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Bebop Spoken There

Van Morrison: ''Basically, I'm coming from jazz. Not pop, not rock, not what's commercial. That's where I started, and that's still where I am. I feel the same as I did when I was listening to Louis Armstrong, Lead Belly, Jelly Roll Morton''. (The Northern Echo, 12 June 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

18037 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 458 of them this year alone and, so far, 36 this month (June 11).

From This Moment On ...

JUNE 2025

Sun 15: Lewis Watson Quartet @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm.
Sun 15: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 15: Pasadena Roof Orchestra @ Alnwick Playhouse. 7:00pm.
Sun 15: Under the Wellie @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 15: Hannah Brine Quartet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 16: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club (1:00pm). Free.
Mon 16: Giles Strong Quartet @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £10.00.

Tue 17: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Alan Law, Paul Grainger, Abbie Finn.

Wed 18: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 18: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:30pm. Free. Concert performance (open to the public)..
Wed 18: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 19: Gareth John & the SOS Big Band @ The Forum Music Centre, Darlington. 7:00pm. £25.00.

Fri 20: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 20: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 20: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 20: David Gray's Flextet @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 20: Strictly Smokin’ Big Band @ Alnwick Playhouse. 7:30pm. £21.50. ‘Time After Time’.br/> Fri 20: Alexia Gardner Quintet @ Sunderland Minster. 7:30pm.
Fri 20: King Bees @ Billy Bootleggers, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. Superb Chicago blues band.

Sat 21: Milne Glendinning Band @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 21: Red Kites Jazz @ Staithes Café, Dunston. 7:00-9:00pm. Free.
Sat 21: Papa G’s Troves @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

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, November 01, 2018

CD Review: Christopher Hollyday - Telepathy

Christopher Hollyday (alto); Gilbert Castellanos (trumpet); Joshua White (piano); Rob Thorsen (bass); Tyler Kreutel (drums).
(Review by Lance).
If this had been released a couple of days earlier it would have walked the 'October Choices' as it is it looks sure to be in the frame for the November Handicap - have a chat with Mr. Ladbroke.
You've guessed it - this is out and out bebop! and I'll happily file it alongside my Parker's and Dizzy's and, dare I say it? probably return to it more than the old Dial's and Savoys - that's how good it is.

Hollyday, a precocious talent, was holding his own in Boston alongside cats such as Wynton Marsalis and Marcus Roberts before he was 21! In 1996 he relocated to San Diego where, for 20 years or so, he has worked as an educator (that's a teacher in old money) leading a big band and passing on his wisdom.
If only 50% of that wisdom rubs off then San Diego is the next jazz capital of the world!
Stupendous (very app.) alto playing, he soars birdlike through the changes incorporating them without cloning, adapting them to his own masterly technique. Suddenly, bebop is now!
Castellanos is the perfect sidekick. If Bird had had this guy instead of the embryo Miles - wow! if only. A rhythm section that benefits from today's recording facilities make this the album to die for.
It's near perfect.
What! Only near perfect?
Hollyday quotes Stranger in Paradise thrice too often and I'm not over-enamoured of the head arrangement of Everything Happens to Me although the solos more than compensate for it. Apart from that - if you like modern bebop then look no further.
Lance.
One of Another Kind (Freddie Hubbard); Hallucinations (Bud Powell); Everything Happens to Me; Autumn in New York (beautiful solo feature for Hollyday); I've Got the World on a String; Segment (Charlie Parker).

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