Bebop Spoken There

Christian McBride: ''We knew back in the day that Emmet [Cohen] had it.'' (DownBeat July, 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

18699 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 18 years ago. 573 of them this year alone and, so far this month (July 11) 27

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

July

Tue 14: Vieux Carre Hot 4 @ Victoria & Albert Inn, Seaton Delaval. 12:30pm. £15.00 (reservations: 0191 237 3697). ‘July Jazz Barbecue!’
Tue 14: Crook Little Brass Bash @ Crook Community Centre. 6:00-8:00pm. Free. Durham Brass Festival. Multi-bill of street brass bands.
Tue 14: Barnard Castle Little Brass Bash @ The Witham, Barnard Castle. 6:00-8:00pm. Free. Durham Brass Festival. Multi-bill of street brass bands.
Tue 14: Nomade Swing: Dos Guitars Trio @ Newcastle House Hotel, Rothbury. 7:30pm. £11.00. Tickets from Tully’s, Rothbury. Luco Allievi, Alessandro Brizio, Mariano Gallizio. ‘A Journey Through Swing, Gypsy Jazz, Soul & Pop’.
Tue 14: Jazz Jam Sandwich @ Newcastle Arts Centre. 7:30pm. Free.

Wed 15: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 15: Willington Big Brass Bash @ Town Park, Willington. 6:00-9:00pm. Free. Durham Brass Festival. Multi-bill of street brass bands.
Wed 15: Nomade Swing: Dos Guitars Trio @ Café Needle’s Eye, Promenade, Newbiggin-by-the-Sea NE64 6XE. 6:00pm. Free. Luco Allievi, Alessandro Brizio, Mariano Gallizio. ‘A Journey Through Swing, Gypsy Jazz, Soul & Pop’.
Wed 15: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 15: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 15: Side Café Orkestar @ The Cumberland Arms, Byker, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £15.00 (£11.00. adv.); £12.00 concs (£8.00. concs adv.).

Thu 16: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ The Millstone, Mill Rise, South Gosforth, Newcastle. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 16: Spennymoor Big Brash Bash @ Jubilee Park, Spennymoor. 6:00-9:00pm. Free. Durham Brass Festival. Multi-bill of street brass bands.
Thu 16: Coxhoe Little Brass Bash @ Village Green (Pit Wheel). 6:00-8:00pm. Free. Durham Brass Festival. Multi-bill of street brass bands.
Thu 16: Nomade Swing: Dos Guitars Trio @ Lollo Rosso, Morpeth. 7:30pm. Free. Luco Allievi, Alessandro Brizio, Mariano Gallizio. ‘A Journey Through Swing, Gypsy Jazz, Soul & Pop’.
Thu 16: Stevie Jay Duo @ Newcastle Arts Centre. 7:30pm. Free. Julija Jacenaite & Steve Glendinning.
Thu 16: DK Harrell @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £20.00 + bf. USA blues.
Thu 16: Paul Skerritt @ Angels' Share, St George's Terrace, Jesmond, Newcastle NE2 2SX. 8:00pm. Free. Booking advised (0191 200 1975). Skerritt w. backing tapes.

Fri 17: Mejedi Owusu w. Francis Tulip Trio @ 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: Seaham Big Brass Bash @ Terrace Green, Seaham. 6:00-9:00pm. Free. Durham Brass Festival. Multi-bill of street brass bands.
Fri 17: Newton Aycliffe Big Brass Bash @ Town Park, Newton Aycliffe. 6:00-9:00pm. Free. Durham Brass Festival. Multi-bill of street brass bands.
Fri 17: Ray Stubbs R&B Allstars @ Billy Bootleggers, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free.
Fri 17: Mejedi Owusu w. Francis Tulip Trio @ Sunderland Minster. 7:30pm. Old Black Cat Jazz Club.
Fri 17: Zoë Gilby Quartet @ St Cuthbert’s Centre, Crook. 7:30pm.
Fri 17: Nomade Swing: Dos Guitars Trio @ Repas 7 by Night, Berwick. 8:00pm. Free. Lollo Rosso, Morpeth. 8:00pm. Luco Allievi, Alessandro Brizio, Mariano Gallizio. ‘A Journey Through Swing, Gypsy Jazz, Soul & Pop’.

