio - Yesterdays.

Enrico Pieranunzi (piano);  Mads Vinding (bass); Alex Riel (drums).
(Review by Lance).
Recorded live in 1997, at the Copenhagen Jazzhouse, and released 20 years later, Yesterdays may seem an appropriate title. However, listening to the Jerome Kern tune of the same name that occupies the first 11:30 of the album, I'd have plumped for Today. The album notes make comparision with Keith Jarrett and maybe there are similarities but, to me, Pieranunzi is much more accessible and he swings. Swings, not in a historical way but in the present time. It may have been recorded 20 years ago but it could have been recorded 20 minutes ago and no one would have known!
Gary Peacock's Vignette is sensitive, explorative and maybe there's a faint suggestion of Bill Evans which is never a bad thing. Vinding's solo would have got the nod from the composer.
Fats may have had a few reservations about the intro to his Jitterbug Waltz - the oft repeated cries of Mercy! that permeated so many of his recordings may have taken on a totally different meaning here! Fortunately, preliminaries over, once the head started rolling, he'd have stopped rolling in his grave and the Mercy would have been an approving one.
A Nameless Date by Pieranunzi. An enigmatic title. Maybe deserving of an explanatory lyric - the tune is well capable of handling one.
If there's a more daunting prospect for me than facing 3 minutes of Summertime then it's being confronted with 12:48 of My Funny Valentine - not funny!
As it turns out, Piernunzi, whilst remaining faithful to the tune (about as faithful as Bluebeard was to his wives...)
does the song proud with some great piano, sound bass and a drummer who's saying: "Rodgers and who?"
Many have told me that My Foolish Heart is their all-time favourite ballad and it's certainly high on my list. Equally, others have claimed the Bill Evans Trio take on the tune to be one of the greatest jazz ballad recordings.
Which leads me to the conclusion that it really is one helluva tune and this version does nothing to suggest otherwise.
Likewise, Howard Schwartz's If There is Someone Lovelier Than You. A new one - to me - demonstrating just how many GASbook items are still waiting to be rediscovered! 
Alex Riel gives it some stick(s) and Mads Vinding does what he does best with the leader rewriting the tune.
Twenty years? I ask you!
Strangely, in 1997, the trio recorded The Kingdom (Where Nobody Dies) which went on to become one of the Stunt Label's all-time 10 best sellers.
Come September [22] Yesterdays will be available on Stunt - STUCD17072 and distributed in the UK by Discovery.
Lance.

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