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Bebop Spoken There

Francis Tulip: ''Music speaks louder than words''. (Jazzwise, 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

17,550 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 514 of them this year alone and, so far, 92 this month (June 28).

From This Moment On ...

JULY 2025

Wed 09: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 09: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 09: Jam session @ The Tannery, Hexham. 7:00pm. Free.
Wed 09: The Hopper-Watson Quintet @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 8:00pm (7:30pm doors). £10.00. + £1.00. bf.
Wed 09: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 10: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: Soloists, Orchestras & Hot Fives.
Thu 10: Side Café Orkestar @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Fri 11: Paul Skerritt Quartet @ Bishop Auckland Methodist Church, Cockton Hill Road, Bishop Auckland. 1:00pm. £8.00. A Bishop Auckland Jazz promotion. New venue (second Friday in the month)!
Fri 11: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 11: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 11: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 11: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ The Beehive, Earsdon NE25 0SZ. 5:00-7:00pm. Free.
Fri 11: Fiona Finden Jazz Express @ Flash House Brewery, North Shields NE30 1DS. 8:00pm. Free.

Sat 12: Jazz Stage @ Mouth of the Tyne Festival. From 12 noon. Free. Vieux Carré Jazzmen (12 noon); Rendezvous Jazz (1:00pm); Mississippi Dreamboats (2:00pm); Classic Swing (3:00pm); Abbie Finn Trio (4:00pm). Stage adjacent to Tynemouth Priory.
Sat 12: Making Music Seminar: Latin American Music v. Music of Latin America @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 1:00pm. £15.00. (£5.00. online). Jason Holcomb, Alix Shepherd & Carlos Luis Rivera.
Sat 12: Edison Herbert Trio @ The Vault, Darlington 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 12: Jude Murphy & Dan Stanley @ Lovaine Community Garden, North Shields. 7:00pm (doors 6:40pm). £6.00. Limited places, booking essential (via the Community Garden website). BYOF&D.
Sat 12: Hot Club du Nord @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm. Hall Two.
Sat 12: Sleep Suppressor @ Repas 7 by Night, Berwick. 8:00pm.
Sat 12: Anth Purdy @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle.8:00pm. Free. ‘Swing Jazz Guitar’. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 13: Jazz Stage @ Mouth of the Tyne Festival. From 11:00am. Free. Trilogy of Four (11:00am); East Coast Jazzmen (12:10pm); Delta Prophets Trio (1:20pm); House of the Black Gardenia (2:30pm); Mouth of the Tyne All Stars (3:40pm). Stage adjacent to Tynemouth Priory.
Sun 13: Giles Strong Quartet @ The Sele, Hexham. 12 noon. Free. ‘The Bandstand Sessions’.
Sun 13: Julie Dexter @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:30pm (doors). £20.00. ‘The Cluny Matinee Jazz Club’.
Sun 13: ’58 Jazz Collective, Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 13: Tyne Valley Big Band @ Bishop Auckland Town Hall. 2:00pm. Tea Dance. SOLD OUT! A Durham Brass Festival event.
Sun 13: Ferg Kilsby @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm. Kilsby (trumpet, flugelhorn); Luis Verde (alto sax); Ben Lawrence (piano); Andy Champion (double bass); John Hirst (drums).
Sun 13: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 13: Sloth Racket @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. JNE.

Mon 14: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club (1:00pm). Free.
Mon 14: Brass Bash @ Hardwick Park, Co. Durham. 6:00-8:00pm. Free. Various bands. A Durham Brass Festival event.
Mon 14: Brass Bash @ The Story, Mount Oswald, Co. Durham. 6:00-8:00pm. Free. Various bands. A Durham Brass Festival event.

Tue 15: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ The Victoria & Albert Inn, Seaton Sluice. Tel: 0191 237 3697. 12:30pm. ‘July Jazz Barbecue’. Tickets: £15.00.
Tue 15: Brass Bash @ Hackworth Park, Shildon, Co. Durham. 6:00-9:00pm. Free. Various bands. A Durham Brass Festival event.
Tue 15: Brass Bash @ The Witham, Barnard Castle, Co. Durham. 6:00-8:00pm. Free. Various bands. A Durham Brass Festival event.
Tue 15: Julian Lage Trio @ 1856 Exchange, North Shields. 7:30pm . Lage (guitar); Jorge Roeder (double bass); Joey Barron (drums).
Tue 15: Jools Holland’s Rhythm & Blues Orchestra @ The Hippodrome, Darlington. 7:30pm.
Tue 15: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. Stu Collingwood, Paul Grainger, Bailey Rudd.

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, November 13, 2018

CD Review: Lucas Pino’s ‘No Net Nonet’ - That’s A Computer

Lucas Pino (tenor sax/bass clarinet), Alex LoRe (alto), Mat Jodrell (trumpet), Nick Finzer (trombone), Andrew Gutauskas (baritone), Rafal Sarnecki (guitar), Glenn Zaleski (piano), Desmond White(bass), Jimmy Macbride(drums), Camila Meza (voice). 
(Review by Dave Brownlow).

“That’s a computer” was the unkind, dismissive comment made by one of Lucas Pino’s professors at Juilliard Music School upon hearing the young saxophonist/composer/arranger’s work. “No Net Nonet” is the perfect riposte from Pino and his nine-piece ensemble and we can share their responses in the seven performances on this enjoyable, swinging and energetic CD.

Alex LoRe’s attractive Antiquity features the soaring, fleet-fingered altoist, amidst a pleasant-on-the-ear arrangement full of interest, changes of pace and carefully thought-out section work.
 The leader’s Horse of a Different Colour is a boppish blues featuring most of the band. Interestingly, Lucas contacted each of the soloists and asked them their favourite key to solo over! Talk about democracy in practice, LoRo, Finzer, Jodrell, Zakeski, Pino, Gutauskas and Sarnecki all get a chance to shine in their favourite key and style!

Film at 11 is a beautiful ballad from Pino, such lush orchestral textures from the six-piece front line, so reminiscent of Miles’ “Birth of the Cool” Band and Gil Evans’ arrangement of Moon Dreams

Look into My Eyes features the fluent trombone of Nick Finzer and Pino on tenor this time, in a quirky but irresistible melody with apposite band contributions of support. This is an exhortation by the writer for “human connection and eye contact rather than the impersonal brusqueness of many New Yorkers”

Pino’s fourth composition Frustrations features Camila Meza adding gorgeous wordless vocals to the aural textures of a somewhat impressionistic piece. This could have been written by Gil Evans himself, with rich background ensemble figures added to a tender bass clarinet solo from the leader. The “Birth of the Cool” re-imagined!

Guitarist Rafel Sarnecki provides Sueno de Gatos using words provided by poet Pablo Neruda. A complex, intricate theme introduces the vocal from Meza which has an up-tempo, slightly threatening, urgent feel, similar in some ways to Chick Corea’s Spain. A tenor solo and challenging band parts with drums to the fore sustain the mood.

A short Basketball Simulator 1000 – a theme song from a vintage Nintendo game – completes the album in a raucous, lively, ‘Township’ style bringing to mind “Brotherhood Of Breath” memories ….Surging bass lines from White and swinging, dynamic drumming from Macbride ensures this band moves with spirit.

On this evidence, Lucas Pino completely disproves his former professor’s thoughtless remarks providing a first-class, likeable, refreshing, creative display of jazz music in the contemporary idiom including ‘grooves’, harmony, swing, chord sequences and joy.
Dave B.

That’s A Computer is on OUTSIDE IN MUSIC OiM1814 and available now from lucaspino.com

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