
For the past fifteen years we've been updating the world about jazz in the north east of England and updating the north east of England about jazz in the world. WINNER of the Jazz Media Category in the 2018 All Party Parliamentary Jazz Awards. Contact lanceliddle@gmail.com
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March
Thu 30: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Gateshead Central Library. 2:30-4:30pm. £2.00. All welcome.
Thu 30: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. Back to 1:00pm stomp off. Free.
Thu 30: Castillo Nuevo @ Revolución de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30-8:30pm.
Thu 30: '58 Jazz Collective @ Hops & Cheese, Hartlepool. 7:30pm. Free.
Thu 30: Lindsay Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ Harbour View, Sunderland. 8:00pm.
Thu 30: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.
Fri 31: Lewis Watson Quartet @ Bishop Auckland Town Hall. 1:00pm. Due to phenomenal demand, extra tickets released - gig now in the theatre. Book at: www.bishopaucklandtownhall.org.uk
Fri 31: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 31: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 31: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm. CANCELLED! Back next week (April 7).
Fri 31: Castillo Nuevo @ Revolución de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30-8:30pm.
Fri 31: Jasmine Myra + Waclaw Zimpel @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Fri 31: The Revolutionaires @ The Shack, Boldon Colliery. 7:30pm. £10.00. The Revolutionaires' big band (horn section) line-up.
Fri 31: Andrew McCormack @ Maltings, Berwick. 8:00pm. £20.00.
April
Sat 01: The Big Easy @ St Augustine's Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm.
Sat 01: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. Tutor: Steve Glendinning - In a Minor Key. £25.00. Enrol at: www.jazz.coop.
Sat 01: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington Covered Market, Darlington DL1 5PN. 6:00pm. New venue, live jazz!
Sat 01: Jambone @ Sage Gateshead. 7:00pm. Free (book online). A YMP! event in the Northern Rock Foundation Hall.
Sat 01: Jude Murphy & Dan Stanley @ Prohibtion Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.
Sat 01: Boys of Brass @ Stack, Seaburn. 7:00-9:00pm.
Sat 01: Hot Club du Nord @ Pleased to Meet You, Bridge St., Morpeth. 8:00pm. £79.00. A charity fundraising event.
Sat 01: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00. RESCHEDULED to next week (Sat 08).
Sun 02: Smokin' Spitfires @ The Cluny. 12:45pm.
Sun 02: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 3:00pm.
Mon 03: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Tue 04: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 04: Jam session @ Black Swan, Newcastle Arts Centre. 7:30pm. House trio: Bradley Johnston (guitar); Paul Grainger (double bass); Abbie Finn (drums).
Wed 05: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 05: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 05: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 7:00pm.
Wed 05: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.
Saturday, March 21, 2020
CD Review: Oded Tzur - Here Be Dragons

Blog Archive
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2020
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1421
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March
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108
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- A Few Thoughts
- Wallace Roney (May 25, 1960 - March 31, 2020)
- Live in our living rooms - direct from NYC
- One Night in Birdland
- CD Review – “Hybrid Harmony”- RJ & The Assignment
- CD Review: Clairdee - A Love Letter to Lena
- Bombay Jazz
- The search goes on...
- Zoë Gilby & Andy Champion Living Room Gig - Wicked...
- CD Review: Chris Mapp - Stillefelt
- CD Review: George Colligan Trio - Live in Arklow
- CD Review: Al Gold – Al Gold’s Paradise
- Helping our Bands and Musicians
- The LOCKDOWN Sessions #1 - Route 66
- Multi-platform jazz
- A Stream of Thought
- The Stream's becoming a river - Enrico Tomasso on ...
- Paul Edis: Lockdown Live! - March 27
- Boo! Beware the Jazz Man!
- RIP Bill Smith (1926 - 2020)
- Paul Edis online
- Alice Sings, James Swings Honeysuckle Rose - duo ...
- Zoë and Andy update
- Jazzlines Free Gigs: Xhosa Cole Quintet Watch Party
- One dissatisfied Novocastrian
- The Dean Stockdale Trio @ The Fox Inn, Hexham - Ma...
- Jo & Jamie are Weathering the Storm
- RIP Manu Dibango
- The Cellar Boys + Miss Jubilee & Her Yas Yas Boys ...
- Remembering Susannah McCorkle
- CD Review: Julian Costello - Connections without b...
- The Cellar Boys + Miss Jubilee & Her Yas Yas Boys ...
- CD Review: Carla Bley, Andy Sheppard, Steve Swallo...
- RIP Mike Longo (1939 - 2020)
- CD Review: Keith Oxman - Two Cigarettes in the Dark
- RIP Jon Christensen (1943 - 2020)
- CD Review: David Berger & The Sultans of Swing - M...
- Jazz Indoors
- CD Review: Byron Wallen - Portrait
- Book Review: Francis Davis - In the Moment, Jazz i...
