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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

17,533 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 497 of them this year alone and, so far, 75 this month (June 23).

From This Moment On ...

JUNE 2025

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: Bal Bruch Social Dance @ As You Like It, Sandyford, Newcastle. 12:30pm. Free. Dance event with Hot Club de Heaton performing live (2:00-3:00pm). A ‘Jar on the Bar’ event.
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.

Mon 30: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club (1:00pm). Free.

JULY 2025

Tue 01: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Joe Steels, Paul Grainger, Mark Robertson.
Tue 01: Customs House Big Band @ Masonic Hall, Ferryhill. 7:30pm. 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

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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