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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

Fri 24: Zoë Gilby Quartet @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. CANCELLED! TO BE RESCHEDULED!
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.

Fri 31: Alan Barnes Quartet @ The Old Library, Auckland Castle, Bishop Auckland. 12 noon-2:00pm (two sets). £12.00. admission (card or cash at the door). Barnes (alto sax, baritone sax, clarinet); Alan Law (piano); Mick Shoulder (double bass); Tim Johnston (drums). Note change of venue, no longer at Mrs M’s as advertised, the concert will be in the Old Library (Bishop Auckland Jazz’s regular venue). Important! It’s a ‘BYOB’ arrangement - ie bring your own booze (and/or tea, coffee, soft drinks).
Fri 31: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 31: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 31: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 31: Café Orkestar @ Café Under the Spire, Gateshead. 6:00pm. ‘Klezmer, Gypsy Jazz, Balkan & More!’.
Fri 31: Creakin’ Bones & the Sunday Dinners @ White Room, Stanley. 6:30pm. £10.00 + bf. Jazz, blues , jump jive, rock ‘n’ roll.
Fri 31 Zoë Gilby Quartet @ Wylam Institute. 7:30pm (7:00pm doors). £15.00. + £1.50. bf.
Fri 31: Nothing in Rambling @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. £10.00. + bf. Country blues duo.
Fri 31: Alan Barnes Quartet @ The Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. £TBC. Barnes (alto sax, baritone sax, clarinet); Alan Law (piano); Mick Shoulder (double bass); Tim Johnston (drums).
Fri 31: Swannek + Rivkala @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Swannek’s new single launch gig. Pilgrim, formerly Hoochie Coochie.

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, November 05, 2018

CD Review: Sarathy Korwar and the UPAJ Collective - My East is Your West .

(Review by Steve T)
Bit of a blindfold test with no accompanying notes, so only scant info on the disc to go on, followed up with a good old google. 
Track listing includes The Creator Has a Master Plan and Journey in Satchidananda from Pharoah Sanders and Alice Coltrane respectively, so no surprises there, with both artists part of the Coltrane oeuvre, where eastern music, religion and philosophy were so prominent.
Mind Ecology was instantly recognisable and swiftly identified from the John McLaughlin/ Shakti masterpiece Natural Elements, so another piece in the puzzle, and always welcome to see the Mclaughlin star in the ascendancy.  


Without liner notes to check on the proper terms, there's a thorough mixing of Indian and western instruments, including acoustic guitar, flute, tablas, Indian percussion, drum kit, (electric) bass (I think), piano and sitar. There's also quite a lot of sax, but I'm not always certain whether it's tenor or alto (or both), and at one point I think there's a bass clarinet but later I think there's a baritone; maybe there is or maybe they were both the same thing, The baritone sound is reminiscent of early Mothers and I think it entirely consistent that a musician would listen to both McLaughlin and Zappa (who toured together but later had a very public disagreement). There's also a drone which is more or less a constant in Indian Music.  

Applause confirms it's live and Google that it was recorded at the Church of Sound in London. The two-part piece that ends the first disc/set is an ancient raga called Makauns

The second set/disc features more of the same, but with some konocal singing and perhaps even some scant lyrics. Earth starts with a slow bass which reminds me of the Temptations’ Papa Was a Rolling Stone throughout its almost fifteen minutes. I thought this might be another McLaughlin piece but have found no trace. There's also a track named Haij after an annual pilgrimage to Mecca, a Ravi Shankar piece called Mishrank and an encore written by Don Cherry called Utopia and Visions, which more or less fits with the general direction of the music.

Sarathy Korwar is an American born percussionist/composer, raised in India, where he trained in classical tabla, but now lives in London.    
   
The album will be out on November 16 and if you have any interest whatsoever in Indian Music or the fusion of Jazz with Indian Music, you really must check it out.

Steve T.
Sarathy Korwar - tabla, drum kit 
Domenico Angarano - double bass, electric bass 
Aravindhan Baheerathan - bansuri (flute) 
Giuliano Modarelli - acoustic guitar 
Al MacSween - keys 
Tamar Osborn - baritone sax, flute 
Jasdeep Singh Degun - sitar 
John Ball - santoor, tabla 
Jesse Bannister - alto sax 
Aditya Prakash - vocals 
B C Manjunath - mridangam, kanjira 

1 comment :

S Tulip said...

So no tenor or bass clarinet. Not too surprised.

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