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HOWAY THE LADS!

Bebop Spoken There

John McLaughlin: '' A Love Supreme coincided with my search for meaning in life". (DownBeat, March 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

17873 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 194 of them this year alone and, so far, 41 this month (March 14).

From This Moment On ...

MARCH 2025.

Sun 16: Jason Isaacs @ STACK, Exchange Sq., Middlesbrough. 1:00-2:45pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sun 16: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 16: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 16: Pearl Blossoms @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Ragtime.
Sun 16: Hot 8 Brass Band @ Wylam Brewery. 7:30pm. ‘Big Tuba Tour’.
Sun 16: ARQ @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Sun 16: Air4ce @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 8:30pm (8:00pm doors). £12.00.; £10.00. Tom Atkinson’s all-star band (line-up inc. Lindsay Hannon & Sue Ferris).
Sun 16: Jazz Jam @ Fabio’s, Saddler St., Durham. 8:00pm. Free. A Durham University Jazz Society promotion. All welcome.

Mon 17: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 17: Jamie Toms Quartet @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £10.00.

Tue 18: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Laurence Harrison, Paul Grainger, Tim Johnston.
Tue 18: Phil Bancroft’s Beautiful Storm @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £13.20 & £11.00.. A JNE-Gem Arts co-promotion.

Wed 19: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 19: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 19: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 20: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, Holystone. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 20: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: Nicknames.
Thu 20: Terri Green Experience @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £15.90.
Thu 20: Lindsay Hannon Trio @ The Harbour View, Roker, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Hannon’s ‘Tom Waits for No Man’ set.
Thu 20: Ray Stubbs R&B All Stars @ Mill Tavern, Hebburn. 8:30pm. Free.

Fri 21: Paul Skerritt @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 21: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 21: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 21: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 21: Giles Strong Quartet @ 1719, Hendon, Sunderland. 7:30pm. CANCELLED!
Fri 21: New Century Ragtime Orchestra @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Featuring special guest Martin Litton (piano).

Sat 22: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 12:30-2:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 22: Jason Isaacs @ Seaburn STACK, Seaburn. 3:30pm-5:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 22: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 22: Swamp Stomp String Band @ The White Room, Stanley. 7:45pm.
Sat 22: Rivkala @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Country blues guitar & vocals.

Sun 23: Musicians Unlimited @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 23: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 23: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 23: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 23: Mississippi MacDonald @ Georgian Theatre, Stockton. 3:00pm. Blues.
Sun 23: Tweed River Jazz Band @ Barrels Ale House, Berwick. 7:00pm. Free.
Sun 23: The Great Deceivers @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Tom Atkinson & co play King Crimson (1969-1974). Atkinson (guitar); Josh Bentham (alto sax); Stu Dawson (bass); Jeff Armstrong (drums).

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

Saturday, March 21, 2020

CD Review: Oded Tzur - Here Be Dragons

Oded Tzur (tenor sax); Nitai Hershkovits (piano); Petros Klampanis (double bass); Jonathan Blake (drums).
(Review by Martin P)

These musicians were unknown to me, apart from Jonathan Blake who I recall seeing with the Mingus Big Band at Brecon, I think. 

According to the ECM website, Oded Tzur is from Tel Aviv but is now based in NYC. This is a style of jazz that I used to listen to a lot in the '80s and '90s, much of it on ECM. Artists like Terje Rypdal, Tomasz Stanko, Charles Lloyd and Nils Petter Molvaer. I'm not saying necessarily that they are musically similar, just that there's a certain "sound". I started to get a bit tired of the style and this album reminded me why. 

Tzur has a sound somewhat reminiscent of early Andy Sheppard but without the latter's purity of tone and fluidity. His solos seemed to me to be unfocused. Hershkovits' piano is often what my wife calls "plinky-plonky music" (you've guessed, she's not a jazz fan). The bass and drum parts are largely unobtrusive, which in my book is usually a compliment for rhythm sections. However, some of the bass solos were so quiet that, listening in the car, which I appreciate is not a particularly complimentary environment for music, there were times when I couldn't be sure if the track had finished. My biggest gripe with this album, though, is that most of the tracks are played at a stultifying slow tempo. 

At the first listening, I thought that maybe this album had promise. By the time I got to the end of the fourth track, I wasn't just bored, I was starting to get a bit irritated. 

My criterion for judging an album by a band I haven't heard before is "Would I go to watch them live?" In this case, only if I hadn't slept for 3 nights.
Martin.

Here Be Dragons is currently available on ECM 2020.

1 comment :

Chris Kilsby said...

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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