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Bebop Spoken There

Sullivan Fortner: ''I always judge it by the bass player: If the bass player is happy, it's going to be a good night". (DownBeat, February 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

17777 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 98 of them this year alone and, so far, 23 this month (Feb.8).

From This Moment On ...

February 2025

Sun 16: MOBO Song @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 12 noon. Free, performances on the concourse. Line-up inc. Jazz Attack (on stage time TBC) & Jambone (12:20pm).
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: MOBO Awards Fringe 2025: BBC Introducing NE X MOBO Showcase @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 6:00pm. Free (ticketed). Line-up inc. Jambone, Knats, Rivkala, SwanNek.
Sun 16: The Shayo Experience @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 16: Gerry Richardson Quartet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. .

Mon 17: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 17: Matt Forster Quartet @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 1:00pm. £9.00. at the door; £8.20. (inc £0.20 bf) online, in advance.
Mon 17: Russ Morgan Quartet @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £10.00.

Tue 18: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Alan Law, Paul Grainger, John Hirst.

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: James Birkett & Emma Fisk @ King’s Hall, Newcastle University. 1:15pm. Free.
Thu 20: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: Jazz Milestones - 1975.
Thu 20: Renegade Brass Band @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors).
Thu 20: Orange Claw Hammer + Peony @ The Globe, Newcastle.7:30pm. Orange Claw Hammer play Captain Beefheart.
Thu 20: Jeremy McMurray & the Pocket Jazz Orchestra @ Arc, Stockton. 8:00pm. Featuring special guest Zoë Gilby.

Fri 21: JazzMain @ 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: Joe Steels Trio @ The Pele, Corbridge. 7:00pm. £10.00. TBC.
Fri 21: Emma Rawicz w. Strictly Smokin’ Big Band @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm.

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: Mississippi MacDonald @ Claypath Deli, Durham. 7:00pm. Blues.
Sat 22: Lindsay Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ Old Cinema Laundrette, Durham. 7:45pm. £16.50. SOLD OUT!
Sat 22: Michael Woods @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Country blues guitar & vocals.

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

Sunday, December 17, 2017

Digital Download Review: Ella Fitzgerald - Ella @ Zardi's.

Ella Fitzgerald (vocal); Don Abney (piano); Vernon Alley (bass); Frank Capp (drums).
(Review by Lance).
It's been well recorded on Bebop Spoken Here the effect that hearing Ella Fitzgerald live, for the very first time, at Newcastle City Hall in March 1955 had on me and, although I heard her many more times over the ensuing years, great as they were, nothing ever topped that first impression and, I was convinced that nothing ever would.
Until today that is when I listened to Ella at Zardi's.
Just under a year after that magical night in Newcastle, Ella recorded this session at Zardi's - a Hollywood nightspot.
Norman Granz had taken over her representation and this was intended to be the initial album under his supervision. However, The first of the great Verve Songbook albums - Cole Porter - was released and quickly became so successful that other songbooks followed and Zardi's was filed away and forgotten.
Until now.
Now, I'm back at Newcastle City Hall, sitting within a few yards of Ella (I doubt if I could have afforded a table at Zardi's) and hearing her as I did then. Her voice had yet to become totally Granzified and there was still a trace of Harlem in her take on 21 of the GASbook's best.
As he was in Newcastle, Abney is the accompanist par excellence providing the lead-ins, feeding the chords and following Ella wherever she wandered. My one reservation being that he had little solo exposure of his own. This wasn't as noticeable at Newcastle as Oscar Peterson had had a set to himself before Ella but it would have been nice to hear more of Don.
Our local concert had Sammy Stokes and Tony Kinsey on bass and drums which, unfairly, drew some snide remarks from the British critics. I'm sure those 'pundits' would have had little to complain about at Zardi's.
Whether you were at City Hall, Zardi's or wish you'd been to either, the solution is here. Maybe it's nostalgia, but, for me, this is the definitive Ella. I'm 16 again!

It All Depends on You; Tenderly; Why Don't You do Right?; Cry me a River; In a Mellow Tone; Joe Williams' Blues; A Fine Romance; How High the Moon*: Gone With the Wind; Bernie's Tune; S'Wonderful; Glad to be Unhappy; Lullaby of Birdland; Tender Trap; And the Angels Sing; I  Can't Give You Anything But Love*; Little Boy; A-Tisket-Tasket*; My Heart Belongs to Daddy; Airmail Special; I've Got a Crush on You*.
* Ella also sang these numbers at City Hall.
Lance.
20. Airmail Special
21. I
ve Got A Crush On You

1 comment :

Liz said...

Aah Hollywood Boulevard at Vine...I stood in exactly that spot when I visited West Hollywood last Spring. I remember the moment. The Capital building towering just along the road, The Hollywood sign visible across the valley, I threw out my arms...I was ecstatic to be there. Yes I also saw the gorgeous Miss Fitz, 1953-ish at Leeds Odeon, queued in the pouring rain with my Dad, she brought a new kind of magic to my life, the first lady of Jazz!

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