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HOWAY THE LADS!

Bebop Spoken There

John McLaughlin: '' A Love Supreme coincided with my search for meaning in life". (DownBeat, March 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

17873 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 194 of them this year alone and, so far, 41 this month (March 14).

From This Moment On ...

MARCH 2025.

Sat 15: Hot Teapots @ St Augustine’s Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm.
Sat 15: Lagos to Longbenton + Belladonna @ Whitley Bay Big Social, Whitley Road, Whitley Bay. 2:00pm. Free. Afrobeat/jazz fusion + soul/funk/R&B
Sat 15: Creakin’ Bones @ Billy Bootleggers. Ouseburn, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free.
Sat 15: Joseph Carville Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 15: Is This Jazz? @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Tickets: www.eventbrite.co.uk. Performances by Mu Quintet, Jinjé, A Brief Utopia, John Pope & Co + André Marmot (author of Unapologetic Expression: The Inside Story of the UK Jazz Explosion) in conversation + DJ sets ‘til 3:00am. ‘A Festival of New Jazz’.
Sat 15: Vintage Explosion @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 7:30pm. SOLD OUT!
Sat 15: Alligator Gumbo @ The Forum, Darlington. 7:30pm. £15.00.
Sat 15: One Night Standards @ The White Room, Stanley. 8:00pm. £8.67 (inc. bf). Note - previously advertised Salty Dogs cancelled.
Sat 15: Howlin’ Mat @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Blues guitar.

Sun 16: Jason Isaacs @ STACK, Exchange Sq., Middlesbrough. 1:00-2:45pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sun 16: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 16: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 16: Pearl Blossoms @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Ragtime.
Sun 16: Hot 8 Brass Band @ Wylam Brewery. 7:30pm. ‘Big Tuba Tour’.
Sun 16: ARQ @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Sun 16: Air4ce @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 8:30pm (8:00pm doors). £12.00.; £10.00. Tom Atkinson’s all-star band (line-up inc. Lindsay Hannon & Sue Ferris).
Sun 16: Jazz Jam @ Fabio’s, Saddler St., Durham. 8:00pm. Free. A Durham University Jazz Society promotion. All welcome.

Mon 17: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 17: Jamie Toms Quartet @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £10.00.

Tue 18: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Laurence Harrison, Paul Grainger, Tim Johnston.
Tue 18: Phil Bancroft’s Beautiful Storm @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £13.20 & £11.00.. A JNE-Gem Arts co-promotion.

Wed 19: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 19: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 19: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 20: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, Holystone. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 20: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: Nicknames.
Thu 20: Terri Green Experience @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £15.90.
Thu 20: Lindsay Hannon Trio @ The Harbour View, Roker, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Hannon’s ‘Tom Waits for No Man’ set.
Thu 20: Ray Stubbs R&B All Stars @ Mill Tavern, Hebburn. 8:30pm. Free.

Fri 21: Paul Skerritt @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 21: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 21: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 21: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 21: Giles Strong Quartet @ 1719, Hendon, Sunderland. 7:30pm. CANCELLED!
Fri 21: New Century Ragtime Orchestra @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Featuring special guest Martin Litton (piano).

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

Saturday, September 28, 2019

CD Review: Ethan Iverson Quartet with Tom Harrell - Common Practice

Tom Harrell (trumpet); Ethan Iverson (piano); Ben Street (bass); Eric McPherson (drums).
(Review by Lance)

Maybe I shall hear it Sunday,
Maybe Monday, maybe not
Still I'm sure to hear it one day
Maybe Tuesday will be my good news day.

As it happened, Friday turned out to be my good news day...

Over the years I've been impressed by the volume of CDs issued by Herr Eicher on his ECM label most of which have received rave reviews in DownBeat, Jazzwise - even within these pages - and yet, somehow, Cupid's arrow has, in the main, landed short of my heart - until now that is.

The arrival of an ECM package automatically puts my brain into delegating mode and, for once, that delegated reviewer turns out to be me!

Recorded live at NYC's Village Vanguard in 2017, this is as close to perfection as you'll get. Only two originals which is indeed a rarity for an ECM album (paradoxically, the previous ECM issue reviewed by Chris also contains some standards) but, so what? Let's hear what guys can do with other peoples music - you don't compose a tune you can't do something with yourself!

My adaptation of Ira Gershwin's words are no coincidence as the first number is, in fact, The Man I Love and Harrell handles Ira's brother George's melody with ease. The tone is round and full - like Chet Baker with balls - and the lyricism comparable. I can see why our man Noel Dennis digs both Tom and Chet, he sort of draws them together.

Wee, which if memory serves me right also sails under the title of Allen's Alley - and Google says I am right - is a bebop belter. Fats Navarro guides Tom down the alley before launching him into the brave new world that was.

Every trumpet player who ever lived has had a crack at I Can't Get Started and few, if any, have surpassed Bunny Berigan's 1937 version. Tom doesn't try, instead he offers a laid back reading before giving way to some reflective piano from Iverson.

Iverson, needless to say, is mega effective behind the trumpet ace. His dark chords beneath Harrell's take on Sentimental Journey give it an almost Monkian feel.

Out of Nowhere bounces along merrily and Polka Dots and Moonbeams gets deserved vocal applause from the audience. The album notes draw parallels between  this one and the versions by Lester Young - the virtues of spareness and song are in both. Of course, it's wise not to take too many liberties with a song about 'a pug-nosed dream' otherwise you might end up becoming pug-nosed yourself! 

All the Things You Are; I'm Getting Sentimental Over You and I Remember You complete the GASbook material and Iverson's two originals - Philadelphia Creamer and Jed From Teaneck - provide some blues to make this album just about perfect. Bass and drums don't seek the spotlight, they didn't need to - their presence was felt.

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