Bebop Spoken There

Joe Alterman: ''All I wanted to do growing up was to sound like Erroll Garner playing "Poor Butterfly." I thought that was the coolest sound I'd ever heard.'' (DownBeat November, 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

19,066 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 18 years ago. 930 of them this year alone and, so far this month (Oct. 31) 109.

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

November

Sun 01: Smokin’ Spitfires @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:45pm. £10.00.
Sun 01: Ian Bosworth Quintet @ Chapel, Middlesbrough. 1:00pm. Free. Quintet w. special guest Donna Hewitt (tenor sax, clarinet)
Sun 01: Sax Choir @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 01: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 01: Sarah Heneghan Trio @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 02: Friends of Jazz @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 02: Saltburn Big Band @ Saltburn House Hotel. 7:00-9:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).

Tue 03: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Stu Collingwood, Paul Grainger, Abbie Finn.
Tue 03: Customs House Big Band @ The Masonic Hall, Ferryhill. 7:30pm. Free.

Wed 04: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 04: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 04: An Evening of Erykah Badu @ Holy GrAle, Durham. 7:30pm. £3.00.; £2.50. A Durham University Jazz Society event.
Wed 04: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 05: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ The Millstone, Mill Rise, South Gosforth, Newcastle. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 05: Hejira - Celebrating Joni Mitchell @ Alnwick Playhouse. 7:30pm.
Thu 05: Cut Capers @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 7:00pm (doors).
Thu 05: Northern Reaches @ Newcastle Arts Centre. 7:30pm. Free (donations). Pete Tanton, Joe Steels, Laurence Blackadder, John Hirst.
Thu 05: Fergus McCreadie @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm.

Fri 06: Mike Durham’s International Classic Jazz Party @ Village Hotel, West Allotment. 12 noon. Day 1/3.
Fri 06: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 06: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 06: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 06: Jazz Night: Bridget Metcalfe @ Saltburn House Hotel. From 6:00pm. Tickets: £40.00 (inc. a two-course meal & glass of Prosecco). Tel: 01287 658977.

Sat 07: Mike Durham’s International Classic Jazz Party @ Village Hotel, West Allotment. 12 noon. Day 2/3.
Sat 07: Ewan Bleach’s Cable Street Ragtime Band @ St Augustine’s Parish Centre, Darlington.
12:30pm. £10.00. Darlington New Orleans Jazz Club. Superb band.
Sat 07: Ray Stubbs’ R&B All Stars @ Billy Bootleggers, Newcastle. 6:00pm.

Thursday, October 12, 2017

CD Review: Brandon Allen - The Gene Ammons Project.


Brandon Allen (tenor); Ross Stanley (piano/Rhodes/Hammond); Arnie Somogi (elec/acc. bass); Matt Home (drums).
(Review by Lance).
As someone who first heard Gene Ammons blowing Seven-Eleven alongside Sonny Stitt on a still treasured Esquire 78 that was later followed up by a 10" LP on the same label,  I viewed this CD by Brandon Allen with a mixture of anticipation - and fear!
Fantastic that one of today's leading UK tenor men saw fit to delve into Ammon's legacy but there was also the worry of whether or not he could he cut it.
I needn't have worried!
Allen does Ammons proud. Not the fawning, lipservice, cloning that some of the Lester Youngsters did but a genuine grasp of what the man was all about. The tone is there, the ideas too but they're Allen's ideas even though we know where they're coming from.
I'd call this straight down the middle tenor playing. The blues, the funk and the soul are in there but so is the tenderness - listen to I Sold My Heart to the Junkman. Poignant!
The album covers two parts of Ammons career the 1950s to the early 1960s (Ammons was off the scene for most of the sixties) and the 1969-1972 period where his inspiration was derived as much from the r & b/soul scene as it was from what was happening in jazz at the time.
Allen absorbed all these elements to produce an album that, I'm sure, 'Jug' himself would have been proud of.
Of course, it goes without saying that with Stanley, Somogi and Home in the engine room, it would  have been impossible for Allen not to be firing on all cylinders!
Tracks: (brackets indicate the year of the original recordings by Gene Ammons).
Please Baby, Won't You Please Say Yes? (51); The Breeze and I (61); Gerr-ru (69); You're Not the Kind (51); I Sold My Heart to the Junkman (61); Piece to Keep Away Evil Spirits (70); Ben (72); The Black Cat (70); Lucille (72); Son of a Preacher Man (69).
Over the years, I've played a lot of Gene Ammons and, in the years to come (looks towards heaven), I'll be playing a lot of Brandon Allen.
Lance
Sample/buy.
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1 comment :

Peter Fairman (on F/b). said...

It's a great Album. Look forward to more releases in the near future.

Thursday, October 12, 2017 7:47:00 pm

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