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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.

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).

Mon 24: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 24: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 6:30pm. 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

Saturday, October 28, 2017

From the Village Hotel to the Village Vanguard! CD Review: Cécile McLorin Salvant - Dreams and Daggers

Cécile McLorin Salvant (vocals); Aaron Diehl (piano); Paul Sikivie (bass); Lawrence Leathers (drums); Catalyst String Quartet; Sullivan Fortner (piano).
(Review by Lance).
The main jazz action this weekend is at Whitley Bay where the annual Mike Durham's Classic Jazz Party has taken over the Village Hotel. Back in 2010, Cécile McLorin Salvant played to a packed room at the event and every man, woman and child, myself included, fell in love with her. That same year, in New York, she picked up the prestigious Monk Award - her star was in the ascendancy.
A couple of more visits to the northeast charted her progress and, on her final visit in 2013, Debra Milne caught up with her.
So, given Cécile's links with Whitley Bay, this double CD (or triple LP) came up for review at just the right time.
Recorded partly at the Village Vanguard in NYC and partly in the Michigan based Mack Avenue Studio I've come to the conclusion that Cécile is perhaps the best jazz singer in the world today and this is only her fourth album. To draw a parallel, if Diana Krall is Ella Fitzgerald then Cécile is Billie Holiday.
She's a blues singer, a jazz singer and, if they still have them, a torch singer. The complete package, the real deal.
A voice as captivating as any I've ever heard. Soft and sensuous, bold and belting, but always apropos the lyric, the mood and the melody.
Needless to say, the backing is of the highest with Aaron Diehl a pianist to reckon with at any level. Sikivie not only does the bass lines but also the arrangements whilst Leathers is heard to advantage throughout. The studio tracks are with the Catalyst Quartet and add a more sombre dimension without in anyway diminishing the appeal.
Such was the prolonged applause at the Village Vanguard an encore was inevitable and You're Getting to be a Habit With Me a most appropriate one - it's a habit I shan't be breaking.
In years to come, long after we're gone and the list of the all-time great jazz vocal albums is finally etched in stone, Dreams and Daggers will be pretty high on that list.
If you only intend to buy one jazz album in your life buy this one! Trouble is that then you'll want the previous three and all of the subsequent ones!
Lance.
Disc1: And Yet, Devil May Care, Mad About the Boy, Sam Jones' Blues, More, Never Will I Marry, Somehow I Never Could Believe, If a Girl Isn't Pretty (like Miss Atlantic City!), Red Instead, Runnin' Wild, Best Thing For You Would be me.
Disc 2: You're my Thrill, I Didn't Know What Time it Was, Tell me What They're Saying Isn't True, Nothing Like You, You've Got to Give me Some, The Worm, My Man's Gone Now, Let's Face the Music and Dance, Si J'étais Blanche, Fascination, Wild Women Don't Have the Blues, You're Getting to be a Habit With me.
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