Total Pageviews

Bebop Spoken There

Steve Coleman: ''If you don't keep learning, your mind slows down. Use it or lose it''. (DownBeat, January 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

17680 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 23 of them this year alone and, so far, 23 this month (Jan. 9).

From This Moment On ...

January 2025

Sun 12: The New ’58 Jazz Collective @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 12: Am Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 12: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 12: King Bees @ The Tyne Bar, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. Superb Chicago blues band.
Sun 12: Dave Bottomley @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Country blues guitar.
Sun 12: Jack Pearce Quintet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 13: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 13: Raymond MacDonald & Andy Champion @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £10.00.

Tue 14: Zoë Gilby Quintet @ Newcastle House Hotel, Rothbury. 7:30pm.

Wed 15: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 15: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 15: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 15: Hot Club of Heaton @ Elder Beer, Heaton, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘third Wednesday in the month’ session. TBC.

Thu 16: Pete Tanton & the Cuban Heels @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Fri 17: Lindsay Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 17: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 17: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 17: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 17: Joe Steels Trio @ The Pele, Corbridge. 7:00pm. £TBC.
Fri 17: Russ Morgan Quartet @ Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. Opus 4 Jazz Club.
Fri 17: Redwell @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sat 18: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 18: Alter Ego + Jamie Toms/Graham Don Duo @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 7:30pm. £15.00. at the door; £14.35. (inc £0.35 bf) online, in advance.
Sat 18: Delta Prophets @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

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

Monday, November 16, 2020

Album review: Jeff Ellwood - The Sounds Around the House

Jeff Ellwood (tenor sax); Alan Pasqua (piano); Derek Oles (bass); Joe LaBarbera (drums) + Bob Sheppard (tenor sax on 1 tk.).

I first encountered Ellwood on an album by the Jeff Benedict Big Band back in 2015. On that occasion I singled out his tenor solo on Caravan. Since then his name has cropped up in DownBeat in an assortment of settings but this, I was surprised to learn, was his first recording as a leader.

There is a time in the affairs of men which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune. So wrote Billy Shakespeare and Jeff Ellwood has decided that this is the time and done just that. Whether it leads on to fortune for Jeff is another matter but we listeners are certainly fortunate in being able to hear such a present day master in the traditional horn + Rhythm section although this is no throwback but very much for the present without losing those essential values that make good jazz accessible.

There's only one standard, a little known Alec Wilder/Johnny Mercer tune - The Sounds Around the House. First recorded in 1976 by Dick Haymes, who knows how to sing a ballad, it's the ideal number for Ellwood who knows how to play a ballad.

The other tracks are by Ellwood, Pasqua, Oles and contemporary writers such as Dick Oatts and Ricky Margitza.

On Oatts' King Henry Ellwood is joined by fellow reedsman Bob Sheppard and the two tenors blend well albeit going a little crazy at one point.

Pasqua, like Oles is an A-lister on the California scene whilst Joe LaBarbera has played with just about everybody from Woody Herman to Bill Evans via Art Pepper, Tony Bennett, Rosemary Clooney and Bob Brookmeyer to name but some. He played in a band with his brothers John and Pat - yet another American musical dynasty!

A great album for those who like their jazz to be relatively straight ahead!

Lance

No comments :

Blog Archive