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Bebop Spoken There

Kurt Elling: ''There's something to learn from every musician you play with''. (DownBeat, December 2024).

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

17630 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 904 of them this year alone and, so far, 49 this month (Dec. 20).

From This Moment On ...

December

Wed 25: Wot? No jazz!

Thu 26: The Boneshakers @ Tyne Bar, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. The 17th annual Boneshakers’ Shindig.

Fri 27: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 27: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free. Business as usual!.
Fri 27: Jason Isaacs @ Seaburn STACK, Seaburn. 3:30-5:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Fri 27: Michael Woods @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Country blues guitar & vocals.

Sat 28: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 11:30am. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 28: Fri 20: Castillo Nuevo @ Revoluçion de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30pm. Free.
Sat 28: Jude Murphy, Rich Herdman & Giles Strong @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sat 28: Ray Stubbs R & B All-Stars @ Billy Bootlegger’s, Stepney Bank, Newcastle. 9:00pm. Free.

Sun 29: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 29: Alexia Gardner Quintet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 30: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 30: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Wheatsheaf, Benton Sq., Whitley Road, Palmersville NE12 9SU. Tel: 0191 266 8137. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 30: Jason Isaacs @ STACK, Exchange Sq., Middlesbrough. 4:00-6:00pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.

Tue 31: Jason Isaacs @ Seaburn STACK, Seaburn. 12 noon-2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Tue 31: Lapwing Trio @ Wallington (National Trust), Cambo, Morpeth NE61 4AR. 12 noon & 2:00pm. Admission to site £19.00.
Tue 31: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 3:30-5:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Tue 31: Archie Brown & Friends @ Tyne Bar, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 4:00-8:00pm. 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

Monday, September 17, 2018

Polly Gibbons w. Strictly Smokin' Big Band at Hoochie Coochie - Sept. 16

(Review by Lance).
When Hoochie's head honcho Warren says that Polly Gibbons is in the top ten acts he's heard since he opened the Pilgrim St. venue x years ago it means something considering that amongst that roster is Gregory Porter, Chaka Khan, Mica Paris, Lonnie Smith, Roy Ayers, Joe Stilgoe, Hailey Tuck as well as several hundred others!
Yes, Ms. Gibbons is the real deal.

Two stomping sets that combined jazz and soul, and a few things in between, had the joint jumping and the swing dancers swing dancing.
No holds barred singing. 
Let the Good Times Roll: I heard this hoary old R'n'B classic a couple of weeks back sung by Georgie Fame and Zoot Money at Ronnie's and this version lost nothing by comparision. 

And this was just the beginning! Can't Buy me Love; Too Darn Hot; Don't be on the Outside; a Basin Street Blues to end all Basin Street Blues; a Gibbons' original - Everything Must Change and an amazing Love For Sale. Arranged by Michael Lamb it shaded the famous Buddy Rich version and brought the headliner's first set to a close.
The BSH team, apart from attempting to empty the shelves of London Pride, snapped Polly with trumpet players Pete Tanton (left) and MD Michael Lamb (right). Both players had good solos over the course of the evening.

Back on stage, Thomas Dolby's arrangement of Ability to Swing got the good times rolling once more and the song title couldn't have been more apt for both singer and band.
I'm Just a Lucky So and So; Oh What a Beautiful Morning à la Ray Charles and Count Basie; another couple of originals - Midnight Prayer and You Can't Just; a tribute to Aretha with Dr. Feelgood and, finally, I Let a Song Go Out of my Heart.

Quite a night that had begun with an opening set featuring Alice Grace and the band. I doubt there will be many opportunities to hear two such fantastic singers in the one evening and Alice did the home team proud - her version of Lost in the Memory absolutely stunning. Why have I never heard this song before?

