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Bebop Spoken There

Stan Woodward: ''We're part of the British jazz scene, but we don't play London jazz. We play Newcastle jazz. The Knats album represents many things, but most importantly that Newcastle isn't overlooked". (DownBeat, 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

17923 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 244 of them this year alone and, so far, 91 this month (March 31).

From This Moment On ...

April 2025.

Thu 03: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: Women in Jazz.
Thu 03: Eva Fox & the Jazz Guys @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 03: New ’58 Jazz Collective @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm. Free. A Tees Hot Club promotion. First Thursday in the month.

Fri 04: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 04: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 04: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 04: Ruth Lambert Quartet @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm. £12.00.
Fri 04: Tom McGuire & the Brassholes @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £20.00.
Fri 04: Nicolas Meier’s Infinity Group + Spirit of Jeff Beck @ The Forum, Darlington. 7:30pm.

Sat 05: Tenement Jazz Band @ St Augustine’s Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm. £10.00.
Sat 05: Sleep Suppressor @ Head of Steam, Newcastle. 5:30-6:00pm.
Sat 05: King Bees @ Billy Bootlegger’s, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 6:00pm. Free.
Sat 05: Raymond MacDonald & Jer Reid @ Lubber Fiend, Newcastle. 6:00-9:30pm. £7.72., £1.00. (minimum donation). MacDonald & Reid + Objections + Yotuns.
Sat 05: Jeff Hewer Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 05: Kamasi Washington @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 7:30pm. £33.00.
Sat 05: Vermont Big Band @ The Seahorse, Whitley Bay. 7:30pm. Tickets: £10.00 (from the venue).
Sat 05: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00.

Sun 06: Smokin’ Spitfires @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:45pm. £7.50.
Sun 06: Learning & Participation Showcase @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm (1:00pm doors). Free. Featuring participants from Play More Jazz! Play More Folk! Blue Jam Singers & more.
Sun 06: Joe Steels Group @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00pm. £10.00. Ferg Kilsby, Joe Steels, Ben Lawrence, Paul Susans, John Hirst.
Sun 06: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 06: Paul Skerritt @ The Hooch, Quayside, Newcastle. 6:00pm.
Sun 06: Leeway @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 07: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 08: ???

Wed 09: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 09: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 09: Tannery jam session @ The Tannery, Hexham. 7:00pm.
Wed 09: Anatole Muster Trio @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £17.50., £12.50. concs.
Wed 09: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. CANCELLED?

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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