Bebop Spoken There

John Donegan: ''What you take in through your ears can come out through your fingers.'' (Notes to Which Direction October, 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

19,057 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 18 years ago. 921 of them this year alone and, so far this month (Oct. 29) 100.

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

October.

Fri 30: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 30: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 30: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.

Sat 31: Saltburn Big Band + Durham Alumni Big Band @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm.
Sat 31: East Coast Swing Band @ Cramlington Village Club, Park View, Cramlington NE23 6QJ. 7:30pm. £10.00. (from venue).

November

Sun 01: Smokin’ Spitfires @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:45pm. £10.00.
Sun 01: Ian Bosworth Quintet @ Chapel, Middlesbrough. 1:00pm. Free. Quintet w. special guest Donna Hewitt (tenor sax, clarinet)
Sun 01: Sax Choir @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 01: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 01: Sarah Heneghan Trio @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 02: Friends of Jazz @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 02: Saltburn Big Band @ Saltburn House Hotel. 7:00-9:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).

Tue 03: Alan Law @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 2:00pm. Free. Alan Law (piano) w. guest tba
Tue 03: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Stu Collingwood, Paul Grainger, Abbie Finn.
Tue 03: Customs House Big Band @ The Masonic Hall, Ferryhill. 7:30pm. Free.

Wed 04: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 04: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 04: An Evening of Erykah Badu @ Holy GrAle, Durham. 7:30pm. £3.00.; £2.50. A Durham University Jazz Society event.
Wed 04: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 05: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ The Millstone, Mill Rise, South Gosforth, Newcastle. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 05: Hejira - Celebrating Joni Mitchell @ Alnwick Playhouse. 7:30pm.
Thu 05: Cut Capers @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 7:00pm (doors).
Thu 05: Northern Reaches @ Newcastle Arts Centre. 7:30pm. Free (donations). Pete Tanton, Joe Steels, Laurence Blackadder, John Hirst.
Thu 05: Fergus McCreadie @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm.

Sunday, August 11, 2019

Mad about Mad About You

Having lived on this planet for a fair while I figured that, by now, I knew all of the great GASbook gems that languish within its infinite pages. 

How wrong can you be?

Today, I came across an instrumental by tenor saxist Ike Quebec of a tune titled Mad About You. Recorded on Blue Note in 1944 on a 12" 78rpm I was completely knocked out by this beautiful ballad and I immediately thought that someone most have added words to this - it would have been a natural for the young Sinatra. I Googled and, sure enough, there it was - Mad About You by Frank Sinatra!

Except that it wasn't! Sinatra did record a song of that name - a song  composed by Victor Young no less - but, this Mad About You wasn't the Mad About You that I was mad about. It was a pretty nondescript tune that, although performed well, failed to impress me.

Further research revealed that the Mad About You I sought was composed by Roger 'Ram' Ramirez - he of Lover Man fame - and there was a vocal version by one Ronnie Deauville.

Deauville, it seemed was a comer. He sounded like Sinatra, sang with Glen Gray, did solo gigs at the top nightspots, he was on his way and then...

...a car crash followed by polio put him out of action. He determined to carry on and eventually contributed vocal backings on soundtracks as well as making appearances in a wheelchair.

He died in 1990 aged 65.

Can anyone tell me more about the singer and the song?
Lance
Ike Quebec Swing Sextet (also w. Ramirez on piano)
Ronnie Deauville w. Ram Ramirez Quartet.

1 comment :

Liz said...

What a find!! that haunting voice, I didn't even listen to the Sinatra version, why would you? this was perfection, the sadness in his voice. What a tragedy to die so young. The Swingtet was a joy, the guitar so reminded me of my late Dad, same style. It as what I grew up with. Thanks so much lance for bringing this lovely number to us, a lost generation maybe, but still the very best of it's genre.

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