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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

17733 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 53 of them this year alone and, so far, 53 this month (Jan. 20).

From This Moment On ...

January 2025

Wed 22: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 22: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 22: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 22: Pasadena Roof Orchestra @ Fire Station, Sunderland. 7:30pm.

Thu 23: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, Holystone. 1:00pm. Free. Fortnightly.
Thu 23: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: Obituaries 2024.
Thu 23: Jason Isaacs @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 4:30-6:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Thu 23: Pedal Point Trio @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Fri 24: Zoë Gilby Quartet @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 24: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 24: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 24: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 24: Creakin’ Bones & the Sunday Dinners @ Lindisfarne Social Club, Wallsend. 9:00pm. Admission: TBC. Jazz, blues , jump jive, rock ‘n’ roll.

Sat 25: Boys of Brass @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 3:30-5:30pm. Free.
Sat 25: New '58 Jazz Collective @ Jackson's Wharf, Hartlepool. 6:30pm (doors). Free. A Burns' Night event. Jazz, swing, funk, soul, blues etc.
Sat 25: Edison Herbert Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 25: Red Kites Jazz @ Parish Hall, St Barnabas’ Church, Rowlands Gill. 7:30pm. £10.00. BYOB (tea & coffee available), raffle. Proceeds to St Barnabas’ Church. Performance feat. Shayo (vocals).
Sat 25: Jack & Jay’s Songbook @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 26: Musicians Unlimited @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 26: Graham Hardy Eclectic Quartet @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm.
Sun 26: Ruth Lambert Trio @ The Juke Shed, Union Quay, North Shields. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 26: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 26: Jazz Jam Sandwich! @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 26: Tweed River Jazz Band @ Barrels Ale House, Berwick-upon-Tweed. 7:30pm. Free.
Sun 26: Gratkowski, Tramontana, Beresford, Affifi @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £12.00. JNE.
Sun 26: Jazz Jam @ Fabio’s, Saddler St., Durham. 8:00pm. Free. A Durham University Jazz Society promotion. All welcome.

Mon 27: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 28: ???

Wed 29: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 29: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 29: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).

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.

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, June 13, 2019

CD Review: Jeff Williams – Bloom


Jeff Williams (drums); Carmen Staaf (piano); Michael Formanek (double bass).
(Review by Hugh C)

Drummer Jeff Williams has played with some of the big names in jazz over the years.  Lately, he has been playing in saxophonist Dan Blake’s quartet with pianist Leo Genovese and bassist Dmitry Ishenko.  One time when Genovese was unavailable, Carmen Staaf stepped in.  Williams felt an immediate connection with her playing and they talked about the possibility of a trio.  He then ran into Formanek, with whom he had gigged in their early days in New York in the ‘70s.  The idea of this trio was formed and bloomed from thereon in – hence the album title.


All but one of eleven tracks on the album are composed by one or more of the members of the trio. The first track, Scattershot developed as they warmed up, getting their headphone mix together. This also warms up the listener for the ride ahead.  Another Time (Williams) takes us on at a slower tempo but with a definite progression, Staaf’s piano to the fore with a bass solo by Formanek where the other trio members draw back, but do not drop out.  Short Tune (Staaf) is more syncopated and in Williams’ words “has a certain quirkiness”, but carries the listener with it, waiting for the next surprise.  Short bass and drum solos intersperse the ensemble playing.  Scrunge starts in tricky 7/8 time, segueing seamlessly into Search Me; both tunes by Williams.

After the frenetic 7/8, calm is restored by Formanek’s Ballad of the Weak with space to appreciate the tonal qualities of the double bass in the extended solo.  New York Landing (Staaf) is a bluesy upbeat romp which will get even the most recalcitrant jazzer nodding their head in time to the music.  She Can’t Be a Spy (Williams) is apparently named after a New York Times piece: “She can’t be a spy – look what she did with the hydrangeas”. 

Air Dancing is the only track on the album not by one of the trio members.  Buster Williams passed the charts directly to Jeff Williams himself.  This is a beautiful slow number with atmospheric contributions from all three trio members.  A Word Edgewise (Formanek) features fast fingerwork by both bassist and pianist and pushes on at a pace towards Northwest (Williams) which has a more expansive groove and allows us a breather.  Staaf’s meditative, gamelan-like Chant, with fine arco bass by Formanek, brings the journey to a close.

This is a class album by class musicians.  There are no fireworks, but it is all quality.  Some of the tunes are older than others, being new piano trio rearrangements of earlier numbers, but as Jeff Williams quotes Thelonius Monk as saying when asked why he plays the same tunes all the time:  “I want people to hear them!”
Hugh C.
Bloom is on Whirlwind Recordings (WR4737) and is currently available.

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