 All the usual suspects soloed and, as always, impressed. The quasi Dixieland finish to Dylan's Don't Think Twice was more than alright.
Way back in the day, at the end of Prologue, Stan Kenton bombastically proclaimed "This is an Orchestra!"
Michael Lamb would be justified in doing the same!
Polly Gibbons (vocal) with:
Michael Lamb (trumpet/MD/arranger); Pete Tanton, Gordon Marshall, Dick Stacey (trumpets); John Flood, Chris Gurgi-Smith, Kieran Parnaby, Mark Ferris (trombones); Steve Summers, Keith Robinson, Paul Gowland, Jamie Toms, Laurie Rangecroft (reeds); Graham Don (piano); Pawel Jedrzejewski (guitar); Michael Whent (bass guitar); Guy Swinton (drums); Alice Grace (vocals).

12 comments :

Ron said...

It was without doubt one of those 'I was there' moments.
A great band and two great singers. What more do you want!

Steve T said...

I note you neglected to mention Jean Carn, or was it deliberate, or perhaps Freudian? One of the absolutely greatest ever voices in recorded music.

Lance said...

I only mentioned the ones that I've seen at Hoochie and I haven't seen Jean Carne.

Steve T said...

Incidentally, the 'e' on the end of Carn is optional. Certainly none of the original albums had it, but it seems to have been added to a British compilation and stuck, at least in this country.
Like many soul singers, particularly of the late seventies period, when disco was king (queen), she only made a handful of brilliant records, but her voice is extraordinary; like Betty Wright, Minnie Ripperton and Anita Baker, though less soulful than Aretha, Linda Jones and Shirley Brown, in the same way that the amazing Johnny Adams is less soulful than OV Wright.
The dead popstar thing is never beneficial (except to the widow(er)) so, if I promise not to claim that Stanley Clark(e) was/is the greatest of all electric bass players (and not Jaco as the rest of the world seems to think), I wonder if he could refrain from making comments which are silly, ill-informed, inaccurate, harmful and insulting to dozens of incredible soul singers.
Been a while since I've hijacked a post for my own agenda. Everybody always has an agenda.

Steve T said...

I'm not much of a googler generally, but I became curious and it seems she added the 'e' at the advice of a numerologist. Course she did.

Russell said...

This post is about Polly Gibbons. However, your comment, Steve, requires a response. Jaco was/is the greatest electric bass player of all time. Anyone with ears couldn't fail to agree.

Steve T said...

Don't think that's how music works Russell. And the post is about many things.

Lance said...

No the post is about Polly G and SSBB. Any additional agenda is really not relevant although worthy of discussion in a seperate post.

Steve T said...

It's about female singers (of which Jean Carn is one), Hoochie Coochie (where she has performed), big bands and if and when they become orchestras, and many other things; you covered quite a lot of ground. To my mind, discussion about music is good and should be encouraged and I seem to recall somebody (who shall remain nameless) saying the last time I hijacked a post, that this is what s/he loved about BSH, that it led to other discussions. I think it's a shame more people don't contribute to general discussions and I certainly don't think it should be discouraged when it happens, even if it strays off the original topic. Nobody has to read it.

Lance said...

It's about a gig that you weren't at. By all means bring in the other points mentioned -electric bassists, soul singers whatever and I will post it as a subject for discussion - something we welcome rather than discourage - time and place being the operative. I wouldn't dream of commenting on, say, an FTQ gig that I hadn't heard before going off on a tenuously related tangent.

Warren said...

This song just took me apart Lance, I was in bits. Soulful Jazz at it's best. Originally recorded for a Quincy Jones album, written by Bernard Ighner, I believe this Oletta Adams version to be best, but Polly just took my breath away with her interpretation & SSBB arrangement/performance. It's everything I wanted HC to be in one song...Soulful, Jazzy, emotional. Thanks for the review.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDlYyjDOzko

Steve T said...

I think you've strayed from the point Lance; something I applaud. Have you never had a conversation that leads to other things. There's a famous Mingus quote where he deconstructs jazz in the nature of a conversation. Roland Barthes killed off the Author half a century ago.
You will recall when you reviewed an album by an emerging jazz singer, (who like Jean Carn(e) would turn up at Hoochie) where you opened with comments I made about jazz singers not listening to great soul singers as much as they used to. You may not have recieved my comment against that post so I'll repeat the intention here. If somebody reads it and wonders who Jean Carn(e) is, or goes out and buys an album by Linda Jones, Shirley Brown or Angie Stone, I would consider that a good thing. Isn't that what BSH is all about!

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