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Bebop Spoken There

George Porter Jr.: ''To me, syncopation is like jazz. It wasn't meant for the masses. It was meant just for a hip few". (DownBeat, May 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

18018 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 339 of them this year alone and, so far, 17 this month (May 7).

From This Moment On ...

MAY 2025

Mon 12: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 12: Gregory Porter + Jo Harrop @ Newcastle City Hall. 7:30pm. Support act: Jo Harrop!

Tue 13: ???

Wed 14: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 14: Recital (stage 2): Leah Kirk (voice) @ The Band Room, Music Studios, Assembly Lane, Newcastle University. 3:00pm. Free.
Wed 14: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 14: Tannery jam session @ The Tannery, Hexham. 7:00pm.
Wed 14: Jerron Paxton @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £24.20. Excellent country blues multi-instrumentalist.
Wed 14: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. BACK IN BUSINESS, all welcome!

Thu 15: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: The Greatest in Jazz - Guitarists.
Thu 15: Pete Tanton & the Cuban Heels @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 15: New Ways of Moving in the Counterworlds @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 8:00pm (7:00pm doors). John Garner & John Pope.

Fri 16: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 16: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 16: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 16: Sophie Speed with the Dean Stockdale Trio @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 16: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 1:00-2:45pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Fri 16: Jason Isaacs @ STACK, Exchange Sq., Middlesbrough. 4:00-6:00pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Fri 16: Giles Strong Quartet @ Longframlington Memorial Hall. 7:00pm (doors). Tickets: £12.00. from 01665 570984.
Fri 16: Hot Club du Nord @ St Cuthbert’s Centre, Crook. 7:30pm. £10.00.
Fri 16: Peter Donegan & Anthony Donegan @ The Witham, Barnard Castle. 7:30pm. ‘Lonnie Donegan - The Stories’.

Sat 17: Teresa Watson Band @ Billy Bootleggers, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. Blues.
Sat 17: The Society Quartet @ Hilton Garden Inn, Sunderland. 6:00pm. Tel: 0191 500 9494. £26.00 (inc. two course meal). Line-up: Jason Holcomb, Hannah Taylor, Alix Shepherd & Abbie Finn.
Sat 17: Milne Glendinning Band @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 17: Archie Brown & the Young Bucks @ Billy Bootleggers, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. Rhythm & blues, Americana etc.
Sat 17: Rockin’ Turner Brothers @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Rockabilly, Western swing etc.

Sun 18: Jason Isaacs @ STACK, Seaburn. 12 noon-2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sun 18: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 18: Ruth Lambert & Giles Strong @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 18: Steve Summers Quintet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

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

Sunday, August 30, 2020

Album Review: Dave Stryker with Bob Mintzer and the WDR Big Band - Blue Soul

Guitarist Dave Stryker joined fellow American Bob Mintzer to play a varied selection of charts alongide Germany's world class WDR Big Band. The result - Blue Soul - is an enjoyable groove-laden take on familiar jazz/pop/soul standards with three Styrker originals and a Mintzer composition making the final cut of nine tracks. 

Stryker has released more than two dozen albums of his own and worked as sideman on countless others. Influences are brought to bear on this Strikezone Records CD. To begin at the end, the closing track, Stan's Shuffle, was written by his old boss of ten years or more, Stanley Turrentine. The midway point (track five), Stryker's own Blues Strut, features the man himself, Mintzer's tenor sax and Billy Test on organ. The latter recalls Stryker's earlier work with Jack McDuff. 

Three paragraphs in and scarcely a mention of the WDR. That's because it should be taken for granted that if the mighty German outfit is on a recording session it has to be good, and it is. Mintzer is the orchestra's principal conductor. Arranging charts for the WDR must be a challenge and a pleasure in equal measure with no such thing as a weak link in this band, soloists coming from every section (Karolina Starssmeyer, alto sax, Andy Hunter, trombone to name but two), the guest soloist laying down a blues groove, it all adds up to a polished 'big band with soloist' (ad)venture. 

From Marvin Gaye's Trouble Man and What's Going On? to Prince's When Doves Cry to Jimmy Webb's Wichita Lineman, the WDR under the direction of Mintzer make Blues Soul an 'easy' listen, 'easy' in the best sense of the word, the kind of album where you anticipate a twist, a turn, a solo, and, right on cue, it delivers. 
Russell

Blues Soul by Dave Stryker with Bob Mintzer and the WDR Big Band is available on Strikezone Records (8820).    

Dave Stryker (guitar); Bob Mintzer (conductor, arranger, tenor sax tracks 2, 5, 9); Wim Both Rob Bruynen, Andy Haderer, Ruud Breuls (trumpets); Ludwig Nuss, Raphael Klemm, Andy Hunter (trombones); Mattis Cederberg (bass trombone); Johan Hörlén, Karolina Srassmayer (alto sax); Olivier Peters, Paul Heller (tenor sax); Jens Neufang (baritone sax); Billy Test (piano, organ); John Goldsby (bass); Hans Dekker (drums) 

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