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Bebop Spoken There

Trevor Mires: ''My mum is a Dean Martin fan: I'm not, so I would grab my skateboard and get out of the house whenever I heard "Everybody Loves Somebody, Sometime." ". (Jazzwise, April 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

17957 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 278 of them this year alone and, so far, 34 this month (April 14).

From This Moment On ...

April 2025.

Tue 15: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Michael Young, Paul Grainger, Abbie Finn.

Wed 16: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 16: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 16: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. CANCELLED!

Thu 17: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: Only Six Standards.
Thu 17: Redwell @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Fri 18: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 18: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 18: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 18: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 1:00-2:45pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Fri 18: Jason Isaacs @ STACK, Seaburn. 3:30-5:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.

Fri 18: Alexia Gardner @ Fika Gallery, Oldgate, Morpeth NE61 1LT. 7:00pm. Trio (Gardner, Alan Law, Jude Murphy).RESCHEDULED FOR JUNE 13

Fri 18: Sarah Jane Morris & Tony Remy: The Sisterhood @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £25.00.

Sat 19: Jason Isaacs @ STACK, Exchange Sq., Middlesbrough. 1:00-3:00pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 19: Joseph Carville Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 19: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 20: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 20: Salty Dog @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 20: Spilt Milk @ STACK, Exchange Sq., Middlesbrough. 7:00-9:00pm. Free. Nolan Brothers (vocal harmonies).
Sun 20: Tweed River Jazz Band @ The Barrels Ale House, Berwick-upon-Tweed. 7:00pm. Free.
Sun 20: C.A.L.I.E @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 21: Newcastle Record Fair @ Copthorne Hotel, Newcastle. 10:00am. Going in search of the Buddy Bolden cylinder…
Mon 21: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

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, November 25, 2019

CD Review: Kelley Johnson - Something Good

Kelley Johnson (vocals); John Hensen (piano); Michael Glynn (bass); Kendrick Scott (drums) + Jay Thomas (sop sax/tenor sax/trumpet: tks 4,5,8).
(Review by Lance).

Kelley Johnson's yet another singer mining the GASbook and she seems to have struck gold going by DownBeat's assessment "...wisps of Carmen McRae's ginger snap, Betty Carter's yawning reach, Anita O'Day's feline purr and Nancy Wilson's crystaline enunciation." 

Wow! unlike DB I'm lost for words - crystaline enunciation - I'll file that one for future reference!

So, take the above as read, I'll merely add that it's a rather fine album. Karen Carpenter singing Goodbye To Love has long been one of my favourites and I'd often imagined it being sung by a jazzier singer. Well, Kelley steps up to the plate and, maybe she didn't hit it out of the park like Karen did in her own genre, but it didn't strike out either. The scat choruses certainly had that ginger snap and, if nothing else, KJ has moved the song into the repertoire and it will be interesting to see if any other jazz peeps take her lead.

Let's Do it brings in a few of the lesser known verses by Cole and it has a lovely swing to it.

No mistake, Ms. Johnson is the business and it's not just her crystaline enunciation that makes her a contender but also the feeling she has for the lyric, that ability to get inside a song, the sense that the title sums it up - Something Good.

And there's also something good going on around her. Piano, bass and drums - Kendrick Scott! - absolutely solid with Hansen, who collaborated with Johnson on the arrangements, superb. The icing comes in the form of Jay Thomas who not only blows tenor and sop sax but also chips in on trumpet - do the union pay him triple scale?. 
Lance

Anyone Can Whistle; Goodbye to Love; You Do Something To Me; Lullaby of Birdland; Let's Do It; Some Other Time; Tip Toe Gently; Unforgetable; You For Me; Something Good.

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