Sat 18: Streets of Brass @ Market Place, Durham City. 10:00am-4:00pm. Free. Durham Brass Festival. Multi-bill of street brass bands.
Sat 18: Brass Boat Cruise @ Boathouse, Elvet Bridge Jetty, Durham City. Departures at 10:30am, 12 noon, 1:30pm, 3:00pm. £12.00., £10.00., £5.00 (all prices + bf). Durham Brass Festival. Various bands.
Sat 18: Party in the Park @ Wharton Park, Durham City. 5:00-9:00pm. Free. Durham Brass Festival. Multi-bill of street brass bands. Entrance o/s Durham Railway Station (Northbound platform).
Sat 18: Zoë Gilby & Dean Stockdale @ FIKA Art Gallery, Morpeth. 6:30pm.
Sat 18: Mejedi Owusu w. Francis Tulip Trio @ Claypath Deli, Durham. 7:00-9:00pm. £10.00.
Sat 18: Tyne Valley Big Band + Revolutionaires @ Pelton Community Centre. 7:00pm. A Durham Brass Festival event.
Sat 18: Dale Storr @ The Straw Yard, The Barracks, Berwick. 7:30pm. £15.38. Solo piano.
Sat 18: Nomade Swing: Dos Guitars Trio @ Red Lion Inn, Alnmouth. 8:30pm. Free. Lollo Rosso, Morpeth. 8:00pm. Luco Allievi, Alessandro Brizio, Mariano Gallizio. ‘A Journey Through Swing, Gypsy Jazz, Soul & Pop’.

Sun 19: Brass Boat Cruise @ Boathouse, Elvet Bridge Jetty, Durham City. Departures at 10:30am, 12 noon, 1:30pm, 3:00pm. £12.00., £10.00., £5.00 (all prices + bf). Durham Brass Festival. Various bands.
Sun 19: Jacob Egglestone Trio @ The Bandstand, The Sele, Hexham. 12 noon. Free.
Sun 19: Tyne Valley Big Band @ Bishop Auckland Town hall. 2:00pm. £7.00 (inc. bf). A Durham Brass Festival event.
Sun 19: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Table reservations (0191 261 8000). Skerritt w. backing tapes.
Sun 19: Michael Young Trio @ Engine Room, Sunderland. 2:30pm. Free.
Sun 19: Mejedi Owusu w. Francis Tulip Trio @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm.
Sun 19: SwanNek @ The Bandstand, The Sele, Hexham. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 19: Nomade Swing: Dos Guitars Trio @ Twelve 06, High St., Newbiggin-by-the-Sea NE64 6DR. 3:00pm. Free. Luco Allievi, Alessandro Brizio, Mariano Gallizio. ‘A Journey Through Swing, Gypsy Jazz, Soul & Pop’.
Sun 19: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 19: Castillo Nuevo Trio @ Hotel Gotham, Newcastle. 5:30pm. Free.
Sun 19: Dale Storr: The Sounds of New Orleans @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Solo piano. POSTPONED!

Mon 20: Friends of Jazz @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 20: Mejedi Owusu w. Francis Tulip Trio @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £10.00.

Friday, November 01, 2019

Reflections...

(Reflections by Lance/ Photo of Greg Abate courtesy of Malcolm Sinclair)

Is this the end of jazz as I  know it? The CDs that arrive daily from various points on the globe make me wonder if I'm not on the edge of a personal jazz Armageddon. 

Some albums I find difficult to identify as jazz at all although I suppose it is. Improvisation, originality and - most certainly - the sound of surprise is there and yet I find it difficult to equate it with the music that drew me to jazz in the first place.

The thrill of discovering the Eddie Condon, Muggsy Spanier bands. The Armstrong All-stars, Ellington, Basie, Goodman, Herman and, at home, the big bands of Ted Heath, Dankworth, Vic Lewis. Discovering Bird and Diz, the Jazz Messengers, Stan Getz, Tubby Hayes and so many more. Somehow, for me, the present has yet to catch up with the past. 

