Bebop Spoken There

Donovan Haffner ('Best Newcomer' 2025 Parliamentary Jazz Awards): ''I got into jazz the first time I picked up a saxophone!" - Jazzwise Dec 25/Jan 26

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

18146 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 24 of them this year alone and, so far this month (Jan. 7), 24

From This Moment On ...

JANUARY 2026

Thu 08: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £5.00. Subject: Jazz Milestones of 1976.

Fri 09: The House Trio @ Bishop Auckland Methodist Church. 1:00pm. £9.00.
Fri 09: Nauta @ Jesmond Library, Newcastle. 1:00pm. £5.00. Trio: Jacob Egglestone, Jamie Watkins, Bailey Rudd.
Fri 09: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 09: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 09: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 09: Warren James & the Lonesome Travellers @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm. £15.00.
Fri 09: The Blue Kings @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £10.00. (£8.00. adv.). All-star band.

Sat 10: Mark Toomey Quintet @ St Peter’s Church, Stockton-on-Tees. 7:30pm. £12.00. (inc. pie & peas). Tickets from: 07749 255038.

Sun 11: New ’58 Jazz Collective @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 11: Am Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 11: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 11: Eva Fox & the Sound Hounds @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 12: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 12: Saltburn Big Band @ Saltburn House Hotel. 7:00-9:00pm. Free.

Tue 13: Milne Glendinning Band @ Newcastle House Hotel, Rothbury. 7:30pm. £11.00. Coquetdale Jazz.
Tue 13: Jazz Jam Sandwich @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Wed 14: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 14: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 14: Jam Session @ The Tannery, Hexham. 7:00pm. Free.
Wed 14: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

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, January 24, 2019

CD Review: Joe Lovano – Trio Tapestry

Joe Lovano (tenor saxophone, tárogató*, gongs); Marilyn Crispell (piano); Carmen Castaldi (drums, percussion).
(Review by Hugh C)

I would wager that, in the manner of the esteemed organ on which this review is presented, Joe Lovano has collected a few gongs during the course of his distinguished career.  He brings them out to play with on this recording.  Trio Tapestry is Lovano’s first release as a leader on ECM and introduces a new group, although the individual members are well known to each other.

Lovano launches the CD with a series of these gongs at the outset.  What follows is a more a forty-eight-minute sequence of crafted sonic explorations in twelve tones rather than a series of tunes.  Although the CD is banded, the gaps between the tracks are barely perceptible.  The result is, in Lovano’s words in the CD booklet:  “...a melodic, harmonic, rhythmic musical tapestry throughout...”   Each of the trio members contribute to the whole, in equal measure.
 On close inspection (as in preparation for this review) the intricacy of the work and the quality of the craftspersonship of each of the constituent parts can be appreciated, but - as with the tapestry’s visual analogue – the piece is best appreciated from a distance, in its entirety.

Track Listing: One Time In; Seeds of Change; Razzle Dazzle; Sparkle Lights; Mystic; Piano/Drum Episode; Gong Episode; Rare Beauty; Spirit Lake; Tarrassa; The Smiling Dog.

All are composed by Joe Lovano, but with improvisational contribution from all trio members.  The effect is perhaps different from most other Lovano output, but, in his own words: “...this recording is a statement of where I am, where I’ve been and where I may be headed.”

Trio Tapestry is released by ECM on 25th January 2019.  The band will tour on this side of the Atlantic in May 2019, but travel restrictions may apply as all the concerts are in Germany or the Czech Republic!
Hugh C.


*Tárogató  – a member of the woodwind family not dissimilar to a clarinet or soprano saxophone.

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