Total Pageviews

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

Saturday, December 08, 2018

CD Review: Various Artists - Jazz City UK (Volume 1).

(Review by Lance).
Whilst few albums this year (or any other year within recent memory) will match JCUK Volume 2: The Jam Sessions, this compilation runs it close. A choice selection from some of the Big Bear label's back catalogue, it serves its purpose well inasmuch as you will be wanting some, if not all, of the source material.

Thus we have tracks from the following albums: Bruce Adams (One Foot in the Gutter); Bruce Adams/Alan Barnes Quintet (Side-Steppin' & Let's Face the Music); Alan Barnes All Stars (The Marbella Jazz Suite); Lady Sings the Blues (Laughing at Life); King Pleasure & the Biscuit Boys (Live at Last & Hey Puerto Rico); Nomy Rosenberg Trio (Nomy Rosenberg Trio); Tipitina (I Wish I Was in New Orleans & Taking Care of Business) and The Whiskey Brothers (Bottle Up & Go).

The above listing is semi-alphabetical and not in order of merit.

The blistering trumpet of Bruce Adams from, like most of these tracks, the mid 'nineties showcases at him at his best. As an out and out swinger on One Foot in the Gutter and a sensitive balladeer when he begs us to Blame it on my Youth he never falters. Couple him with Alan Barnes and the possibilities are endless. Hollywood Stampede is living proof of the empathy between the two.

Barnes too is in scintillating form whenever he pops up not least on California Fish Fry, inexplicably from his Marbella Suite, a 9-minute rave-up. Alex Garnett (tenor sax) and Mark Nightingale (trombone) join Adams and Simon Gardner on trumpets; John Donaldson on piano; Matt Miles (bass) and Ralph Salmins (drums) to make this literally what it says on the tin - The Alan Barnes All Stars.

Val Wiseman's Lady Sings the Blues consists of Digby Fairweather and what was ostensibly the remnants of the Alex Welsh Band (Williams, Al Gay, Lemon, Douglas, Skeat and Eddie Taylor) behind Wiseman's vocals. Val pops up again with the Biscuit Boys and Since I Fell For You - I never realised this Buddy Johnson song had such an evocative verse!

We move up in time (2009), if not in feeling, for The Nomy Rosenberg Trio and their brand of Djangology. Tipitina visited Birmingham's Hotel du Vin (honest!) in 2011 although their hearts were in a New Orleans honky tonk whilst the Whiskey Brothers took us to the American juke joints of the 1930s and '40s as recently as 2009.

Truly an album for just about everyone.
Lance.

For further details of Jazz City UK and the complete Big Bear Records catalogue visit here.
at

No comments :

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments ( Atom )

Blog Archive