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Bebop Spoken There

Trevor Mires: ''My mum is a Dean Martin fan: I'm not, so I would grab my skateboard and get out of the house whenever I heard "Everybody Loves Somebody, Sometime." ". (Jazzwise, 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

17972 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 293 of them this year alone and, so far, 49 this month (April 22).

From This Moment On ...

April 2025.

Fri 25: Vasilis Xenopoulos & Paul Edis @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT! Duo performance.
Fri 25: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 25: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 25: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 25: Andrea Vicari Trio @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. £8.00. Vicari (piano); Andy Champion (double bass); Russ Morgan (drums).
Fri 25: Jason Isaacs @ STACK, Exchange Sq., Middlesbrough. 4:00-6:00pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Fri 25: Red Kites Jazz @ Land of Oak & Iron, Winlaton Mill. 6:00-9:00pm. Free.
Fri 25: Vasilis Xenopoulos & Paul Edis @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 7:30pm. £15.00. at the door; £14.35. (inc £0.35 bf) online, in advance.
Fri 25: Struggle Buggy @ The White Room, Stanley. 7:45pm. Rhythm & blues.
Fri 25: Paul Skerritt Big Band @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm. £20.30., £18.00. All-star big band.
Fri 25: Andrea Vicari Trio @ Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. Vicari (piano); Andy Champion (double bass); Russ Morgan (drums). An Opus 4 Jazz Club event.

Sat 26: Durham Alumni Big Band @ Number One Bar, Darlington. 12 noon. Free (donations).
Sat 26: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 26: Vasilis Xenopoulos & Paul Edis @ Elvet Methodist Church, Durham. 7:30pm. Tickets: £12.00. + bf. Duo performance.
Sat 26: Neil Cowley Trio @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm. £22.50.
Sat 26: Pete Tanton & the Cuban Heels @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 27: Musicians Unlimited @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 27: Andrea Vicari Trio @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00pm. Vicari (piano); Andy Champion (double bass); John Bradford (drums).
Sun 27: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 27: Vasilis Xenopoulos-Paul Edis Quartet @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm. Xenopoulos, Edis, Paul Susans, Russ Morgan.
Sun 27: Ruth Lambert Trio @ Juke Shed, North Shields. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 27: JustKing Jones @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. 7:00pm (doors). £17.50. JustKing Jones (alto sax, soprano sax); Jordan Williams (piano); Jason Clotter (bass); Malcolm Charles (drums). Ace NYC outfit!
Sun 27: Jazz Jam Sandwich! @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 27: Swing Manouche @ Warkworth Memorial Hall. 7:30pm. £15.00. Tickets from 01665 711388.
Sun 27: Vasilis Xenopoulos-Paul Edis Quartet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Xenopoulos, Edis, Ken Marley, Russ Morgan.

Mon 28: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 29: ???

Wed 30: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 30: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 30: International Jazz Day @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £16.00.; £14.00. adv.. Feat. Guido Spannocchi, John Pope & Steve Hanley + Take it to the Bridge participants + Open Mic Night participants.

MAY 2025

Thu 01: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: Member’s Contribution.
Thu 01: Alabaster de Plume @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm.
Thu 01: Living in Shadows + OUTRI @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Thu 01: The Shayo Experiment @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Shayo Oshodi & Liam Oliver.
Thu 01: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm. Free.

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

Monday, June 15, 2020

Album review: Mayita Dinos - The Garden is my Stage

Puerto Rican born Dinos, who also successfully specialises in sustainable landscape design, has combined the two artistic formats she is familiar with - gardens and jazz - for an album that is quite delightful.

Ornithology as a bossa! Is nothing sacred? And yet it works!  Dinos copes admirably and provides a meaningful lyric. It may be her debut album but the voice has been around the block a few times and the experience of a lifetime of singing shows in the tonality and the phrasing. Budman blows some tasty soprano.


Stevie Wonder's Come Back as a Flower maintains the bossa rhythm authenticated by Amarilio's guitar chording.

Pannonica. Music by Monk, lyrics by Hendricks, vocal by Dinos, interwoven flute accompaniment by Budman, guitar solo by Amarilio.

Woodstock. Any singer taking on a Joni Mitchell classic has to be up to the mark and Dinos offers an alternative that is neither better nor worse but different and maybe, to my ears, she just shades it - maybe.

Lullaby of the Leaves. A nice relaxed medium tempo swing with Cantos soloing on piano. A standard that deserves to be heard more often - but only if the singer can match Dinos!

Un Pais Con el Nombre de un Rio. Music and lyrics by Jorge Drexler and sung in Spanish. I haven't a clue what it's all about but it is interesting to conjecture!

Little Sunflower. Freddie Hubbard composed the melody and Rochelle House, the words. Michael Hunter takes on the composers role with some mellow flugel that enhances the vocal.

Double Rainbow. I thought it wouldn't be long before Antonio Carlos showed up and here Jobim teams up with American author/lyricist Gene Lees for a somewhat dreary track saved by the voice.

La Lola has Dinos with only bassist Davis for company. Very dramatic.

Strayhorn's A Flower is a Lonesome Thing continues with the garden theme and Hunter at his most lyrical, this time on trumpet, and more fluting from Budman.

Spanish Harlem again has the full band on board. It's done perfectly but, overall, I'm starting to find myself seeking a bit more diversity of tempo.

Willow Weep For Me never fails to draw the emotional side of any singer and Dinos is no exception. Fortunately, it's sung gently and sensitively without any excessive emoting. Rich Eames lays down some appropriate piano with Davis and Hass doing the necessary.

Agua de Beber - my favourite Jobim number (yes I do have one!) sung slower, much slower, than usual which gives it a completely new dimension although as the track evolves so does the music take on the more familiar tempo.

The booklet's artwork is worthy of special mention - images by Kio Griffith.

All in all an enjoyable album well worth checking out particularly if you're chilling out in your own garden with a glass of something Spanish or Portuguese or maybe just a coffee (as if!)
Lance

YouTube.

Mayita Dinos (vocals); Bill Cantos/Rich Eames (piano); Gabe Davis (double bass); Hussain Jiffrey (bass guitar); Dori Amarilio (guitar/arrangements); Michael Hunter (trumpet/flugel); Alex Budman (flute/sop sax/clarinet); Steve Hass (drums); Tiki Pasillas (perc).

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