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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

Wednesday, June 10, 2020

Album Reviews: Joel Fass - Melody Messenger & Jam for Eddie Diehl


Born and raised in the Carnarsie section of Brooklyn, jazz guitarist and composer/songwriter Joel Fass has been playing for nearly fifty years. The range of his experience coupled with his love for American Song is demonstrated fluently throughout these "exemplary" recordings. Fass has played with the likes of Eddie Diehl, Bob Dorough, Bill Takas, Chris Anderson and Hadda Brooks, to name a few.

Melody Messenger is a solo guitar outing featuring a wondrous variety of popular songs from the 1930s to the present. Willie Dixon's My Babe, Harold Arlen's Last Night When We Were Young and Gershwin's Lady Be Good  comfortably rub shoulders with Stevie Wonder's Lookin’ for Another Pure Love and Lennon/McCartney's Because. Who'd a thunk it but it works.

For good measure, Fass has also resurrected a few lesser known Broadway gems like Sondheim's Anyone Can Whistle, Charles Strouse's Once Upon a Time and Cy Coleman's When in Rome. All excellent jazz vehicles for improvisation with distinctive melodic character. Fass has also added a compostion of his own entitled Shelter - welcome indeed. The lyrics of which are published in the liner notes (just in case any aspiring vocalist would like to give it a whirl, Joel adds...) All of which are given unique and distinctive treatments in the guitarist’s creative hands with original and effective chordal reharmonisations.


Jam For Eddie Diehl welcomes the talents of two guitarists duo-ing with Fass - Sheryl Bailey and Ray Macchiarolla. Both of whom rise to the occasion with aplomb with their perceptive and supportive accompanying. Their sterling solo turns also sparkle.


Another pleasantly variegated batch of American tunedom prevails including Ellington's Reflections in D, Dizzy's Tin Tin Deo, Bird's, Buzzy all easily hobnob with Izzy Baline's (Irving Berlin) What'll I Do?, Stevie's Blame it On the Sun and Johnny Cash's Folsom Prison Blues, for cryin out loud! A most welcome inclusion are three Fass originals, two of which were "on the spot" inventions between him and Macchiarolla. Clothed with catchy, droll titles like E's Minor, Ah's Grow'd Up and Your Call Is Very Important To Me lend this disc some humour and light heartedness that is also such a winning feature of Fass' character and persona.


The liner notes on Melody Messenger include some very complimentary quotes and testimonials from leading NYC jazz guitarists on Fass's efforts. These include Gene Bertoncini, James Chirillo and Peter Bernstein.


All of which are more than backed up by "what it says on the tin" as they say. A very impressive recording debut from a talented and experienced guitarist and bodes extremely well for future releases. We look forward to the next one - sooner than later, please.

Frank Griffith


Exemplar Records - No recording dates listed

3 comments :

joel fass said...

Thank you, sir.

I did want to mention a few things:

1. Old pal Bobby Lenti did a first-rate job recording and editing us at his Lansdale, PA home studio.
2. Guitarists Freddie Bryant and Kevin McNeal provided fine notes for the Diehl Cd.
3. Jams for Eddie Diehl has as last track the man himself, live in trio with Bill Takas, bass, and Bob Dorough sitting in on piano---Zinno, NYC, 1983. It was fitting he have the last word, so here he is stretching out lovingly and swingingly on Charlie Parker's Buzzy.
4. Melody Messenger was recorded over 11 years, mostly at Bobby's studio, from 2008-2019 (Last Night When We Were Young was done on a student's no-name acoustic which sound I liked in 2008, BOYA Studios, NJ...

Joel Fass said...

Jams for Eddie Diehl was recorded in 2017, except for Reflections in D, 2019...

Gabe Preston said...

I agree 100% with this review! Joel undoubtedly knows the sources in and out, and it really shows in his consistency of melodic lyricism and compositional harmonic language.

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