Total Pageviews

Bebop Spoken There

Trevor Mires: ''My mum is a Dean Martin fan: I'm not, so I would grab my skateboard and get out of the house whenever I heard "Everybody Loves Somebody, Sometime." ". (Jazzwise, April 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

17957 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 278 of them this year alone and, so far, 34 this month (April 14).

From This Moment On ...

April 2025.

Fri 18: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 18: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 18: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 18: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 1:00-2:45pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Fri 18: Jason Isaacs @ STACK, Seaburn. 3:30-5:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.

Fri 18: Alexia Gardner @ Fika Gallery, Oldgate, Morpeth NE61 1LT. 7:00pm. Trio (Gardner, Alan Law, Jude Murphy).RESCHEDULED FOR JUNE 13

Fri 18: Sarah Jane Morris & Tony Remy: The Sisterhood @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. CANCELLED! 7:30pm (doors). £25.00.

Sat 19: Jason Isaacs @ STACK, Exchange Sq., Middlesbrough. 1:00-3:00pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 19: Joseph Carville Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 19: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 20: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 20: Salty Dog @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 20: Spilt Milk @ STACK, Exchange Sq., Middlesbrough. 7:00-9:00pm. Free. Nolan Brothers (vocal harmonies).
Sun 20: Tweed River Jazz Band @ The Barrels Ale House, Berwick-upon-Tweed. 7:00pm. Free.
Sun 20: C.A.L.I.E @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 21: Newcastle Record Fair @ Copthorne Hotel, Newcastle. 10:00am. Going in search of the Buddy Bolden cylinder…
Mon 21: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 22: Abbie Finn Trio @ Newcastle House Hotel, Rothbury. 7:30pm. Coquetdale Jazz.

Wed 23: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 23: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 23: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. CANCELLED!

Thu 24: Mary Coughlan @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm. £33.80. Blues, jazz etc.
Thu 24: Darlington Big Band @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm.

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

Friday, November 24, 2017

Group Theory @ The Jazz Co-op, The Globe, Newcastle - November 23

Dan Garel (alto saxophone); Tom Burgess (guitar); Dylan Purches (bass) & Tristan Bacon (drums)
(Review by Russell)
Group Theory emerged from a jazz hothouse in the heart of Durham city. Durham University and the ever quirky Empty Shop on Framwellgate Bridge are key elements in a burgeoning jazz scene to be found, and heard, in Dunelm House (Students’ Union), the Music Department up on Palace Green, the Gala Theatre, the county-wide Brass Festival, and the new Durham Jazz Festival with its many unusual venues which in its first year included a gig in a barber’s shop.
Earlier this year Group Theory played a superb gig at Newcastle’s Jazz Café and the opportunity to hear the quartet again just along the road at the Jazz Co-op was too good to pass up. Dan Garel is no stranger to the Jazz Café’s bi-monthly jam session and here at the Globe on Railway Street the alto saxophonist (and Group Theory’s composer) played two sets in the company of his old mate, Durham University Big Band drummer, Tristan Bacon, bassist Dylan Purches, and debutant Gibson guitar playing Tom Burgess.

The quartet’s setlist comprised the familiar – Garel’s compositions and a few standards. The select audience observed that Group Theory adhered to the ‘solo-head-solo-fours’ formula, but of interest beyond such strictures were Garel’s razor-sharp alto and Bacon’s frequent injection of hip-hop and drum ’n’ bass grooves. Symmetries (comp. D Garel) and Pumpkin Vermicelli (comp. D Garel) were in the set list earlier in the year and it was great to hear them again. New boy Tom Burgess played the gig seated, without a pick, studious rather than demonstrative. It would appear Tom has rapidly got his head around Dan’s compositional ideas, and perched (no pun intended) on a high bar stool,  bassist Dylan Purches played it straight down the line, unperturbed by Dan’s coruscating alto solos fizzing around the room.          

Garel’s ballad Signal Hill featured Bacon’s sustained brush work and fluent improvisation from the impressive Burgess. The quartet’s senior members, Garel and Bacon, brought in Stella by Starlight ahead of an insistent, urgent alto solo. A short interval, time enough to get to the bar, the choice an easy one; Another bottle of Black Sheep, Keith, thanks.

A new Garel tune with the working title Modal Composition resumed matters, Burgess hitting on a motif, then our altoist taking off once again. A new one, Circling Hours, then the familiar two-mallet, oh-so-slow number, Eight Weeks. Garel likes to play Have You Met Miss Jones? (Bacon doesn’t!), they played it, great stuff! To close this Jazz Co-op engagement, a ‘free groove’ number, possibly titled Free Groove. A slow fuse burner, Burgess impressed, likewise the quartet. Group Theory can be heard again early in the new year at the Jazz Café. Recommended.
Russell                                      

No comments :

Blog Archive