Bebop Spoken There

Ron Carter quoting Sonny Rollins: ''What we call jazz - that's keeping the world in equilibrium. I don't care what kind of music you like out here today. It all comes from jazz.'' (DownBeat August, 2026)

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

18799 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 18 years ago. 663 of them this year alone and, so far this month (Aug. 12) 32.

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

From This Moment On

August

Fri 14: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 14: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 14: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 14: John Settle Quartet @ Bishop Auckland Methodist Church. 1:00pm. £9.00. John Settle (vibes); Rick Laughlin (piano); Mick Shoulder (double bass); Tim Johnston (drums).
Fri 14: Bold Big Band @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £8.00 + bf.

Sat 15: Tees Bay Swing Band @ Blacksmith’s Arms, Hartlepool. 1:30pm. Free. Open rehearsal.
Sat 15: Jake Leg Jug Band @ The White Room, Stanley. 7:45pm. £16.26.

Sun 16: Vintage Explosion @ Cliffe Park, Roker, Sunderland SR6 8DB. 5:00-10:30pm. £44.00 (inc. bf).

Mon 17: Friends of Jazz @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 18: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Joe Steels, Paul Grainger, Abbie Finn.

Wed 19: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 19: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 20: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ The Millstone, Mill Rise, South Gosforth, Newcastle. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 20: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £5.00.
Thu 20: Edson Angus Quartet @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Thu 20: Paul Skerritt @ Angels' Share, St George's Terrace, Jesmond, Newcastle NE2 2SX. 8:00pm. Free. Booking advised (0191 200 1975). Skerritt w. backing tapes.

Thursday, June 11, 2020

Album Review: Daniel Hersog Jazz Orchestra - Night Devoid of Stars

Trumpeter, composer and arranger Daniel Hersog's new album Night Devoid of Stars is due to be released tomorrow (Friday) and it's a gem. Canadian Hersog is in his mid-thirties but that hasn't deterred him from taking on the role of MD of an all-star big band drawing its personnel from across North America. 


The album title was inspired by Dr Martin Luther King's words during the civil rights' era (some twenty years before Hersog was born). Hersog's daily routine of writing and arranging the material to a backdrop of early morning, wall-to-wall television news programmes contributed to the composer's thought process with the third track on the album - Makeshift Memorial - somewhat prescient in these pandemic times. 

Tenor saxophonist Noah Preminger (a friend from student days) and pianist Frank Carlberg (a tutor from Hersog's student days at the New England Conservatory) make telling contributions on this Cellar Music recording. Six of seven tracks were composed by Hersog, the other being an interesting take on Jerome Kern's Smoke Gets in Your Eyes

Daniel Hersog’s Night Devoid of Stars is on Cellar Music (cat no.CM051119), available from tomorrow (Friday 12). 

Further details from: 
Russell

Daniel Hersog Jazz Orchestra: Daniel Hersog (MD, composer, arranger); Chris Startup (alto sax, clarinet); Michael Braverman (alto sax, soprano sax, clarinet); Noah Preminger (tenor sax); Tom Keenlyside (tenor sax, flute, piccolo, alto flute); Ben Henriques (baritone sax, bass clarinet); Michael Kim (trumpet, flugelhorn); Brad Turner (trumpet, flugelhorn); Derry Byrne (trumpet, flugelhorn); Jocelyn Waugh (trumpet, flugelhorn); Rod Murray (trombone); Jim Hopson (trombone); Brian Harding (trombone); Sharman King (bass trombone); Frank Carlberg (piano); James Meger (bass); Michael Sarin (drums)

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