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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

17733 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 53 of them this year alone and, so far, 53 this month (Jan. 20).

From This Moment On ...

January 2025

Fri 24: Zoë Gilby Quartet @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. CANCELLED! TO BE RESCHEDULED!
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: Red Kites Jazz @ Parish Hall, St Barnabas’ Church, Rowlands Gill. 7:30pm. £10.00. BYOB (tea & coffee available), raffle. Proceeds to St Barnabas’ Church. Performance feat. Shayo (vocals).
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.

Mon 27: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 28: ???

Wed 29: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 29: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 29: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).

Thu 30: Matters Unknown (aka Jonathan Enser, Nubiyan Twist) + support TBA @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 8:00pm (7:00pm doors). £12.22 (gig & food); £9:04 (gig only).
Thu 30: Soznak @ The Mill Tavern, Hebburn. 8:00pm. Free.
Thu 30: Struggle Buggy @ Harbour View, Roker, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Rhythm & blues.

Fri 31: Alan Barnes Quartet @ The Old Library, Auckland Castle, Bishop Auckland. 12 noon-2:00pm (two sets). £12.00. admission (card or cash at the door). Barnes (alto sax, baritone sax, clarinet); Alan Law (piano); Mick Shoulder (double bass); Tim Johnston (drums). Note change of venue, no longer at Mrs M’s as advertised, the concert will be in the Old Library (Bishop Auckland Jazz’s regular venue). Important! It’s a ‘BYOB’ arrangement - ie bring your own booze (and/or tea, coffee, soft drinks).
Fri 31: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 31: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 31: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 31: Café Orkestar @ Café Under the Spire, Gateshead. 6:00pm. ‘Klezmer, Gypsy Jazz, Balkan & More!’.
Fri 31: Creakin’ Bones & the Sunday Dinners @ White Room, Stanley. 6:30pm. £10.00 + bf. Jazz, blues , jump jive, rock ‘n’ roll.
Fri 31 Zoë Gilby Quartet @ Wylam Institute. 7:30pm (7:00pm doors). £15.00. + £1.50. bf.
Fri 31: Nothing in Rambling @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. £10.00. + bf. Country blues duo.
Fri 31: Alan Barnes Quartet @ The Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. £TBC. Barnes (alto sax, baritone sax, clarinet); Alan Law (piano); Mick Shoulder (double bass); Tim Johnston (drums).
Fri 31: Swannek + Rivkala @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Swannek’s new single launch gig. Pilgrim, formerly Hoochie Coochie.

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

Thursday, December 12, 2019

CD Review: John Allee – Bardfly

John Allee (vocals, composer, arranger, additional lyrics); Mahesh Balasooriya (piano); Aaron Mclendon (drums); Dominic Thiroux (bass); Javier Vergara (saxophone); Matt Von Roderick (trumpet).
(Review by Ann Alex)

Is Lance favouring me with the most unusual, interesting CDs to review? I ask after listening to this latest humdinger by John Allee, veteran stage and TV actor and singer/songwriter from LA. We get 13 delightful tracks of songs from Shakespeare's plays, set to jazz, with some added lyrics by Allee, who adopts the persona of Feste the jester. The plays range from Othello to Henry IV to Hamlet and the music includes elements of blues, ballads, swing, and even hymns and spoken word.

I have a theory that jazz is especially suitable to accompany Shakespeare's work. I've heard it at many performances; the universal 'feel' sits well with the Bard's universal themes, and much of the music played in the time of Shakespeare was dance music anyway, their 'swing'. The CD begins with Allee speaking to us over a piano jazz groove, introducing the band and setting the scene. Then comes the calm, slow strains of Until the Break of Day, followed by Tomorrow Is St Valentine's Day, with suitably saucy-sounding comments from the trumpet.

Philomel/Hold Thy Peace (You Spotted Snakes) took me back to schooldays when I sang this, but this version is much more fun, done as swing with scat. Oh Mistress Mine is a song of seduction and the shortness of life, a common Shakespearian theme and Sigh No More is a sensitive ballad with a pleasing sax solo. The Hungry Lion is a sly creepy number about graveyards, with a final dissonant chord. Green Willow is gentle and sad and Full Fathom Five has a suitable 'under water' feel from the mellow instrumentation. Then comes the lively irony of Heigh Ho The Holly, and Allee brings out the meaning of the words skilfully ' most friendship is failing, most loving mere folly.' Come Away Death is slow with a bass solo, which is the right instrument to portray death (hope no bass players are offended). Then another death song Never Come Again, and a humorous song to finish, The Wind and the Rain, which outlines the stages of human life.

It goes without saying that the instrumentalists are well up to and beyond the mark. John Allee has performed in many Shakespeare plays, including Twelfth Night and he has also played in the Benjamin Britten musical version of A Midsummer Night's Dream. It is worth noting that the CD deserves careful listening to catch the full meaning of the lyrics, maybe hearing the album three times would hardly be enough. The CD has been available everywhere from October 11 on the Portuguese Knees Music label. See www.johnallee.com
Ann Alex

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