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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 04, 2017

CD Review:Andy Brown Quartet - Direct Call (with a backward glance at Hank Garland)

Andy Brown (guitar); Jeremy Kahn (piano); Joe Policastro (bass); Phil Gratteau (drums).
(Review by Lance).
Patti was Goin' to Chicago - "Sorry but I can't take you". However, after, like Little Jimmy Rushing she done been here and gone, she done returned with this rather splendid CD bringing to my attention a very fine quartet.
I knew I was going to like it before I even played it. Any band that includes Hoagy's One Morning in May (the month!in their setlist is going to get my vote. The fact that it wasn't quite what I expected didn't harm it at all - if the tune's good enough it can handle all-comers.
One Morning in May's good enough - even played uptempo in 3/4 it still hit the spot.
Brown is one of those guitarists you could listen to forever without being bored or needing earplugs. Howard Alden, Joe Pass, Barney, Herb shared this quality with him. Alden still does and they have recorded together. Closer to home, James Birkett and Roly Veitch work the same side of the street.
Andy Brown may be the man out front but he's got three of Chi's best behind him.
Jeremy Kahn is my kind of pianist, lots of locked hands, block chord solos - Shearing, Garner, Peterson, Brubeck, Milt Buckner the influences. 
Policastro is the bassman's bassist. Not just for his timekeeping and sizzling solos but also the almost cello-like sound he produces on his arco solo on A Prisoner of Love.
Gratteau, likewise, epitomises taste in what I sometimes think is fast becoming a vanishing commodity
Well, maybe not as long as these guys are around. One of the tracks that really knocked me out (I know they all did) was Relaxing I'd heard the tune before but where? It's so catchy you need but hear it once and you know where it's going - and you wouldn't want it to go anywhere else. The album notes provided the answer: "From the late guitarist Hank Garland's landmark early sixties recording  Jazz Winds From a New Direction." 'Hey, I've got that!' I shouted excitedly to Daphne the cat. She was cool about it but I dug out the old Phillips vinyl (BBL 7475) and played it. With 17-year-old Gary Burton, Joe Benjamin and Joe Morello alongside Garland I saw from whence Andy Brown was coming from. This was great - a new love and a rediscovered old love. Perhaps I'll play them on alternate evenings - sorry Andy, I'm working late/sorry Hank it's my bowling club night.
I don't know if the Garland album is still available but you can get the Andy Brown Quartet disc on Delmark DE5023. (samples/buy)
The Jeep is Jumpin'; Prisoner of Love; El Cajon; Funk in Deep Freeze; Appel Direct; Relaxing; One Morning in May; Catch Me; Ela É Carioca; Freak of the Week.
Lance.

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