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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

Tue 21: ???

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: 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

Wednesday, October 18, 2017

CD Review: Andrew Linham Jazz Orchestra - Weapons of Mass Distraction

Call me old-fashioned, not just because I love the moonlight, but because I tend to go along with (most of the time) Duke's maxim that it don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing. 
From the opening bars of Screaming Ab Dabs I knew that, even without any do-wah-do-wah- do wahs, this had that swing.
21st-century swing that is - timeless swing. The rhythms may not be the chug chug chug of long ago but the essential pulse is there irrespective of the meter. As the man once said, "If you gotta ask..."
Sharking in the Chalet (don't ask!) has a TV cop show feel about it with some fine piano from Tom Millar, fluent soprano from Tommy Andrews and an ensemble licensed to kill.
I Arksque You This (don't ask!) I'm not sure what the question is but if it relates to Rosie Turton's trombone solo then the answer is A+.
Dinosaur Face (don't ask!) opens with nice, relaxed pub piano, Sam Warner playing smooth trumpet, a brief moment from Chris Saunders, less brief from Andrew Robb on bass before Rich Perks perks the ante up. The ensemble's now in full flight. Phil Meadows floats around on soprano with the other soloists punctuating, the drama mounts, the dinosaurs are on the attack - is civilisation doomed? No! Meadows' soprano sends them packing and they become extinct until Laura Jurd discovers one 65 million years later but that is another story...
Pyrrhic Victory (don't ask!) sounds, to my ears, what the Goodman 1938 band may have sounded like in 2018. Some clarinet going on (Johnny Chung?); Tom Green moves his slide around a bit - another triumph for composer/arranger Linham but isn't it about time he blew?
Big Bertha's Quarter to Twos (don't ask!) Is one of those numbers that suggest somebody has opened up a jazz club in Nashville. Linham may have been involved in the shootout. That Big Bertha she's quite a gal...
Apples Aren't the Only Fruit (don't ask!) Andrew rides again with some baritone playing that doesn't take any prisoners and neither does Perks with a great guitar blast before Saunders sets the slide on fire.
Don't Mention Janet (we won't). Riley Stone-Lonergan is the one whose lips are sealed he kick starts the most exciting ensemble of the album - maybe of the year, maybe ever!
Henchmen Live the Shortest Lives (don't ask). Miguel Gorodi plays lyrical trumpet - beautiful.
Waitress Winking (don't ask!) Linham and Rosie - a flirtation twixt sax and trombone? Another amazing arrangement.
I Remember Fenton (don't ask!). The, presumably, late Fenton brings out the emotive side of Riley-Lonergan as well as that of arranger/composer Linham.
This is an absolutely amazing big band album. Is it a big band or a jazz orchestra or maybe a new dimension?
I don't know if Andrew Linham used up his whole box of tricks on these compositions and arrangements but, if he's still got a few more boxes to open, then look out world!
Lance.
Tommy Andrews, Phil Meadows, Riley Stone-Lonergan, Johnny Chung, Andrew Linham (saxes); Barney Lowe, Miguel Gorodi, Sam Warner, Matt Roberts, Andy Hall (trumpets); Rosie Turton, Tom Green, Chris Saunders, Barney Medland (trombones); Tom Millar (piano); Rich Perks (guitar); Andrew Robb (bass); Dave Ingamells (drums).
PS: I'm not 100% on the soloists as gleaned from the sleeve but closse enough for jazz I guess.

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