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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

Fri 14: John Rowland Trio @ Jesmond Library, Newcastle. 1:00-2:00pm. £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. SOLD OUT!
Fri 14: Fiona Finden’s Jazz Express @ Flash House Brewing Co., North Shields. 8:00pm.
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: MOBO Song @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 12 noon. Free, performances on the concourse. Line-up inc. Jazz Attack (on stage time TBC) & Jambone (12:20pm).
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: 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. .

Mon 17: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 17: Matt Forster Quartet @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 1:00pm. £9.00. at the door; £8.20. (inc £0.20 bf) online, in advance.
Mon 17: Russ Morgan Quartet @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £10.00.

Tue 18: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Alan Law, Paul Grainger, John Hirst.

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: James Birkett & Emma Fisk @ King’s Hall, Newcastle University. 1:15pm. Free.
Thu 20: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: Jazz Milestones - 1975.
Thu 20: Renegade Brass Band @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors).
Thu 20: Orange Claw Hammer + Peony @ The Globe, Newcastle.7:30pm. Orange Claw Hammer play Captain Beefheart.
Thu 20: Jeremy McMurray & the Pocket Jazz Orchestra @ Arc, Stockton. 8:00pm. Featuring special guest Zoë Gilby.

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, October 07, 2020

Album review: Ella Fitzgerald - ELLA: The Lost Berlin Tapes

Ella Fitzgerald (vocals); Paul Smith (piano); Wilfred
Middlebrooks (bass); Stan Levey (drums)

Two years previous (1960), Ella had played Berlin and famously forgot the words to Mack the Knife. The result was a best-selling album! Two years later she remembered the words, although she did keep the previously improvised line but didn't know which city she was in. When you're on the road I guess one place is the same as the next - Berlin today, Newcastle tomorrow. This may well have been the case as she did play Newcastle's City Hall on that tour as part of JATP.

I was there and I don't recall her mistaking Newcastle for Gateshead (or vice versa as so often happened later when big names played Sage Gateshead). Obviously Newcastle made a more lasting impression on her than Berlin did.

Ella also made a lasting impression on me 58 years ago, and, if I close my eyes, I'm still sitting there in awe of what I'm hearing perched on the edge of seat F23 (poetic licence!)

Although I didn't take notes, I'm fairly sure that at least some of the numbers she sang then would be among these classics taken from a newly discovered tape found in Herr Granz's Verve bunker.

As always, the First Lady gives each number her own individual take. A typical example being the gender reversed Matt Monro hit, My Kind of Boy in which she credits the boy with the combined attributes of Sinatra, Eckstine, Belafonte, Como, Cole and Basie - no wonder he was her kind of boy!

Sixteen numbers, well actually seventeen as Hallelujah, I Love Him So was so good she sang it twice, that had me as hooked now as I'd been way back then. Even Summertime and Cry me a River don't spoil the mood - it's as if I'm hearing them for the first time!

On piano, Paul Smith proved to be the ideal accompanist even though in the March 1962 edition of Jazz Journal Sinclair Traill wasn't impressed. Stan Levey's drum solo on Clap Hands, Here Comes Charlie gave him the contender status he didn't achieve as a fighter whilst Middlebrooks was the ideal bassist - he had to be - Ella's ex-husband was Ray Brown!

One number I distinctly recall from the City Hall was Mr. Paganini. It brought the house down then and it does just that here.

Mack the Knife, naturally, also had both audiences on their feet. Even Louis and Bobby Darin never quite hit this groove. The final Wee Baby Blues had Ella in the unfamiliar role of blues singer. Like Billie Holiday and Sarah Vaughan Ella was never an out and out blues mama but she has a fair crack at it here.

The other tracks are Cheek to Cheek; I Won't Dance; Someone to Watch Over Me; Jersey Bounce; Angel Eyes; Taking a Chance on Love; C'est Magnifique & Good Morning Heartache.

If, inexplicably, you haven't any Ella in your collection this is a good place to start. If you are well-stocked then I suggest you make room for one more. In the words of Bing Crosby "Man, woman or child ..." you know the rest and it's true, she is "The Greatest!"

Lance.

Available now on CD, vinyl etc.

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