Total Pageviews

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

Mon 10: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 11: Steve Summers Quintet @ Newcastle House Hotel, Rothbury. 7:30pm.

Wed 12: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 12: Jam session @ The Tannery, Gilesgate, Hexham. 7:00-9:00pm. Free.
Wed 12: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 12: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 13: Student Performances @ King’s Hall, Newcastle University. 4:00pm. Free. Inc. Olly Styles (tenor sax).
Thu 13: MOBO Awards Fringe 2025: Artist Showcase @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 7:00pm. Free (ticketed). Line-up inc. Hannabiell & Midnight Blue.
Thu 13: Indigo Jazz Voices @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:45pm. £5.00.

Fri 14: John Rowland Trio @ Jesmond Library, Newcastle. 12:30-1:30pm. £5.00. at the door. New second Friday in the month concert series.
Fri 14: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 14: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 14: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 14: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 4:00-6:00pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Fri 14: Archipelago + Anna Tempest @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm. £12.00., £10.00., £8.00.
Fri 14: Paul Jones & Dave Kelly @ Alnwick Playhouse. 7:30pm. Rhythm & blues.
Fri 14: Alexia Gardner Quintet @ The White Room, Stanley. 7:45pm.
Fri 14: Jazz Sabbath @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm.

Sat 15: Joseph Carville Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 15: James Birkett & Emma Fisk @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 7:30pm. £15.00. at the door; £14.35. (inc £0.35 bf) online, in advance.
Sat 15: Elkie Brooks @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 7:30pm. ‘The Long Farewell Tour’.
Sat 15: Milne Glendinning Band @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 16: Jason Isaacs @ STACK, Exchange Sq., Middlesbrough. 1:00-2:45pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs 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.
Sun 16: Jazz Jam @ Fabio’s, Saddler St., Durham. 8:00pm. Free. A Durham University Jazz Society promotion. All welcome.

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

Thursday, June 21, 2018

Emma Fisk's Hot Club du Nord @ Sage Gateshead - June 20.

Emma Fisk (violin); James Birkett (guitar); Dave Harris (guitar); Bruce Rollo (bass).
(Review by Lance/Photo courtesy of Billy Nicholson).
Second set and Venuti/Lang have morphed into Grappelli/Reinhardt. The year is now 1934, Eddie Lang has died tragically young and Fisk has replaced the short, flowing dress with a svelte,  champagne coloured, figure-hugging satin dress evocative of a pre-war Parisian nightclub hostess in Pigalle. For his part, Birkett has augmented his apparel with red socks; apparently a Django fashion faux pas in the eyes of Grappelli but hey! this is 1934, the year that Cole Porter wrote Anything Goes
To complete the line-up they were joined by the immaculately suited Bruce Rollo on double bass and the more casually attired Dave Harris on guitar.
Dinah, is there any tune finer? opened the time capsule and we were off to a flying start. Unlike the original Hot Club de France where Django was the sole guitar soloist leaving the other two guitarists, including his brother Joe, to chug away in a purely rhythmic, and often monotonous, capacity, Emma Fisk's Hot Club du Nord has two guitarists both superb soloists in their own right.
Paradoxically, listening to the original Venuti/Lang recordings and comparing them with the slightly later sides cut by Grappelli and Reinhardt, I find the former more modern and swingier than the latter. Emma and her 'boys' turn this around primarily because of the lighter rhythmic feel they employ.
Belleville; Honeysuckle Rose; I'm Confessin'; Viper's Dream; Exactly Like You; Minor Swing; If You Only Knew (?) - an impressive feature for Harris - and Lady Be Good were all showstoppers and the encore, unsurprisingly, was Nuages. A Hot Club concert without Nuages would be like a Glenn Miller gig without Moonlight Serenade.
Beautiful.
I don't think I've ever posted two separate reviews by myself of the two sets of a concert but, on this occasion, it was justified as both sets stood tall in their own right.
Which set was the best?
Mmm... have to flip a coin on that one.
Would you believe it? The coin has landed upright on its edge!
Lance. 
PS: Gig of the Month so far.

1 comment :

Patti said...

I read somewhere that Django was inspired by a photo of George Raft, to adopt the red socks and tux style. Whatever! He'd have looked and sounded great - as did Emma and her boys last night - it was a fabulous night!

Blog Archive