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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

Thu 16: Pete Tanton & the Cuban Heels @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Fri 17: Lindsay Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 17: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 17: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 17: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 17: Joe Steels Trio w. Graham Hardy @ The Pele, Corbridge. 7:00pm. £10.00. (inc. a welcome drink & table reservation). Book at: www.drinks@thepele.co.uk. A ‘Jazz at the Pele’ promotion.
Fri 17: Russ Morgan Quartet @ Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. Opus 4 Jazz Club.
Fri 17: Redwell @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sat 18: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 18: Alter Ego + Jamie Toms/Graham Don Duo @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 7:30pm. £15.00. at the door; £14.35. (inc £0.35 bf) online, in advance.
Sat 18: Tweed River Jazz Band @ Repas 7 by Night, West St., Berwick TD15 1AS. 7:30pm. Free. Album launch gig.
Sat 18: Delta Prophets @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 19: Glenn Miller Orchestra UK @ Glasshouse, Gateshead. 3:00pm. ‘Glenn Miller & the Rat Pack Era’.
Sun 19: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 19: Spilt Milk @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 5:15-7:00pm. Free. Nolan Brothers (vocal harmonies).
Sun 19: Tenement Jazz Band @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 19: Nick Ross Orchestra @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 7:30pm.
Sun 19: Freight Train (Tobin/Noble/Clarvis) @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

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.

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

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

CD Review: Peter Eldridge and Kenny Werner – Somewhere


Peter Eldridge (vocal); Kenny Werner (piano); Matt Aronoff (bass); Yoron Israel (drums) + 20 piece string orchestra conducted by Eugene Friesen.
(Review by James Henry)

"Somewhere" is a gentle, soothing offering from Peter Eldridge, Kenny Werner and a string orchestra, the culmination of an idea shared by  Eldridge and Werner that began about 10 years ago.  It would be terribly easy to combine Eldridge’s crooning baritone voice, Werner’s gentle piano fills and a string orchestra to recreate Frank Sinatra or Nat King Cole: thankfully, this CD doesn’t seek to do this. "Somewhere" is a fresh interpretation of song, strings, and soothing, gentle jazz; it is an antidote to the troubled times in which we live.   

Kenny Werner is an accomplished jazz pianist, composer and educator, possibly best known for his seminal book “Effortless Mastery, Liberating the Master Musician Within”, the closest thing I know to a jazz self-improvement book.   Peter Eldridge is a crooner of the old sort, with a wonderful vocal range, and a glorious deep lower register.  Werner and Eldridge are faculty members at Berklee Music College in Boston, and draw on other Berklee musicians for this album, notably the cellist Eugene Friesen who conducts the 20 piece string orchestra, itself recruited from the Berklee World Strings.

The album is for the most part a collection of Werner and Eldridge originals, but with one or two more familiar pieces. You Don’t Know Me is worlds away from the standard made famous by Ray Charles, and brings the best out of Eldridge’s deep baritone.  I’m so Glad You’re Mine is jazzy in a minor way.   That Which Can’t Be Explained has a more theatrical feel and juxtaposes Eldridge’s lyric and a complex string motif. Autumn in Three, a Werner/Eldridge original, swings and swirls seasonally in waltz time, with an evocative string arrangement and a nice rhythm section feature, bringing drummer Yoron Israel and bassist Matt Aronoff to the fore.

The mood slows and mellows with Minds of their Own, setting Eldridge’s words to Ivan Lin’s tune, and a midnight, clubby feel. Less Than Lovers, an Eldridge tune, is lifted by an Aaron Copeland-like string arrangement from Werner.  Difficult takes Eldridge’s music into territory normally occupied by Tom Lehrer, but with a dark, infatuated lyric.

Ballad for Trane features an extended tenor saxophone solo from George Garzone (another Berklee faculty member), and then we return to more familiar ground with a medley of Somewhere (Bernstein/Sondheim) and A Time for Love (Mancini). Untitled Lament (Werner) has an elegiac feel and we finish with a gentle lullaby,  Day is Done (Prayer for Diego), co-written by Eldridge and one of his song writing students Mitchell Proctor. Unexpectedly and splendidly, this sleepy song morphs into rocking bowed cello solo, before gently playing out.

Peter Eldridge and Kenny Werner’s Somewhere is very different, very soothing and very good.  Besides offering a safe place to the listener, there is a pleasing depth, which rewards multiple listenings.    
 James H

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