Total Pageviews

HOWAY THE LADS!

Bebop Spoken There

John McLaughlin: '' A Love Supreme coincided with my search for meaning in life". (DownBeat, March 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

17873 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 194 of them this year alone and, so far, 41 this month (March 14).

From This Moment On ...

MARCH 2025.

Sun 16: Jason Isaacs @ STACK, Exchange Sq., Middlesbrough. 1:00-2:45pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sun 16: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 16: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 16: Pearl Blossoms @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Ragtime.
Sun 16: Hot 8 Brass Band @ Wylam Brewery. 7:30pm. ‘Big Tuba Tour’.
Sun 16: ARQ @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Sun 16: Air4ce @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 8:30pm (8:00pm doors). £12.00.; £10.00. Tom Atkinson’s all-star band (line-up inc. Lindsay Hannon & Sue Ferris).
Sun 16: Jazz Jam @ Fabio’s, Saddler St., Durham. 8:00pm. Free. A Durham University Jazz Society promotion. All welcome.

Mon 17: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 17: Jamie Toms Quartet @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £10.00.

Tue 18: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Laurence Harrison, Paul Grainger, Tim Johnston.
Tue 18: Phil Bancroft’s Beautiful Storm @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £13.20 & £11.00.. A JNE-Gem Arts co-promotion.

Wed 19: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 19: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 19: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 20: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, Holystone. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 20: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: Nicknames.
Thu 20: Terri Green Experience @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £15.90.
Thu 20: Lindsay Hannon Trio @ The Harbour View, Roker, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Hannon’s ‘Tom Waits for No Man’ set.
Thu 20: Ray Stubbs R&B All Stars @ Mill Tavern, Hebburn. 8:30pm. Free.

Fri 21: Paul Skerritt @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 21: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 21: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 21: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 21: Giles Strong Quartet @ 1719, Hendon, Sunderland. 7:30pm. CANCELLED!
Fri 21: New Century Ragtime Orchestra @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Featuring special guest Martin Litton (piano).

Sat 22: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 12:30-2:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 22: Jason Isaacs @ Seaburn STACK, Seaburn. 3:30pm-5:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 22: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 22: Swamp Stomp String Band @ The White Room, Stanley. 7:45pm.
Sat 22: Rivkala @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Country blues guitar & vocals.

Sun 23: Musicians Unlimited @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 23: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 23: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 23: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 23: Mississippi MacDonald @ Georgian Theatre, Stockton. 3:00pm. Blues.
Sun 23: Tweed River Jazz Band @ Barrels Ale House, Berwick. 7:00pm. Free.
Sun 23: The Great Deceivers @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Tom Atkinson & co play King Crimson (1969-1974). Atkinson (guitar); Josh Bentham (alto sax); Stu Dawson (bass); Jeff Armstrong (drums).

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

Thursday, October 19, 2017

CD Review: Eddie Daniels & Roger Kellaway - Just Friends

(The press release says as much, and more, about this album than I could ever come up with. Nevertheless, I go along with every word. Daniels has long been my favourite modern clarinet player of the post-De Franco era and, unlike the clarinet men who preceded him, he was one mighty tenor player too. However, its clarinet all the way here and an object lesson for anyone who thinks that modern clarinet, played with technique is passé. Maybe it is as these tracks were recorded in 1988! – Lance).

