Total Pageviews

Bebop Spoken There

Van Morrison: ''Basically, I'm coming from jazz. Not pop, not rock, not what's commercial. That's where I started, and that's still where I am. I feel the same as I did when I was listening to Louis Armstrong, Lead Belly, Jelly Roll Morton''. (The Northern Echo, 12 June 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

18037 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 458 of them this year alone and, so far, 36 this month (June 11).

From This Moment On ...

JUNE 2025

Sat 14: Mr Wilson’s Second Liners @ Northumberland Miners’ Picnic, Woodhorn Museum, Ashington. 10:00am-5:00pm. Free. At intervals during the day.
Sat 14: Spanish City Rollers @ The Brae, Cullercoats. 11:00am & 1:00pm. Free. A Cullercoats Festival event.
Sat 14: Front Porch Three + Hoodoo Blues swing dance workshop @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 3:30pm. A Cullercoats Festival event.
Sat 14: Tyne Valley Big Band @ Tynedale Beer & Cider Festival, Tynedale Rugby Club, Corbridge. 4:15-5:30pm.
Sat 14: Jeff Hewer Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 14: Mark Williams Trio @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 7:30pm. £15.00. at the door; £14.35. (inc £0.35 bf) online, in advance.
Sat 14: Lindsay Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ The White Room, Stanley. 7:45pm.
Sat 14: Eva Fox & Steve Chambers @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 15: Lewis Watson Quartet @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm.
Sun 15: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 15: Pasadena Roof Orchestra @ Alnwick Playhouse. 7:00pm.
Sun 15: Under the Wellie @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 15: Hannah Brine Quartet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 16: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club (1:00pm). Free.
Mon 16: Giles Strong Quartet @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £10.00.

Tue 17: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Alan Law, Paul Grainger, Abbie Finn.

Wed 18: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 18: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:30pm. Free. Concert performance (open to the public)..
Wed 18: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 19: Gareth John & the SOS Big Band @ The Forum Music Centre, Darlington. 7:00pm. £25.00.

Fri 20: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free..
Fri 20: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free..
Fri 20: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00..
Fri 20: Strictly Smokin’ Big Band @ Alnwick Playhouse. 7:30pm. £21.50. ‘Time After Time’..
Fri 20: Alexia Gardner Quintet @ Sunderland Minster. 7:30pm. .
Fri 20: King Bees @ Billy Bootleggers, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. Superb Chicago blues band.

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, September 09, 2020

Album review: Allegra Levy Sings John McNeil – Lose My Number

Allegra Levy (vocal); Carmen Staaf (piano); Carmen Rothwell (bass); Colleen Clark (drums) + John McNeil (trumpet 3 tracks) Pierre Dorge (ukulele 1 track)

I hadn't heard of John McNeil before but I'm sure most other BSH readers have. He first hit the N Y jazz scene in the mid '70s, playing with the Horace Silver Quintet, Gerry Mulligan and others. This album features his tunes with lyrics by Allegra Levy. I approach original material with wariness as it sometimes takes a while to get used to new songs, but I needn't have worried.

 The music is boppish, I don't say bebop as I'm unsure how that is defined, and the lyrics are assertive, feminist, even stroppy in an amusing way. I expected the title track, which closes the album, would be a sad, lovelorn song. Not a bit of it! It means what it says, e.g. 'Lose my number, lose it, don't you dare call me up on the phone. This matches well with the lively music, short sharp phrases, great leaps, variation of tones, staccato rhythms, unsingable - except to a skilled vocalist such as Ms Levy. And an all-woman band (apart from a couple of guests including McNeil and a uke player) adds even more interest.

Allegra Levy graduated from the New England Conservatory in 2011, where trumpeter McNeil was her mentor. She went on to complete three highly acclaimed albums* and win first place in the Adult Contemporary category of the Great American Song Contest 2019. This is her fourth album.

Samba De Beach outlines the problems of the musician's life, made worse by corvid;  Livin' Small paints a picture of the simple life; then comes Tiffany, a drama in song about a man who longs to buy his wife expensive jewellery which he can't afford, expressed through dreamy bass playing and sparse piano tones.

Strictly Ballroom is just that, a woman rejecting a man on the dancefloor, with a steady dance 4/4 on the piano and an amusing trumpet and voice duet. Dover Beach is different, the lyrics have the Victorian poem of that name in mind, and also the words of Ms Levy's grandmother, 'Nothing's insurmountable', sung to a haunting tune. Ukulele Tune is in the style of 1920s' jazz. All rounded off  with the spirited Lose My Number.

The album is released live stream from Soapbox Gallery in Brooklyn on Tuesday September 15 at 8pm EST. It is also available via Steeplechase. See www.allegralevy.com
 Ann Alex

Samba De Beach; Livin' Small; Tiffany; Strictly Ballroom; C.J.; Dover Beach; Ukulele Tune; Zephyr; Lose My Number.

* BSH editor Lance reviewed all 3 of Allegra Levy's previous albums and listed her 2018 album Looking at the Moon as one of his Albums of the Year.

No comments :

Blog Archive