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Bebop Spoken There

Stan Woodward: ''We're part of the British jazz scene, but we don't play London jazz. We play Newcastle jazz. The Knats album represents many things, but most importantly that Newcastle isn't overlooked". (DownBeat, April 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

17923 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 244 of them this year alone and, so far, 91 this month (March 31).

From This Moment On ...

April 2025.

Thu 03: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: Women in Jazz.
Thu 03: Eva Fox & the Jazz Guys @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 03: New ’58 Jazz Collective @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm. Free. A Tees Hot Club promotion. First Thursday in the month.

Fri 04: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 04: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 04: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 04: Ruth Lambert Quartet @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm. £12.00.
Fri 04: Tom McGuire & the Brassholes @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £20.00.
Fri 04: Nicolas Meier’s Infinity Group + Spirit of Jeff Beck @ The Forum, Darlington. 7:30pm.

Sat 05: Tenement Jazz Band @ St Augustine’s Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm. £10.00.
Sat 05: Sleep Suppressor @ Head of Steam, Newcastle. 5:30-6:00pm.
Sat 05: King Bees @ Billy Bootlegger’s, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 6:00pm. Free.
Sat 05: Raymond MacDonald & Jer Reid @ Lubber Fiend, Newcastle. 6:00-9:30pm. £7.72., £1.00. (minimum donation). MacDonald & Reid + Objections + Yotuns.
Sat 05: Jeff Hewer Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 05: Kamasi Washington @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 7:30pm. £33.00.
Sat 05: Vermont Big Band @ The Seahorse, Whitley Bay. 7:30pm. Tickets: £10.00 (from the venue).
Sat 05: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00.

Sun 06: Smokin’ Spitfires @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:45pm. £7.50.
Sun 06: Learning & Participation Showcase @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm (1:00pm doors). Free. Featuring participants from Play More Jazz! Play More Folk! Blue Jam Singers & more.
Sun 06: Joe Steels Group @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00pm. £10.00. Ferg Kilsby, Joe Steels, Ben Lawrence, Paul Susans, John Hirst.
Sun 06: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 06: Paul Skerritt @ The Hooch, Quayside, Newcastle. 6:00pm.
Sun 06: Leeway @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 07: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 08: ???

Wed 09: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 09: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 09: Tannery jam session @ The Tannery, Hexham. 7:00pm.
Wed 09: Anatole Muster Trio @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £17.50., £12.50. concs.
Wed 09: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. CANCELLED?

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

Friday, June 19, 2020

61. Ljubljana Jazz Festival: Collori & Momento Cigano (Slovenia)

Teo Collori, lead guitar; Metod Banko, rhythm guitar; Matija Krečič, violin; Matej Kužel, clarinet; Jošt Lampret, bass.

The choices were, seemingly endless. Did I go for The Jive Aces, Brandon Allen, Kai Hoffman or take a virtual trip to Slovenia? In the end, the latter won and I was off once more to Ljubljana and it didn't matter that I'd forgotten my passport!

Momento Cigano, led by Maccaferri maestro Collori, have taken the Hot Club formula to places where Stephane and Django would never have imagined. This is not to pit one against the other but rather to draw attention to the differences. Django played with both violin (Grappelli) and clarinet (Hubert Rostaing) but I don't think he recorded with violin and clarinet together - I am open to correction on this! Also, the original Hot Club Quintet, played primarily for dancing and thus were rarely able to mix up the tempos and modes as Momento do.


The music was a delightful mix varying from Hot Club style swing, to some ethnic moods. In one particularly frantic number where clarinet and guitar were playing in unison it crossed my mind that if Bird and Diz and, maybe Charlie Christian, had lived in The Balkans bebop may have sounded like this.

The announcements were all done in Slovenian so the only title I picked up was The Wedding Song - a fast 3/4 not unlike a jazzy old-tyme waltz.

Kužel plays Boehm System clarinet with a fluency, interspersed with some spiky staccato-like phrases that tell us he's not from NYC. Collori is Django 2020 and the band gel perfectly.

I'm assuming the applause at the end was dubbed as there was none during the performance. The band's response was to be the traditional arms around the shoulder bowing to the audience but Collori quickly ensured that social distancing was observed.

A most enjoyable 48 minutes.
Lance.

3 comments :

NeilC said...

Who tips you off that these gigs are streaming Lance [ apologies if you did mention on an earlier post though I don't recall it ] because to be frank I would not have any idea where advance notice of these sort of events are posted . Thank you in advance for any help.

Lance said...

Facebook friends or, in this case, the Jazz in Europe network.

NeilC said...

I have the disadvantage [but from my perspective advantage because I dislike it] of not being a Facebook Member but the Jazz in Europe sounds an interesting lead to follow , thank you so much Lance .

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