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Bebop Spoken There

Sullivan Fortner: ''I always judge it by the bass player: If the bass player is happy, it's going to be a good night". (DownBeat, February 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

17777 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 98 of them this year alone and, so far, 23 this month (Feb.8).

From This Moment On ...

February 2025

Sun 16: MOBO Song @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 12 noon. Free, performances on the concourse. Line-up inc. Jazz Attack (on stage time TBC) & Jambone (12:20pm).
Sun 16: Jason Isaacs @ STACK, Exchange Sq., Middlesbrough. 1:00-2:45pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sun 16: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 16: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 16: MOBO Awards Fringe 2025: BBC Introducing NE X MOBO Showcase @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 6:00pm. Free (ticketed). Line-up inc. Jambone, Knats, Rivkala, SwanNek.
Sun 16: The Shayo Experience @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 16: Gerry Richardson Quartet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. .

Mon 17: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 17: Matt Forster Quartet @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 1:00pm. £9.00. at the door; £8.20. (inc £0.20 bf) online, in advance.
Mon 17: Russ Morgan Quartet @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £10.00.

Tue 18: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Alan Law, Paul Grainger, John Hirst.

Wed 19: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 19: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 19: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 20: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, Holystone. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 20: James Birkett & Emma Fisk @ King’s Hall, Newcastle University. 1:15pm. Free.
Thu 20: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: Jazz Milestones - 1975.
Thu 20: Renegade Brass Band @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors).
Thu 20: Orange Claw Hammer + Peony @ The Globe, Newcastle.7:30pm. Orange Claw Hammer play Captain Beefheart.
Thu 20: Jeremy McMurray & the Pocket Jazz Orchestra @ Arc, Stockton. 8:00pm. Featuring special guest Zoë Gilby.

Fri 21: JazzMain @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 21: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 21: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 21: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 21: Joe Steels Trio @ The Pele, Corbridge. 7:00pm. £10.00. TBC.
Fri 21: Emma Rawicz w. Strictly Smokin’ Big Band @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm.

Sat 22: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 12:30-2:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 22: Jason Isaacs @ Seaburn STACK, Seaburn. 3:30pm-5:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 22: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 22: Mississippi MacDonald @ Claypath Deli, Durham. 7:00pm. Blues.
Sat 22: Lindsay Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ Old Cinema Laundrette, Durham. 7:45pm. £16.50. SOLD OUT!
Sat 22: Michael Woods @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Country blues guitar & vocals.

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

Friday, January 04, 2019

CD Review: Scottish National Jazz Orchestra - Peter and the Wolf.

(Review by Lance)
There was a time when "Jazzin' the Classics" was regarded with a degree of scorn or at the very best, condescension. My late mother, herself an accomplished pianist with letters after her name would shudder when I played Art Tatum's version of Dvorak's Humoresque, albeit admiring his technique. 

Since then, attitudes have become more tolerant and I'm sure, were she alive today, she'd have appreciated the jazzified classical pieces that have entered the jazz canon such as The Nutcracker Suite, Peer Gynt and The Planets. 

What do they all have in common? - Ellington.

Tchaikovsky, Greig, and Holst composed the originals but, thanks to Ellington they have, over time, achieved recognition as major jazz suites.

Duke recorded the first two, Pete Long scored the third for the Echoes of Ellington Orchestra and now SNJO supremo, Tommy Smith OBE has arranged and orchestrated Prokofieff's [sic] Peter and the Wolf, whilst still retaining an overall Ducal feeling. 

It's an intriguing, at times dramatic piece, beautifully arranged and with some impressive piano moments from Makoto Ozone.

Recorded live at the Queen's Hall, Edinburgh, The whole thing is held together by Tam Dean Burn's reading of the respected Scottish poet and playwright Liz Lochhead's adaptation of the original text. Burn's narration is done in broad Scot's dialect that even I - but a few miles south of Hadrian's Wall - struggled at times to fully comprehend. However, repeated listenings soon overcame the language barrier and before long I was chuckling away as well as enjoying the absolutely superb arrangements by jazz's latest OBE. No extended solos but, apart from Ozone, we had trillings from Yvonne Lockwood and clarinet cat characterisations from Martin Kershaw.

In time, it will surely and deservedly rank alongside the great works mentioned earlier although I'm not sure how the Americans (and the Londoners) will cope with the broad Scottish brogue!
First 5 star review of the year!
Lance
Available January 25 on Spartacus Records.

Conductor Tommy Smith
Narrator Tam Dean Burn
Piano Makoto Ozone
Text Adapted by Liz Lochhead
Flute Yvonne Robertson
Saxophones Martin Kershaw, Paul Towndrow, Konrad Wiszniewski, Bill Fleming
Trumpets James Davison, Sean Gibbs, Tom MacNiven, Lorne Cowieson
Trombones Chris Greive, Liam Shortall, Michael Owers
Bass Calum Gourlay
Drums Alyn Cosker
Music & Text commissioned by the SNJO 2017
Recorded live on 24 February 2018 at Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh, Scotland
Mixed and Mastered at Castlesound Studios by Stuart Hamilton 3 + 4 March 2018

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