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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

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.
Mon 27: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 6:30pm. 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: Nothing in Rambling @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. £10.00. + bf. Country blues duo.
Fri 31 Zoë Gilby Quartet @ Wylam Institute. 7:30pm (7:00pm doors). £15.00. + £1.50. bf.
Fri 31: Creakin’ Bones & the Sunday Dinners @ White Room, Stanley. 7:45pm. £10.00 + bf. Jazz, blues , jump jive, rock ‘n’ roll.
Fri 31: Alan Barnes Quartet @ The Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. £15.00 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.

February 2025

Sat 01: Alan Barnes & John Hallam with the Tom Kincaid Trio @ St Augustine’s Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm. £10.00.
Sat 01: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. £25.00. Tutor: Steve Glendinning - Cy Coleman’s Witchcraft. Enrol at: learning@jazz.coop.
Sat 01: Darling Dollies @ St George’s Church, Jesmond, Newcastle. 3:00pm. £10.00. Vocal trio.
Sat 01: Jason Isaacs @ STACK, Exchange Sq., Middlesbrough. 3:30-5:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 01: Jeff Hewer Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 01: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00.
Sat 01: Rockin’ Turner Brothers @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Western swing etc.

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, December 31, 2019

CD Review: John Bailey - Can You Imagine?

John Bailey (trumpet/flugelhorn); Stacy Dillard (tenor sax/soprano sax); Stafford Hunter (trombone); Edsel Gomez (piano); Mike Karn (bass); Victor Lewis (drums) + Janet Axelrod (flutes); Earl McIntyre (bass trombone/tuba).
(Review by Lance)

A themed album that is timely scheduled for release on an appropriate date (January 20 - Inaugration Day).

However, before I disclose the theme of the album, let me first say that this a cracker of a disc that doesn't need a theme to help it. Simply the best post bop album since the days of King Dizzy which brings me to the theme of the album...

I remember, back in 1964, reading in DownBeat that Dizzy Gillespie planned to run for President. Badges and tee shirts were printed and his proposed cabinet included Duke as Secretary of State, Louis Armstrong as Secretary of Agriculture and Miles Davis as CIA Director. Of course it didn't happen and many regarded it as a prank, which, in a sense, it was. However, the issues raised - bearing in mind that this was at the height of the Civil Rights movement - were serious and very real and, even today they haven't gone away in America (and not just in America).

With all this as background, Bailey, himself a Dizzy devotee with a car registration of DIZ4PREZ, imagines what life would be like today if Dizzy had made it to the White House 55 years ago.

I'm not going to claim that this CD has the answers - how could it? - it's a dreamer's fantasy. Still, it is a lovely dream and the music makes that dream seem to come true.

Bailey can soar like Dizzy did and blow lyrical too along with a band that totally follows the party line and is just about as close to what Dizzy would have if he were alive today.

This leaves me with a dilemma - Post it today and it's my record of the year but, as revealed earlier, it's not released until January 20! Post it tomorrow and it will set the bar for 2020 and, by December ot that year, it may have been swept up by the Johnny Come Latelys! Well, I'll post it now and claim time zone differentials to include it in the shake-up of next year's listings.
It is divine!
Lance

3 comments :

Russell said...

Bailey's DIZ4PREZ devotion makes this album of the year and I'm yet to hear it!

Brian shine said...

For me, it has to be Harry Connick Jnr sings Cole Porter, superb arrangements by HC, great songs and band, I love the way HC swings and he knows how to build the arrangement to reach the peak before the band lets fly, it goes with out saying I have played the album a good few times, we need more jazz albums of this kind.

Brian Shine

Lance said...

Brian, if you refer to my earlier listngs you'll find that Harry's disc is included in my 'Vocals of the Year CD' post. My thanks also to you for drawing it to my attention and so pleased that we are on the same vocal wavelength.

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