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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

17719 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 39 of them this year alone and, so far, 39 this month (Jan. 15).

From This Moment On ...

January 2025

Sat 18: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 18: Alter Ego + Jamie Toms/Graham Don Duo @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 7:30pm. £15.00. at the door; £14.35. (inc £0.35 bf) online, in advance.
Sat 18: Tweed River Jazz Band @ Repas 7 by Night, West St., Berwick TD15 1AS. 7:30pm. Free. Album launch gig.
Sat 18: Delta Prophets @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 19: Glenn Miller Orchestra UK @ Glasshouse, Gateshead. 3:00pm. ‘Glenn Miller & the Rat Pack Era’.
Sun 19: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 19: Spilt Milk @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 5:15-7:00pm. Free. Nolan Brothers (vocal harmonies).
Sun 19: Tenement Jazz Band @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 19: Nick Ross Orchestra @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 7:30pm.
Sun 19: Freight Train (Tobin/Noble/Clarvis) @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Sun 19: Jazz Jam @ Fabio’s, Saddler St., Durham. 8:00pm. Free. A Durham University Jazz Society promotion. All welcome.

Mon 20: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

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.
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.

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, May 09, 2018

Christian McBride Big Band @ Cheltenham Jazz Festival, Town Hall – May 6.

(Review by Steve T)
I had their album Bringin’ It as one of my picks of last year; an unlikely choice from a self-confessed big band philistine, but I saw McBride with his trio in November and if anybody can make a big band cool it's him. 
The start had a stand-in on bass allowing a big introduction for the leader; apparently common-place in such situations. The band were all in white shirts, perhaps reflecting the weather outside, but McBride remained in a suit throughout.
Trumpet solo followed by Marcus Strickland on tenor, backed by the rest of the horns, followed by trombone, the audience now clapping along, before muted trumpets provided the backing with a short bass burst finishing the piece.

Getting to It he confided was a reworking of James Brown Get it Together, also taken from the Bringin’ It album, as is Youthful Bliss which followed it, featuring solos on soprano and bass.
Texas trumpeter Brandon Lee, formerly with Archie Bell and others, (and soul and funk seemed to be a thread through McBride and the band), pretty much played I Thought About You before Thermo, a Freddie Hubbard piece, written while he was a Jazz Messenger, featured solos on trumpet, tenor and piano. Both pieces are on the album.
The band was then joined onstage by Melissa Walker who sang Herb Albert's Taste of Honey (I thinkfollowed by, what he described as an old American folk song, Mr Bojangles. She's a fine singer but the vocal tracks are my least favourite on the album.
In the Wee Small Hours (on the album) played in the key of B, which apparently makes it very difficult, - attracting charges of crazy string player from brass players - had the leader playing the melody with bowed bass, backed by three flutes. 
He then announced he was going to play some of the dirty F-word funk, claiming hard-core jazzers appreciate it because jazz already has some funk in it. Of course it does, and funk has lots of jazz in it.
George Duke, he announced, was a big influence and mentor and they played his Black Messiah pt 2, speculating it refers to Cannonball Adderley. It featured heavy, pounding bass, solid drumming, lots of piano and a first baritone solo.
I say first but it may also have been last as many, myself included, left for Kamasi Washington at the Big Top, just as Melissa returned to the stage, presumably for Upside Down from the album.
That'll teach them to start late.

Steve T

1 comment :

Steve T said...

I'm reliably informed the bass player who played during McBrides intro was James Owston of Birmingham Conservatoire and can be seen on the photo at the end of the Rob Luft review.

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