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Bebop Spoken There

Sullivan Fortner: ''I always judge it by the bass player: If the bass player is happy, it's going to be a good night". (DownBeat, February 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

17777 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 98 of them this year alone and, so far, 23 this month (Feb.8).

From This Moment On ...

February 2025

Tue 11: Steve Summers Quintet @ Newcastle House Hotel, Rothbury. 7:30pm.

Wed 12: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 12: Jam session @ The Tannery, Gilesgate, Hexham. 7:00-9:00pm. Free.
Wed 12: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 12: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 13: Student Performances @ King’s Hall, Newcastle University. 4:00pm. Free. Inc. Olly Styles (tenor sax).
Thu 13: MOBO Awards Fringe 2025: Artist Showcase @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 7:00pm. Free (ticketed). Line-up inc. Hannabiell & Midnight Blue.
Thu 13: Indigo Jazz Voices @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:45pm. £5.00.

Fri 14: John Rowland Trio @ Jesmond Library, Newcastle. 12:30-1:30pm. £5.00. at the door. New second Friday in the month concert series.
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: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 4:00-6:00pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Fri 14: Archipelago + Anna Tempest @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm. £12.00., £10.00., £8.00.
Fri 14: Paul Jones & Dave Kelly @ Alnwick Playhouse. 7:30pm. Rhythm & blues.
Fri 14: Alexia Gardner Quintet @ The White Room, Stanley. 7:45pm.
Fri 14: Jazz Sabbath @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm.

Sat 15: Joseph Carville Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 15: James Birkett & Emma Fisk @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 7:30pm. £15.00. at the door; £14.35. (inc £0.35 bf) online, in advance.
Sat 15: Elkie Brooks @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 7:30pm. ‘The Long Farewell Tour’.
Sat 15: Milne Glendinning Band @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 16: Jason Isaacs @ STACK, Exchange Sq., Middlesbrough. 1:00-2:45pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sun 16: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 16: MOBO Awards Fringe 2025: BBC Introducing NE X MOBO Showcase @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 6:00pm. Free (ticketed). Line-up inc. Jambone, Knats, Rivkala, SwanNek.
Sun 16: The Shayo Experience @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 16: Gerry Richardson Quartet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
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: Russ Morgan Quartet @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £10.00.

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, August 19, 2020

Album Review: Ashley Locheed & Chris Rottmayer – So in Love


Ashley Locheed (voice); Chris Rottmayer (piano); Chuck Archard (electric bass) Keith Wilson (drums)

(Recorded in 2011, So in Love is dedicated to the band's drummer Keith Wilson who died in 2014 aged 55.)

Ashley Locheed, vocalist and bandleader, performs internationally with her quartet, tours regularly with Michael Bolton and has worked with Engelbert Humperdinck as well as playing with artists such as Richard Drexler and Allan Vaché.

Chris Rottmayer, a pianist for Walt Disney World since 1999, is at present a jazz piano instructor at the University of South Florida. 


These two lead on this very fine, stylish, more-than-competent, album, which gives us mostly standards including two different renditions of So in Love, but also provides variety in the form of The Windmills of Your Mind; Paul Simon's Something So Right and La Vie En Rose.

The opening So in Love is intimately sung over a Latin beat with a strong rhythmic bass, in contrast to the same song on the final track, a swing version with a fuller sound and a lighter bass. Both acceptable but I preferred it swinging. Agua De Beber has pleasing lyrics which I hadn't noticed before, maybe because it's often sung in the original language. 'Round Midnight, feelingly sung, getting across the tension of being unsure in love. It helped that I was listening at around midnight (we never sleep at BSH).

I Love Paris ended with a quick chorus of C'est Ci Bon, a neat touch. The cleverly arranged Summer Wind, with effective images of cymbals sounding like the wind and the piano flowing like wind. The Windmills of Your Mind, sung as a slow ballad making it all the better to enjoy the imagery of the lyrics and Piaf’s La Vie En Rose over an effectively steady drumbeat rounded off an excellent choice of tunes.

I did have one reservation... I've come to the conclusion that the electric bass is not nearly as good for jazz of this nature as the lovely big wooden double bass. The former is more suited to the contemporary side of jazz and, on this album, I found it a bit too loud and insistent on some of the tracks.

The album is available from September 4 on the Timucua Arts Foundation label. See www.chrisrottmayer.com
Ann Alex

So in Love; Agua De Beber; 'Round Midnight; Day in Day Out; I Love Paris; Something So Right (Paul Simon); Summer Wind; Sailing; The Windmills of Your Mind (Michel Legrand); La Vie En Rose; So in Love (take two).

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