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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

17755 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 76 of them this year alone and, so far, 1 this month (Feb.1).

From This Moment On ...

February 2025

Fri 07: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 07: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 07: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 07: James Birkett & Emma Fisk @ Old Lowlight, Clifford’s Fort, North Shields NE30 1JE. 7:00pm. £15.00. + bf. www.oldlowlight.co.uk. SOLD OUT!
Fri 07: Stuart Turner Trio @ Billy Bootlegger’s, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. Jazz, blues, Americana etc.
Fri 07: Dean Stockdale Quartet @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm. £12.00.
Fri 07: Rose Room @ Wylam Institute. 8:00pm. £19.67.
Fri 07: John Rowland Quartet @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sat 08: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 12:30-2:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 08: Jason Isaacs @ Seaburn STACK, Seaburn. 3:30-5:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 08: Milne Glendinning Band @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 08: Lewis Watson Quartet @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 7:30pm. £15.00. at the door; £14.35. (inc £0.35 bf) online, in advance.
Sat 08: Anth Purdy @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. ‘Swing Jazz Guitar’.
Sat 08: NUJO Jazz Jam @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A Newcastle University Jazz Orchestra event. All welcome.

Sun 09: Glenn Miller & Big Band Spectacular @ The Forum, Billingham. 3:00pm.
Sun 09: The New ’58 Jazz Collective @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 09: Am Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 09: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 09: Tom Remon & Mark Williams @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 09: Rod Oughton’s Tomorrow’s New Quartet with Ben van Helder @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Line-up inc. Deschanel Gordon.
Sun 09: Jazz Jam @ Fabio’s, Saddler St., Durham. 8:00pm. Free. A Durham University Jazz Society promotion. All welcome.

Mon 10: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 11: Steve Summers Quintet @ Newcastle House Hotel, Rothbury. 7:30pm.

Wed 12: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 12: Jam session @ The Tannery, Gilesgate, Hexham. 7:00-9:00pm. Free.
Wed 12: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 12: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 13: Student Performances @ King’s Hall, Newcastle University. 4:00pm. Free. Inc. Olly Styles (tenor sax).
Thu 13: MOBO Awards Fringe 2025: Artist Showcase @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 7:00pm. Free (ticketed). Line-up inc. Hannabiell & Midnight Blue.
Thu 13: Indigo Jazz Voices @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:45pm. £5.00.

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

Tuesday, April 16, 2019

CD of the Year - 14 discs forecast to tie for first place! - Part one

The arrival of 14 CDs in one drop would normally have me phoning all and sundry of my reviewers begging them to share the load. However, this Magnificent Seven x 2 aren't new kids on the block who couldn't swing if they were dangling by a rope from a lampost, these are singers and instrumentalists who were the front-runners of their day which, in this case, was pre-1960.

The material isn't new and most seasoned collectors will have some if not all of the tracks in one form or another. I have several on 78, some of them on 45rpm EP, quite a few on LP which was what we called them before they were even referred to as vinyl let alone vinyls and, of course, on CD and tape cassette. Nevertheless, I still welcome their arrival as they've been lovingly restored by the late Francis Dreyfus and the sound is superb.

Approximately 20 tracks per CD (presumably the LPs are double albums) these 14, along with the previous 14 that were released last year, could arguably be said to be all you need to have a comprehensive collection of jazz as it was in the years before Ornette.

Blue Lester (1942-1949) has 'the President' Lester Young at his very best away from the Basie Band. Effortless swing with support from pianists such as Nat Cole, Johnny Guarnieri, Hank Jones, Dodo Marmorosa, Joe Albany, Joe Bushkin and Basie himself. Hearing Lester without the snap, crackle and pop is like hearing him as he must have sounded live. Polka Dots and Moonbeams - did any instrumentalist ever sound this good on this tune? The first couple of bars are just a major scale but Lester makes the moment his and that's just the start. Hank on piano and Buddy on drums...

Imagination (1949-1950) features the heir apparent - Stan Getz. Playing the two albums back to back emphasises both the similarities and the differences between the two tenor masters. Certainly, without Lester Young there wouldn't have been the Stan Getz we have here and yet, whereas the sound is easily traceable to Lester, the phrasing is different, more notes, boppier - I wouldn't want to be without either.

Originally, I acquired them on EPs and the recording has been so well cleaned up that, in this case, it gives credence to Steve T's championing of the CD format. Getting back to comparing Lester and his disciples, on Five Brothers, where Getz is joined by Al Cohn, Zoot Sims, Brew Moore and Allen Eager, Moore is the closest in both sound and style, Cohn is slightly heavier-sounding whilst Zoot and Eager are perhaps influenced as much by Bird as they are by Pres.

So that's the first two albums - a kid in a chocolate factory? You betcha!
Lance
Release date is May 10 - on BMG Dreyfus Jazz - watch this space there is much more to come... oh, and by the way, the prices are way under the top!

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