Los Angeles, August 2017 — Resonance Records is proud to announce the release of Just Friends: Live at the Village Vanguard, a spirited never-before-heard live recording by clarinetist Eddie Daniels and pianist Roger Kellaway featuring bassist Buster Williams and drummer Al Foster. Recorded by Resonance Records founder George Klabin in the front row at the storied Village Vanguard in Greenwich Village, New York City in late 1988, Just Friends is a revelatory meeting of two jazz masters, with one of the best imaginable rhythm sections, deep in dialogue on a set including the venerable standard “Just Friends” and two original pieces each by Daniels and Kellaway.
Klabin received permission from the band to record on this Saturday night of their weeklong run at the Vanguard, and came prepared with a high-quality cassette recorder and a single Sony stereo microphone. “I just placed the mic on the table facing the band, hit ‘record’ and let it run. It was as simple as that,” Klabin recalls in his liner note essay. “The tape sat in my personal collection ever since I recorded it. Nearly three decades later, in 2016, I pulled it out and listened to it. Immediately I was transfixed again. I decided to send digital copies to Roger and Eddie for their enjoyment.” Discussions ensued. Klabin got the go-ahead from all four quartet members and began laying plans for this remarkable DIY recording to finally come to light. The album cover photo is by the legendary jazz photographer William Claxton, with interior images by Tom Copi and Richard Laird, all beautifully assembled into the CD package by longtime Resonance designer Burton Yount.
Never intended for commercial release, Klabin’s recording is nonetheless notable for its clarity and intimacy. It also documents a significant period in the Daniels-Kellaway relationship, born from a suggestion by Jack Kleinsinger that they perform together for his beloved “Highlights in Jazz” concert series some years before the Vanguard date. By now, Daniels and Kellaway have documented their inventive partnership as a duo on a number of recent recordings including Live at the Library of CongressDuke at the Roadhouse: Live in Santa Fe and A Duo of One: Live at the Bakery. They’d also recorded in various ensemble contexts years ago on such albums as To Bird With Love and Memos from Paradise: The Music of Roger Kellaway. Now with the release of Just Friends, the historical record of this special musical bond is even more complete. The lyricism, swing and sheer unpredictability that Daniels and Kellaway bring to the date, as to every encounter, is truly stunning — not least on the abstract rubato intro of the nearly 20-minute-long title track. The presence of Buster Williams and Al Foster, who had never before worked as a rhythm section with these two co-leaders, only adds to the music’s spontaneity and spark.
And yet, as John Murph observes in his liner notes, Just Friends is “Not only a fascinating musical snapshot of Daniels’ early years playing with Kellaway, it introduces the larger jazz world to rare compositions penned by the two.” Kellaway’s fiercely uptempo but strikingly multifaceted “The Spice Man” is something the pianist hasn’t revisited and doesn’t intend to (“I just don’t want to play that fast”). His “Some O’ This and Some O’ That” reveals a Thelonious Monk influence, perhaps Art Blakey as well, in its driving shuffle feel and dazzling solos. Daniels’ contributions, the gorgeous ballad “Reverie for a Rainy Day” and the Mozart-inspired “Wolfie’s Samba,” are also rarities, never again performed by the clarinetist.

Just Friends also offers a window into a particular period in jazz history, when Daniels was a “roving studio rat” on multiple reeds who had logged many hours on the Vanguard bandstand with the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Orchestra. Williams, as noted in his booklet interview, had just begun working with Kenny Barron in the supergroup Sphere, as well as the Timeless All-Stars featuring Cedar Walton and others. Al Foster, still in the midst of his long Miles Davis association, was also playing with the likes of Joe Henderson, John Scofield and more. Kellaway, with sideman credits including Wes Montgomery, Oliver Nelson, Clark Terry, Sonny Rollins and Herbie Mann, was recording sporadically but always superbly as a leader, bolstering the case for himself as one of the most compelling if overlooked pianists in jazz.Just Friends adds to our understanding of this elusive but important figure.

Adding to the auspiciousness of Just Friends is the fact that Bill Evans’ Some Other Time: The Lost Concert from the Black Forest, a landmark Resonance release from 2016, won top honors for Historical Album of the Year in the annual DownBeatJazzTimes and Jazz Journalists Association (JJA) critics polls. As Nate Chinen of WBGO.org remarked in a story this April about Resonance’s efforts tying in to the annual Record Store Day, the label has built a one-of-a-kind profile with its deluxe historical releases, including recent items by Wynton Kelly, Wes Montgomery, John Coltrane and Jaco Pastorius. “Each release is a gem,” wrote Chinen, and Just Friends certainly upholds that lofty standard.

Track Listing:
1.     Some O’ This and Some O’ That (9:32)
2.     Reverie for a Rainy Day (5:37)
3.     Wolfie’s Samba (9:09)
4.     Just Friends (17:47)
5.     The Spice Man (15:57)

Resonance Records is a multi-GRAMMY® Award-winning label (most recently for John Coltrane’sOffering: Live at Temple University for "Best Album Notes") that prides itself in creating beautifully designed, informative packaging to accompany previously unreleased recordings by the jazz icons who grace Resonance's catalog. Headquartered in Beverly Hills, CA, Resonance Records is a division of Rising Jazz Stars, Inc. a California 501(c) (3) non-profit corporation created to discover the next jazz stars and advance the cause of jazz. Current Resonance Artists include Richard Galliano, Polly Gibbons, Tamir Hendelman, Christian Howes and Donald Vega. www.ResonanceRecords.org

Pre-order on iTunes and receive 2 tracks instantly:

“Some O’ This and Some O’ That” and "Wolfie’s Samba"

No comments :

Blog Archive