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Bebop Spoken There

Van Morrison: ''Basically, I'm coming from jazz. Not pop, not rock, not what's commercial. That's where I started, and that's still where I am. I feel the same as I did when I was listening to Louis Armstrong, Lead Belly, Jelly Roll Morton''. (The Northern Echo, 12 June 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

1803759 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 480 of them this year alone and, so far, 58 this month (June 18).

From This Moment On ...

JUNE 2025

Sat 21: Jason Holcomb Jazz Ensemble @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 5:30-7:30pm. Free. A 'Sunderland Year of Music' event.
Sat 21: Milne Glendinning Band @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 21: Red Kites Jazz @ Staithes Café, Dunston. 7:00-9:00pm. Free.
Sat 21: Papa G’s Troves @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 22: Phoenix 4 @ Wallington, Northumberland. 12 noon-1:00pm & 2:00-3:00pm. Tel: 01670 773606. National Trust admission prices apply. ‘Tunes in the Blooms’.
Sun 22: Lapwing Trio @ Wallington, Northumberland. 1:00-2:00pm. Tel: 01670 773606. National Trust admission prices apply. ‘Tunes in the Blooms’.
Sun 22: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 22: Jason Isaacs Trio @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 4:00pm. £18.00. + £1.08 bf.
Sun 22: JazzMain @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 23: MSK Trio @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 1:00pm. £9.00. at the door; £8.20. (inc £0.20 bf) online, in advance.
Mon 23: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club (1:00pm). Free.

Tues 24: ???

Wed 25: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 25: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 25: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 25: The Magpies of Swing @ The Roxy, Leadgate, Co. Durham. 7:30pm. A Ginger Jitterbugs swing dance event, all welcome.

Thu 26: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: Brass Instruments & the use of mutes.

Fri 27: Lewis Watson Quartet @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm.
Fri 27: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 27: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 27: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 27: Strictly Smokin’ Big Band @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 8:00pm. ‘Time After Time’.

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, April 18, 2020

Album Review: Tony Kofi - Another Kind of Soul

Tony Kofi (alto sax); Andy Davies (trumpet); Alex Webb (piano); Andrew Cleyndert (bass); Alfonso Vitale (drums)
(Review by Chris K)

A storming romp of a live recording by Tony Kofi, the hard blowing UK alto star paying a tribute to his inspiration, Cannonball Adderley.  Unusually, although there are CD copies for review, this album is designed for release on vinyl, so weighs in at a relatively lightweight 35 minutes duration. That’s the only lightweight thing about it though, as the band waste no time getting stuck in straight off with two short numbers,  A Portrait of Cannonball and  Operation Breadbasket, by Webb and Kofi respectively. The helter-skelter full-throated solos from Kofi and Davies set the tone for the rest of the album.


I confess to a certain disdain for much alto playing in the modern era, preferring the fuller tone and range of the tenor. This album has banished that notion though swept aside by Kofi’s famed raw power, with visceral N’awlins squawks and octave note bending punctuating fluid but high octane solos.

The title track Another Kind of Soul is the first of Adderley’s canon to get the Kofi treatment, with a pacy run through of the 1957 bop classic, which is remarkable for brother Nat’s upper register cornet pyrotechnics, matched by Kofi and Davies for energy and dexterity.  Kofi and co. can turn it down and play ballads too: a lovely Stars Fell on Alabama evokes the Coltrane and Cannonball 1964 version.

The band really hit their stride with the last three Cannonball classics.  Things are Getting Better (1959) comes complete with raucous carousing alto, a great piano solo from Webb and a solo outing for the immaculate Cleyndert on bass.  The top notch rhythm section also come to the fore catching the bluesy dance rhythm of Adderley’s immortal 1960 Sack O’ Woe. 

And how else would you close other than with Adderley’s signature Work Song? Often butchered as a cheesy blues, Kofi’s crew bring this to life in the authentic hard bop style of the 1960 original, with fine interplay and subtlety throughout the band.

 If you’re after fine and faithful interpretation of hard bop heaven, this is the album for you. Regardless of your taste, live they’d be a blast!  The band planned to tour the benighted south, nearest to our northern fastness being Hull Jazz Festival 17.07.2020.
Chris Kilsby

Release date: 23 April 2020.  Recorded live at Luton’s Bear Club in Nov./Dec. 2019
“The album is available in limited edition  180gm vinyl — the medium of Adderley’s era — to best replicate the ambiance of this remarkable live recording, and in digital format.”
Listen/buy LP or digital  (no CD!)  

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