Bebop Spoken There

Donovan Haffner ('Best Newcomer' 2025 Parliamentary Jazz Awards): ''I got into jazz the first time I picked up a saxophone!" - Jazzwise Dec 25/Jan 26

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

18146 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 24 of them this year alone and, so far this month (Jan. 7), 24

From This Moment On ...

JANUARY 2026

Thu 08: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £5.00. Subject: Jazz Milestones of 1976.

Fri 09: The House Trio @ Bishop Auckland Methodist Church. 1:00pm. £9.00.
Fri 09: Nauta @ Jesmond Library, Newcastle. 1:00pm. £5.00. Trio: Jacob Egglestone, Jamie Watkins, Bailey Rudd.
Fri 09: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 09: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 09: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 09: Warren James & the Lonesome Travellers @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm. £15.00.
Fri 09: The Blue Kings @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £10.00. (£8.00. adv.). All-star band.

Sat 10: Mark Toomey Quintet @ St Peter’s Church, Stockton-on-Tees. 7:30pm. £12.00. (inc. pie & peas). Tickets from: 07749 255038.

Sun 11: New ’58 Jazz Collective @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 11: Am Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 11: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 11: Eva Fox & the Sound Hounds @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 12: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 12: Saltburn Big Band @ Saltburn House Hotel. 7:00-9:00pm. Free.

Tue 13: Milne Glendinning Band @ Newcastle House Hotel, Rothbury. 7:30pm. £11.00. Coquetdale Jazz.
Tue 13: Jazz Jam Sandwich @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Wed 14: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 14: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 14: Jam Session @ The Tannery, Hexham. 7:00pm. Free.
Wed 14: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

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

Saturday, August 18, 2018

CD Review: Enrico Pieranunzi & Thomas Fonnesbæk - Blue Waltz.

Enrico Pieranunzi (piano); Thomas Fonnesbæk (bass).
(Review by Lance).
So much happening jazz-wise in the northeast these days that the CDs are once more piling up. So, if you have sent me a bumper bundle, please be patient and change your name to Job. Chances are I'll not even listen to them. Such is the volume of recorded material I'm being sent that it's likely that 90% of it will end up in the garage and, if you want the address of my garage I'll happily provide it along with a crowbar.
However, one album which won't end up in the garage, other than on the car stereo is this one. Steal the car if you must but please leave the CD behind.
Recorded live in Gustav's Restaurant in Copenhagen, Blue Waltz is a superb example of the piano/bass duo format. The Italian pianist and the Danish bassist have certainly absorbed the maxim that it don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing,  but, not that swing - I mean the swing of today. Melodic and lyrical, and meaningful. These guys don't need to burn the pet shop down to get their message across. They do it with sensitivity and sheer musicality and, to reiterate, their own brand of swing.
Apart from the opener, Cole Porter's Everything I Love and Kern's All the Things You Are, the pianist composed seven of the other eight numbers with the bassist chipping in with one of his own.
How I wish I'd been in Copenhagen on July 14/15 last year when these were recorded. Still, the concert would have been a one-off whereas I now have it for posterity. I could always buy some smørrebrød at the deli, a can or two of Carlsberg at the off-licence and enjoy what is probably the best duo in the world. 
My virtual recreation of the concert would then be complete.
Lance.
Available on the Stunt label, cat. no. STUCD18012 and distributed in the UK by Discovery.
Teaser.

No comments :

Blog Archive