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Bebop Spoken There

Xhosa Cole: ''Monk was unapologetically himself". (Jazzwise, 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

17744 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 64 of them this year alone and, so far, 64 this month (Jan. 26).

From This Moment On ...

January 2025

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.

Fri 31: Alan Barnes Quartet @ The Old Library, Auckland Castle, Bishop Auckland. 12 noon-2:00pm (two sets). £12.00. admission (card or cash at the door). Barnes (alto sax, baritone sax, clarinet); Alan Law (piano); Mick Shoulder (double bass); Tim Johnston (drums). Note change of venue, no longer at Mrs M’s as advertised, the concert will be in the Old Library (Bishop Auckland Jazz’s regular venue). Important! It’s a ‘BYOB’ arrangement - ie bring your own booze (and/or tea, coffee, soft drinks).
Fri 31: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 31: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 31: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 31: Café Orkestar @ Café Under the Spire, Gateshead. 6:00pm. ‘Klezmer, Gypsy Jazz, Balkan & More!’.
Fri 31: Nothing in Rambling @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. £10.00. + bf. Country blues duo.
Fri 31 Zoë Gilby Quartet @ Wylam Institute. 7:30pm (7:00pm doors). £15.00. + £1.50. bf.
Fri 31: Creakin’ Bones & the Sunday Dinners @ White Room, Stanley. 7:45pm. £10.00 + bf. Jazz, blues , jump jive, rock ‘n’ roll.
Fri 31: Alan Barnes Quartet @ The Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. £15.00 Barnes (alto sax, baritone sax, clarinet); Alan Law (piano); Mick Shoulder (double bass); Tim Johnston (drums).
Fri 31: SwanNek + Rivkala @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 8:00pm. SwanNek’s new single launch gig. Pilgrim, formerly Hoochie Coochie.
Fri 31: King Bees @ Blues Underground; Nelson St., Newcastle. 9:00pm. Free. Superb Chicago blues band.

February 2025

Sat 01: Alan Barnes & John Hallam with the Tom Kincaid Trio @ St Augustine’s Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm. £10.00.
Sat 01: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. £25.00. Tutor: Steve Glendinning - Cy Coleman’s Witchcraft. Enrol at: learning@jazz.coop.
Sat 01: Darling Dollies @ St George’s Church, Jesmond, Newcastle. 3:00pm. £10.00. Vocal trio.
Sat 01: Jason Isaacs @ STACK, Exchange Sq., Middlesbrough. 3:30-5:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 01: Jeff Hewer Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 01: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00.
Sat 01: Rockin’ Turner Brothers @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Western swing etc.

Sun 02: Smokin’ Spitfires @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:45pm. £7.50.
Sun 02: Lewis Watson Quartet @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00pm. £10.00.
Sun 02: Sax Choir @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free (donations).
Sun 02: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 02: Spilt Milk @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 5:15-7:00pm. Free. Nolan Brothers (vocal harmonies).
Sun 02: Jive Aces @ The Fire Station, Sunderland. 7:00pm. Sun 02: John Pope + Andy Champion + Ian Paterson @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. ‘Subterranean Explorations 1’. Three (half hour) solo bass sets.
Sun 02: Jazz Jam @ Fabio’s, Saddler St., Durham. 8:00pm. Free. A Durham University Jazz Society promotion. All welcome.

Mon 03: Andy Watt & Dan Rogers @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 1:00pm. £9.00. at the door; £8.20. (inc £0.20 bf) online, in advance. Jazz, blues, folk etc.
Mon 03: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 04: Customs House Big Band @ The Masonic Hall, North St., Ferryhill DL17 8HX. 7:00pm. Free.
Tue 04: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Ben Phillips, Paul Grainger, Bailey Rudd.
Tue 04: Dilutey Juice + Life Aquatics Band @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm.

Wed 05: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 05: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 05: 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

Sunday, April 28, 2019

Pepperland @ Newcastle Theatre Royal - April 27

(Review by Russell)

The Mark Morris Dance Group concluded its 2019 British tour with a two-nighter at Newcastle's historic Theatre Royal before stopping off in Dublin on the way home to New York. Three elements combined to make Pepperland an unmissable experience; Mark Morris' acclaimed dance company, the Fab Four's Sgt Pepper as subject matter, and, piquing Bebop Spoken Here's interest, an all-star, jazz-infused NYC octet. 

