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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

Friday, August 16, 2019

CD Review: Pigfoot - Pigfoot Shuffle

Chris Batchelor (trumpet/cornet); James Allsopp (baritone sax/bass clarinet); Liam Noble (piano/keys); Paul Clarvis (drums)
(Review by Lance).

Well! This one came out of left field. I put it on blindfold and what did I hear? Bubber Miley blowing Heartbreak Hotel! Of course it wasn't actually Bubber - dead many a long year - but his spirit had certainly taken over Batchelor's mindset. The trumpet (or was it cornet?) growled like as though that infamous rooming house had moved from Lonely St. to Duke's Place or maybe a joint in New Orleans where Allsopp was 'walkin' the bar' blowing bari for the strippers. This was 'bump and grind' music - so much so, I could only type in time to the rhythm!

A dance of a different kind followed, Richard Strauss' piece from his operetta Salome which involved the removal of seven veils - maybe it wasn't that different after all! Some nice keys work from Noble.

Curtis Mayfield's Pusherman, a compelling rhythm beneath the soloists - bass clarinet and trumpet. A soundtrack to build a film around. You've already got the title, the music, all you need is the script - dammit! They've already got there before me - Superfly is the movie.

More Elvis with Jailhouse Rock/Hound Dog - they sound even better without the vocal! All four go for it - were Noble and Clarvis part of the Purple Gang? 

Bacharach's The Look of Love has a Chet and Gerry Feel about it - there's that kind of lyricism from the horns - plus maybe the Mulligan Quartet, and this is heresy, may have sounded even better with a piano!

Time for a dose of Mozart. Isis & Osiris, in jazz terms, doesn't quite go together like Bird & Diz or Binker & Moses (see how hip I am to the sounds of today?) but, in the hands of Batchelor, Allsopp and co, they do. A few fuguelike moments ensure that Wolfgang Amadeus isn't forgotten and adds to the diversity of this remarkable album.

It turns out that the transition from Wolfie to Led Zep's Black Dog isn't as big a leap as one may have thought. Trumpet and bari up the volume and let the dog off its leash. No depression here.

For Once in my Life has a belter from Allsopp, Batchelor blows hot and cool - in the nicest possible way - and I don't hear Stevie Wonder complaining.

Love Letters/Song to the Evening Star: Batchelor plays the melody of the Ketty Lester hit from all those years ago with a full round tone before, for some reason, segueing into Wagner's Song of the Evening Star from Tannhäuser.

By this stage, although I was enjoying it, the novelty was maybe wearing a little thin by which I mean from a 5* and counting it was maybe now down to a 4*. However, back comes Bacharach to save the day with Wives and Lovers. The last track but by no means a throwaway. Fine piano from Noble, lyrical bari from Allsopp and Batchelor muted à la Miles rather than Bubber.

Mozart, Wagner, Richard Strauss, Curtis Mayfield, Elvis, Stevie, Led Zep, Bacharach, Bubber, Miles, Mulligan and Chet all finding common ground - it may never happen again!*
Lance.
Release date Sept. 6.
*Launch Sept. 7 at the Vortex Jazz Club.

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