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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

17719 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 39 of them this year alone and, so far, 39 this month (Jan. 15).

From This Moment On ...

January 2025

Mon 20: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 21: ???

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: 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.

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

Monday, September 02, 2019

Ambleside Days Festival 2019: Tim Garland Weather Walker Trio & Gwilym Simcock, Mike Walker and Friends @ Zeffirellis – August 31


(Review by Hugh C)

As in the manner of the so-called “Beautiful Game”, this event was again in two halves.  The stage was set for two gigs with the Steinway grand to the left, double bass and guitars centre stage, two drum kits and percussion on the right.

Tim Garland Weather Walker Trio
Tim Garland (saxophones, electronics); Jason Rebello (piano); Yuri Goloubev (bass). 

Despite the name of the trio, much of the set, although Garland’s material, was not from the Weather Walker CD.  Bright New Year, from Garland’s album One, featured soprano saxophone.  Rebello on piano and Goloubev on bass took alternate solos, the other subtly underpinning the soloist on their own instrument.  Ensemble passages were the focus for saxophone. 

One token standard followed (Garland emphasised the importance of playing the standards in his early days as part of Ronnie Scott’s house band):  Irving Berlin’s How Deep Is the Ocean? – or as Garland jested (“doing his bit for climate change”) “How deep is the ocean now?”  Goloubev’s solo bass introduced the rhythm with subtle references to the melody, then added to by Rebello on piano and finally the full tune with Garland on tenor. 
Rosa Ballerina was composed after the birth of Garland’s daughter.  Her first sound was apparently pitched at a loud F sharp and hence the piece was based around this (although apparently in the key of F, confusingly).  Garland reverted to soprano for this item.  As with many of the players, Garland’s family (including Rosa) were attending the festival and hosted at Derek Hook’s Yewfield guest house for the duration.

The next two items were from the Weather Walker album and were enhanced by the projection of Alastair Lee’s stunning videography onto the cinema screen behind the stage.  An example of this can be seen here  The Snows They Melt The Soonest (based on the North East folk song of the same name) featured Garland on tenor, enhanced by electronics.  Weather Walker followed, featuring soprano this time.  Samai for Peace (from One) concluded the first half.  In his “houskeeping” announcement at the beginning of the show Stuart Johnson indicated where the fire exits were “in case the band were too hot”, by the end of this final piece things were certainly at an incendiary level!
-----  
Half-time:   No orange segments, but a welcome contribution to the fluid balance by replenishment of the glass with another pint of Jazz Session.

Gwilym Simcock, Mike Walker and Friends
Gwilym Simcock (piano, keyboards); Mike Walker (guitar); Yaron Stavi (double bass, electric bass); Asaf Sirkis (drums); Bernhard Schimpelsberger (drums, percussion).

As well as new material that Simcock composed for the occasion, he also explored some of their back catalogue. The first three pieces were segued - two new compositions and a third from the back catalogue.  Shines Upon Them commenced the set.  Yaron Stavi on double bass took solos in turn with Simcock’s piano and Walker’s guitar.  The two drummers were also let out to play and Schimpelsberger took full advantage of the range of percussive opportunities in his toybox laid out in front of him.  All Along featured atmospheric keyboard from Simcock and beautiful arco bass from Stavi, Walker’s melodic guitar together with light drumming and delicate brushwork on cymbals contributed to the mix. 

Heuter Loiter was an altogether funkier affair with rhythmic left hand chords on piano, great guitar licks from Walker and fine electric bass from Stavi.  Sirkis and Schimpelsberger dueted in Indian vocal percussion – Konnakol - and also with drum solos.  Just to See You allowed Schimpelsberger to explore his toy collection again.  These both are Simcock/Walker compositions from the second Impossible Gentlemen recording, Internationally Recognised Aliens. 

Another new Simcock composition, In The Know, followed a plea from the composer to “Wish us Luck!”  Initially led by Walker’s guitar, the piano later took melodic lead with both drummers in the engine room whilst guitar and bass took a metaphorical tea break.  After the regulation period the guys re-joined the fray, Stavi having some difficulty rearranging the seven A4 sheets of music concertinaed on his music stand.  The haunting It Could Have Been a Simple Goodbye  (dedicated to the memory of John Taylor) returned a calm to the proceedings.  Tuneful melodic guitar work was to the fore in this Mike Walker composition, with assistance from Schimpelberger’s extensive percussive armoury. 

The band had by now been on stage for over an hour and it could have been a simple goodbye - this piece was a fitting finale.  However, an encore was offered with the warning that “we are going to leave you with something disturbing.  Dog Time delivered the goods, with a strange time signature or signatures which contributed to the disturbance; Yaron Stavi took up his electric bass and together with Walker, to the amusement of the audience, created barking effects.
Hugh C

1 comment :

debra said...

Both sets were fabulous, undoubtedly my gig of the year.

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