This Saturday evening performance, the second of two nights, attracted a near capacity house. It seems likely that the greater part of the audience comprised dance aficionados and Beatles' fanatics with a smattering of jazz fans drawn to the Grey Street venue by the participation of Ethan Iverson.  

The Bad Plus' former pianist is currently renewing acquaintance with the Mark Morris Dance Group working once again with the MMDG Music Ensemble led by Colin Fowler. The musicians assumed their positions in the orchestral pit minutes before curtain up. Percussionist (think 'jazz drummer') Vinne Sperrazza occupied the centre ground facing the stage, flanked to his left by Iverson, similarly facing the on-stage dancers, and to his right, with MD Fowler absent from the Newcastle dates, George Shevtsov seated at a keyboard. To one side was theremin specialist Rob Schwimmer. A founding member of the NY Theremin Society (!), Schwimmer's cv is truly impressive with the following but a random selection of his collaborations - Simon and Garfunkel, Wayne Shorter, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Willie Nelson, Chaka Khan, Stevie Wonder, T-Bone Walker, Maria Schneider, Teo Macero, Kurt Vonnegut(!), Sammy Davis Jr. Clearly, when a concert performance or recording session requires a theremin, Mr S is considered 'first call'!  

As the curtain rose the octet went to work. The Beatles' Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band formed the centrepiece with additional original material composed by Iverson. The title track opened, and would later close, the performance. The Fab Four's oh-so-familiar tunes were arranged by Iverson - With a Little Help from My FriendsWhen I'n Sixty-FourWithin You Without YouPenny LaneA Day in the Life - which were interspersed by pieces variously titled AdagioAllegroScherzo

On stage, wow! The MMDG stepped right out of a '60s psychedelic haze. Elizabeth Kurtzman's costume designs certainly evoked the era; the brightest of bright colours with an acrylic-like sheen, so bright the dancers periodically wore shades (yeah, man), the sort associated with the Lennon and McCartney Eastern mystic/guru years. The Music Ensemble's baritone vocalist Clinton Curtis introduced the cast one by one; Shirley Temple...Sonny Liston...Karl-Heinz Stockhausen... Marlene Deitrich...Oscar Wilde...Fred Astaire...Albert Einstein...Laurel and Hardy. Those familiar with the Sgt. Pepper album cover art will be able to visualise the numerous famous faces.*

The on-stage movement was largely fast and furious, the dancers assuming the roles of enduringly recognisable figures. The cardboard cut-out quality of the characters enabled Mark Morris' dancers to be assigned a gender other than their own. Astaire, Einstein, whoever, could be, and were, assumed by a female dancer, it mattered not. The pit musicians hit their cues, Iverson directing matters. Jacob Garchik (trombone) and Brian Krock (soprano sax and clarinet) were positioned with their backs to the stage, reading their parts with Iverson in their line of vision. Iverson's spicey Wilbur Scoville proved to be a highlight. A blues, of gut-bucket variety, it featured brilliant trombone playing by Garchik, Iverson himself incorporating stride patterns with Oscar-like dexterity, all the while directing the ensemble.  

The Mark Morris Dance Group's 2017 premiere of Pepperland (marking the  album's fiftieth anniversary) proved so successful the company decided it should go on tour. Fortunately Newcastle Theatre Royal was part of the 2019 tour itinerary, it had been a memorable occasion.      

It was, perhaps, lost on the visiting American dance company that Albert Stubbins took pride of place alongside the many famous names featured on the Sgt. Pepper album cover. The legendary Magpies' footballer didn't get a name check at the Theatre Royal, if he did there could have been a cry of Toon! Toon! Black 'n' White Army!   
Russell

1 comment :

Lance said...

Ref Albert Stubbins. The late drummer, Randy Heads, told me of the time when he was in a Newcastle cinema and the news that Albert Stubbins had been transferred to Liverpool flashed across the screen mid-picture. The uproar that followed meant that they had to stop the film until the 'Toon Army' of the day, many of them actual army, calmed down!

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