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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

17655 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 929 of them this year alone and, so far, 74 this month (Dec. 31).

From This Moment On ...

January 2025

Sun 05: Smokin’ Spitfires @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:45pm. £7.50.
Sun 05: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 05: Salty Dog @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Americana, jazz & blues.
Sun 05: Papa G’s Troves @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free (donations).

Mon 06: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 07: Customs House Big Band @ The Masonic Hall, North St., Ferryhill DL17 8HX. 7:00pm. Free.

Wed 08: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 08: The Tannery Jam Session @ The Tannery, Gilesgate, Hexham. 7:00-9:00pm. Free.
Wed 08: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 08: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).

Thu 09: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: John H Hammond.
Thu 09: FILM: Soundtrack to a Coup D’Etat @ Tyneside Cinema, Newcastle. 2:35pm. Documentary (dir. Johan Grimonprez) ‘about jazz, (de)colonial history and activism featuring Louis Armstrong, Nina Simone and Dizzy Gillespie’.
Thu 09: Happy Tuesdays @ Ye Olde Cross, Ryton. 7:30pm. Free.
Thu 09: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. Ragtime piano. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 09: Mark Toomey Quartet @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm. Free. A Tees Hot Club promotion. The session now monthly, next one Thursday 2nd Feb, then first Thursday in the month thereafter.

Fri 10: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 10: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 10: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 10: Joe Steels Trio @ The Pele, Corbridge. 7:00pm. Free.

Sat 11: Jason Isaacs @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 12:30-2:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 11: Under the Wellie @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

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, February 16, 2019

CD Review: Wadada Leo Smith, Rosa Parks - Pure Love

(Review by Ann Alex)

The insert tells us that this music is an oratorio for the iconic American civil rights activist, Rosa Parks(1913-2005), who refused to give up her seat to a white passenger, whilst on a bus in segregated Alabama. This proved to be an important move in the fight against oppression of African American people in the USA. The musicians involved are stellar performers with good track records. For instance, Smith is connected to ‘creative’ musicians form Chicago, and has issued a 4-Cd collection which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Music (2013). He has received awards for Jazz Artist of the Year(2017) and many other honours.


I was surprised that the CD has turned up at BSH as I would define the music as modern classical music, not jazz. The work consists of 7 songs, interspersed with 8 instrumental pieces, truly an oratorio. There is also a possible stage setting, involving special lighting, obviously not available on the CD. The music is provided by a string quartet, trumpet quartet, 3 soprano voices, drums, electronics, and the trumpet of Smith himself, who is the composer, except for the song No Fear, which is by Rosa Parks. The music has a strong vein of free improvisation, such that I found it quite difficult to listen to, as it was hard to find consistent bits that fitted together, and I am not unused to listening to ‘free’ music, in the jazz genre at least. To fairly judge, I’d need to hear these pieces again, maybe 3 or 4 times.

There were a few high spots, such as pleasing melody from the string quartet, passing fleetingly, and beautiful trumpet playing which didn’t last long enough. I was a bit disappointed by the songs, which were all slow and a bit ponderous to my ears, though beautifully sung by effective soprano voices. The lyrics were statements about the Civil Rights movement rather than being song-like, for example: ‘We have not a democracy, when Twenty-Eight states have Fifty-Six senators, California only two’. I did enjoy parts of track 2, Resistance and Unity, where the music portrayed just that, disturbed playing followed by a calm unified tune, and also the final piece, Victory, portrayed by triumphant cymbals, strings, and trumpet, and I could have listened to that piece longer.   

To convey the ‘feel’ of the piece, I’ll simply list the tracks, which are: 1/Prelude: Journey;2/ Vision:Dance Resistance and Unity; 3/Rosa Parks: Mercy, Music for Double Quartet; 4/ Song1: The Montgomery Bus Boycott-381 days of Fire; 5/ Song 2: The First Light, Gold; 6/ Vision Dance 2: Defiance, Justice and Liberation; 7/ Song 3: Change it!; 8/ Song 4: The Truth; 9/ Song 5: No Fear; 10/ Vision Dance 3: Rosa’s Blue Lake; 11/ Song 6: The Second Light; 12/ Vision Dance 4: A Blue Casa; 13/ Song 7: Pure Love; 14/ The Known World: Apartheid; 15/ Postlude: Victory!

Wadada Leo Smith (composer, trumpet); Diamond Voices: Min Xiao-Fin (voice, pipa); Carmina Escobar; Karen Parks (voice); RedKoral Quartet : Shalini Vijayan; Mona Tien; (violin); Andrew McIntosh (viola); Ashley Walters (cello); Blue Trumpet Quartet: Wadada Leo Smith, Ted Daniel, Hugh Ragin (trumpet); Graham Haynes (cornet); Janus Duo: Pheeroan akLaff (drum-set); Hardedge  (electronics). Also musical excerpts: Anthony Braxton (alto sax); Steve McCall (drum-set); Leroy Jenkins (violin)
The CD is distributed in the USA by City Hall records, who can be contacted on www.cityhallrecords.com
Ann Alex

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