Many of the albums I receive are fantastic and I rave over them but, in the cold light of morning, I think, will I ever play these albums over and over again like I did with: Mingus Ah Um, Concert by the Sea, Ella Sings Gershwin (duo w. Ellis Larkins), Art Pepper Plus Eleven, Songs For Swinging Lovers, Jazz at Oberlin, Atomic Mr Basie, Historically Speaking the Duke? 

Will I ever hear anything to top the Newcastle City Hall concerts by Basie, Ellington, Hampton, Herman, Kenton, JATP, Gillespie, Brubeck, Ella, Oscar, Armstrong, Ory, MJQ, Miles, Maynard and so many more? Who knows? 

I'd like to think so but probably not. Admirable as the jazz courses at colleges across the land are - the end products, at a technical level, are greater by far than anything produced by, say Lester, Louis even Dizzy and most of the other jazz greats - but who can identify this new breed from hearing just one or two notes?
 
Nobody, and that's what's missing from so much of today's jazz. Or maybe it's me and I just need new ears!

Correction! Next Thursday (Nov. 7), at the Black Swan Arts Centre in Newcastle  JNE present Greg Abate with the Paul Edis Trio and thus lay waste to all of the above! Greg is the real deal do not miss it and, if you want more - and you will - Greg and Paul play a duo set at the Gala Theatre in Durham the following lunchtime. These are a couple of gigs you will miss at your peril - be warned! 
Lance.
at

3 comments :

shepherdlass said...

I know he's by now one of the old guard but I believe Kenny Garrett is a unique voice, which is probably why Miles worked with him so much in latter years

Saturday, November 02, 2019 10:22:00 am
Chris K said...

Come on Lance, this must be a wind up? Trying to get some more traffic going on BSH?

A proper "youth of today" would just smile and post LOL and few emojis in response ;)

Still, since I'm not youth any more, I'll have a go, as I'm familiar with this line from my kids when I tell them that bands today aren't a patch on when I was a lad : Mahavishnu, Nucleus, Hendrix, Soft Machine etc - Steve T knows the score.

After some years of active listening to "new" music (post 2000?) I can make a few of my own (personal and flawed) observations. I guess these won't change what Lance hears - this stuff is all personal and a unique product of our own individual musical journey and history.

1. "Jazz" is wider, deeper and more "developed" now than in any previous era - far more diverse than the era of the one true authentic way of swing/bop (with its own British strand) so loved (justifiably of course) by Lance;

2. we have unrivalled and privileged access to live and recorded music now, and even if 1. (above) isn't true, then it seems like it to me ;

3. the changed nature of the music industry and streaming doesn't lend itself to a small roster of jazz "superstars" and heroes (and also makes it darn' difficult to make a living for musicians);

4. Lance may not recognise them, but even to my sceptical ears there are highly distinctive and unmistakable voices today, even playing in and visiting the North East! From the new wave of (under-5Os?) on the world stage I give you Tigran, Adam Baldych, Mehldau, Kamasi, Christian Scott, Yazz Ahmed, Snarky Puppy, Marcus Gilmore, Simcock, Avishai Cohen (x2!). I'm confident there are jazz listeners out there in abundance who could pass the two note test with these artists!

If he needs an introduction to some distinctive voices, then perhaps tomorrow's Jazz Record Requests special on ECM's 50th birthday (https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0009zpp) would be a good reminder of some other"two-note" masters - Garbarek, Metheny and Jarrett?

Anyway, Lance, thanks as ever for the provocation, and my realisation that there is more than enough great music out there for all of us to enjoy. I hope you find what you're looking for in your pile of CDs, but remember that your first love is the most intense, and you're asking a lot to re-live that thrill again!

Chris K

Saturday, November 02, 2019 5:20:00 pm
Gordon Solomon said...

I know what you mean Lance. Thanks to the excellent college run jazz courses we now have a superb pool of jazz musicians, who as you say, are technically superior to the past players who you and I grew up with. But to me there is a lack of uniqueness and individualism that earmarked players such as Pee Wee Russell, Wild Bill Davison, Jack Teagarden, Benny Carter, Charlie Parker and many more. Obviously there are a few exceptions but I'm sure that you and I could identify literally dozens of musicians from the period of which you speak, simply because nobody else played like them!
Gordon Solomon.

Monday, November 04, 2019 4:56:00 pm

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