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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

17733 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 53 of them this year alone and, so far, 53 this month (Jan. 20).

From This Moment On ...

January 2025

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. SOLD OUT!
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.

Sat 25: Boys of Brass @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 3:30-5:30pm. Free.
Sat 25: New '58 Jazz Collective @ Jackson's Wharf, Hartlepool. 6:30pm (doors). Free. A Burns' Night event. Jazz, swing, funk, soul, blues etc.
Sat 25: Edison Herbert Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 25: Red Kites Jazz @ Parish Hall, St Barnabas’ Church, Rowlands Gill. 7:30pm. £10.00. BYOB (tea & coffee available), raffle. Proceeds to St Barnabas’ Church. Performance feat. Shayo (vocals).
Sat 25: Jack & Jay’s Songbook @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 26: Musicians Unlimited @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 26: Graham Hardy Eclectic Quartet @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm.
Sun 26: Ruth Lambert Trio @ The Juke Shed, Union Quay, North Shields. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 26: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 26: Jazz Jam Sandwich! @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 26: Tweed River Jazz Band @ Barrels Ale House, Berwick-upon-Tweed. 7:30pm. Free.
Sun 26: Gratkowski, Tramontana, Beresford, Affifi @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £12.00. JNE.
Sun 26: Jazz Jam @ Fabio’s, Saddler St., Durham. 8:00pm. Free. A Durham University Jazz Society promotion. All welcome.

Mon 27: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 28: ???

Wed 29: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 29: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 29: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).

Thu 30: Matters Unknown (aka Jonathan Enser, Nubiyan Twist) + support TBA @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 8:00pm (7:00pm doors). £12.22 (gig & food); £9:04 (gig only).
Thu 30: Soznak @ The Mill Tavern, Hebburn. 8:00pm. Free.
Thu 30: Struggle Buggy @ Harbour View, Roker, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Rhythm & blues.

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

Tuesday, October 30, 2018

CD Review: Keith Jarrett – La Fenice

Keith Jarrett – piano.
(Review by Hugh C)
La Fenice continues what now appears to be a series of releases of past concert performances by Keith Jarrett, following the release of A Multitude of Angels in 2016 (also reviewed on BSH).  This is a recording of a solo performance by Jarrett in Gran Teatro La Fenice in Venice in 2006. Release of ‘La Fenice’ is timely: The 62nd International Festival of Contemporary Music of the ‘Biennale di Venezia’ has honoured Keith Jarrett with its Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement - the first time that a jazz musician has received this award.


The album consists of two CDs.  The first disc has five tracks, each consecutively numbered from a spontaneously created eight-part suite.  Part I opens proceedings with an exploration of atonality, sounding in places like two kids bashing around on gran’s parlour piano – except that in this case, the piano is a Steinway concert grand.  I admit this says more about my prejudices than Jarrett’s pianism!  The characteristic Jarrett vocalisation is there from the start, some of the exclamations matching the pained facial expression in the black and white photography in the CD insert. 

Part II continues directly, in a similar same vein, audience applause for Part I either excluded from this recording or perhaps there was none. Following Part II, after some hesitancy, full audience applause ensues.  Part III is more melodic with a rhythmic, slightly bluesy feel.  Part IV is a beautiful ballad with a hint of traditional folk melody, or perhaps a soundtrack to a British romantic comedy (judging from the applause the audience really liked this too).  Part V is somewhat disjointed, in an almost boogie-woogie style, but definitely tonal.

The second disc commences with Part VI, a reflective piece with a dreamlike quality, evocative of the French impressionist school at the end of the Romantic period. The sequential progression through Jarrett’s spontaneously composed suite is now interrupted.  Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Sun Whose Rays follows, an instantly recognisable tune, but – as is often the case – unplaceable without the sleeve notes.  Part VII, a series of melodic chord progressions, ultimately leads to the conclusion of the suite in Part VIII, a full-on blues which features KJ’s foot tapping out a regular percussive beat.  The traditional My Wild Irish Rose appears to conclude the second set, judging from the calls for MORE! from the audience.  Jarrett’s performance certainly set the audience alight, thankfully, on this occasion, not the theatre itself!  Two encores follow:  Stella by Starlight (Victor Young and Ned Washington) at breakneck speed, then Blossom, a Jarrett composition.

Whether the market needs another Jarrett concert release is a moot point.  This issue certainly has moments of extreme beauty and will appeal to the Jarrett connoisseur.  From the evidence of this recording, it would certainly have been good to be at the live event.  La Fenice has been released on ECM 2601.

Hugh C

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