- CD Review: Oded Tzur - Here Be Dragons
- A Friday Cornucopia @ Bix Fest, Racine, Wisconsin ...
- Pudgy's @ Bix Fest, Racine, Wisconsin - March 12
- Summertime (Black and) Blues
- Paul Edis on YouTube - March 20.
- Paul Edis - Live in London
- More thoughts
- The Plague
- Abigail Pogson, Managing Director, Sage Gateshead ...
- Roly on Steve Winwood
- Customs House Big Band @ Dormans Jazz Club Middles...
- NOMINATIONS ANNOUNCED FOR JAZZ FM AWARDS 2020
- Message from Paul Edis
- Cheltenham Jazz Festival update
- CD Review: Tom Green Septet - Tipping Point
- We're not yet in total lockdown...
- Globe/Jazz Coop - Coronavirus Update
- CD Review: Mad Love – Ish
- THE VIEUX CARRÉ JAZZMEN
- Message from Abigail Pogson, Managing Director Sag...
- Bus Tour to Hell @ Bix Fest, Racine, Wisconsin - M...
- Do You Know What it Means to Miss (the) New Orlean...
- Indigo Jazz Voices cancel
- Gig updates needed urgently
- Finntet @ Blaydon Jazz Club – March 15
- VULA VIEL pull out.
- Jazz Café shut down
- Jazz 'n' Blues at the Art Institute of Chicago
- The polls are now open in the 2020 All Party Parli...
- Strictly Smokin' Big Band @ Flat Caps Café, Newcas...
- Strictly Smokin' Big Band @ Flat Caps Café, Newcas...
- CD Review: Lizzie Thomas – New Sounds From The Jaz...
- Animal Society @ The Bridge Hotel, Newcastle - Mar...
- EP Review: Jonathan Ng - The Sphynx
- Jazz North East present Women Make Music 2020
- Taking the Loop
- Acoustic Infusion @ Dormans Jazz Club Middlesbroug...
- Celebrated London Pianist to Close Popular Jazz Pr...
- Preview: The Dean Stockdale Trio @ Hexham Jazz Clu...
- Going to Chicago
- Jam Session @ the Black Swan Jazz Café - March 10
- CD/LP/Digital Review: Andre Canniere - Ghost Days
- Come this way ma'am!
- NORTHERN JAZZ CLUBS TO TRAIN THE NEXT GENERATION O...
- The State of Song.
- The Tenement Jazz Band @ Prohibition Bar - Mar 8
- CD Review: Ian Shaw - What's New?
- Preview: Today! The Tenement Jazz Band to play Pr...
- CD Review: John Di Martino - Passion Flower
- Michael Littlefield & Dominic Hornsby @ Prohibitio...
- Gateshead Jazz Festival
- RIP McCoy Tyner
- Tonight! Michael is a Lone King Bee!
- Preview: Ojay...from street to gallery!
- Friday 13th strikes....
- Funk: a Musical Revolution. Pee Wee Ellis Band wit...
- BBC Big Band @ The Gala Theatre, Durham - March 4
- An appraisal of George Russell’s Jazz Theory and i...
- Dean Stockdale & Louise Dodds @ Jazz Cafe Mezzanin...
- Great North Big Band Jazz Festival 2020: Youth Sec...
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March
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1 comment :
Aha! Another example of the wonderful differences between listeners in their response to new music.
I was keen to read Martin's review, having listened to the album a couple of times after reading Jazzwise's 4* review - awarded Editor's Choice, and lauded as "having classic written all over". The rest of the jazz establishment are also falling over themselves praising Oded Tzur and his quartet for "A beautiful musical concept perfectly realised" (London Jazz News). Martin is clearly not so easily impressed!
I have to say I also began as a sceptic with Tzur, and my first forays listening to this and previous albums left me largely unmoved. His music is "high chamber jazz" and meditative in the extreme. He is a storyteller, not a headline grabber; his music is tender poetry, not slogans. A whole album played "As If Every Note Was A Choice Of Life" is bound to be hard going!
His tone on tenor is also an acquired taste. Tzur has followed a very deliberate path to developing a smooth, sliding and (very) distinctive tone, apparently influenced by the Indian bansuri (flute).
Forewarned by this knowledge, listening to this stuff in the car is not the best strategy! As Martin acknowledged and found, this is bound to lead to frustration. Recent listening in the peace and quiet of home (one benefit of these Covid times) revealed a lot more to the music (to my ear at least!) - lyrical intensity and subtlety.
Not just from Tzur (love or hate his tone) - this is a top notch band too. I'm a fan of Hershkowits (though not so much as my son, who spent months transcribing one of his rhythmically baffling solos - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcRRAZ9rMq8). I find Hershkovits' playing here a very engaging part of the album - not "plinky plonky" at all!
Anyway, each to his own as they say. While I'm not convinced this is a classic album yet, there is remarkable beauty here. I'll listen again, when in the right frame of mind with time to relax, and I'd certainly go to see them play (whenever that might start up again.....).
Chris K
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