Bebop Spoken There

Melissa Aldana: ''Having to play a ballads album, which is something very revealing for a saxophone player, would help me to question some new aspects of how to go deeper into sound." (DownBeat May, 2026)

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

18656 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 18 years ago. 520 of them this year alone and, so far this month (June 25) 72

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

From This Moment On

June

Mon 29: Friends of Jazz @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 30: Alan Law Trio @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 2:00pm. Free.
Tue 30: Eva Fox & the Sound Hounds @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

July

Wed 01: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 01: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 01: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 02: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ The Millstone, Mill Rise, South Gosforth, Newcastle. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 02: Paul Skerritt @ Angels' Share, St George's Terrace, Jesmond, Newcastle NE2 2SX. 8:00pm. Free. Booking advised (0191 200 1975). Skerritt w. backing tapes.
Thu 02: De’Sean Jones & Blaque Dynamite feat. Urban Art Orchestra @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). De’Sean Jones (MD, tenor sax); Blaque Dynamite (Mike Mitchell, drums); Jamie Murray (drums) with UAO horns & strings.
Thu 02: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm.
Thu 02: Howlin’ Mat @ Newcastle Arts centre. 7:30pm. Free. Acoustic

Fri 03: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 03: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 03: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 03: Paul Donnelly Quartet @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm.
Fri 03: Martin Taylor @ Arc, Stockton. 8:00pm. Taylor (solo guitar).

Sat 04: Spats Langham’s Hot Fingers @ St Augustine’s Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm. £10.00. Darlington New Orleans Jazz Club.
Sat 04: Michael Woods @ Cycle Hub, Quayside, Ouseburn. 1:30-2:30pm & 3:00-4:00pm. Free. Acoustic blues guitar. An Ouseburn Festival event.
Sat 04: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. £27.50. Tutor: Steve Glendinning. Take the ‘A’ Train to Summertime: From Melody to Masterclass. Enrol at: learning@jazz.coop.
Sat 04: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00.

Sun 05: Smokin’ Spitfires @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:45pm. £10.00.
Sun 05: Ian Bosworth Quintet @ Chapel, Middlesbrough. 1:00pm. Free. Feat. guest TBC.
Sun 05: Michael Woods @ Cycle Hub, Quayside, Ouseburn. 1:30-2:30pm & 3:15-4:00pm. Free. Acoustic blues guitar. An Ouseburn Festival event.
Sun 05: Lydia Rae Quintet @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00pm. £10.00. Rae (vocals); Sam Lightwing (alto sax, tenor sax); Ben Lawrence (piano); Andy Champion (double bass); John Bradford (drums).
Sun 05: Sax Choir @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 05: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Table reservations (0191 261 8000). Skerritt w. backing tapes.
Sun 05: Storytellers Street Band @ Ouseburn Woodland, Ouseburn. 5:00-6:00pm. Free. An Ouseburn Festival event.
Sun 05: Gerry Richardson’s Big Idea @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Sun 05: Jambone @ Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:15-9:45pm. Free but ticketed.

Friday, June 28, 2019

CD Review: Mikael Mani Trio - Bobby


Mikael Mani Asmundsson (guitar); Skuli Sverrison (bass); Magnus Trygvason Eliassen (drums and vibraphone); David Daviddson (vibraphone track 9).
(Review by Steve T)

Any jazz musician knows they have a limited audience. Anybody who's played with Miles or with somebody who's played with Miles, can maybe add a nought to their sales. Guitarists also have a bit of an advantage, as guitarists - of which there are many - don't observe the usual musical boundaries.

It can also help if you can draw on another cultural community like football, cars, the Beatles - chess?

We'll never know, had I not known in advance that this was about a famous chess game in Iceland, whether the music would have evoked thoughts of that particular beautiful game or that particular landscape, with its mountains coming out of the sky and standing there. The musicians are Icelandic and the connection with a country I studied during year one of my degree could have been a conduit to get me into it, but wasn't.

None of this tells us much about the music, which is fine. He's a great guitarist with a great sound and great technique, and there's nothing wrong with it, though they may have preferred me to hate it. Apparently, there's vibraphone on the album, which I missed during the three occasions I played it, but I'll have to take their word for it.   
Steve T.
at

4 comments :

Lance said...

En passant, the chess match that inspired the album was the 1972 World Championship held in Iceland where the American Bobby Fischer defeated the Russian Boris Spassky, over a series of games, 12½ - 8½. The match held the world enthralled and resulted in books, movies and now an album as a reminder of that summer when, overnight, everyone was for a time a chess aficionado and no doubt the game inspired a few potential Grandmasters!

Friday, June 28, 2019 7:22:00 am
Patti said...

Maybe Grandmaster Flash even?? He of the famous White Lines ditty ......

Friday, June 28, 2019 11:27:00 am
Steve T said...

Thanks Lance, but still not getting it.

Friday, June 28, 2019 5:55:00 pm
Lance said...

One of the reasons I remember the event was because, at the time, I was with the Newcastle Big Band in San Sebastian and even the Spanish papers were reporting it and Charlie Carmichael and I were also into chess. I could beat him at chess but when it came to tenor playing he was the knight and I a mere pawn (neither of us, however, were bishops on that gig!)

Friday, June 28, 2019 6:24:00 pm

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments ( Atom )

Blog Archive