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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

Friday, November 20, 2020

Album review: Joanna Berkebile - Love me or Leave me

Joanna Berkebile (vocals); Leslie Maclean (piano); Tim Brewer (bass); Jerry Pollock (drums).

These songs, Joanna says, are “fresh imaginings of some of my favorite tunes. I have a rather curious mind so I love to play around with all the angles of a subject. Romance has TONS of angles! Each tune in “Love Me or Leave Me” contains a completely different personality and perspective, just none of that straightforward lovey-dovey stuff.” Each piece, she says, has the quality of meeting a person and getting their candid take on the whole complicated love subject.

The above words are taken verbatim from the blurb and, by and large, convey what the album is all about. Berkebile trained as an opera singer in Los Angeles but, after moving to Kansas City soon became immersed in the jazz scene of that metropolis.

That she successfully traversed the gap twixt the genres is evident in the way she uses her operatic range without sounding like a posh tottie out slumming. In particular her scatting on the title track, taken at the fashionably fast tempo currently favoured for that tune, would be a credit to many a more well-known jazz singer.

The songs, some well-known, some not so well-known are very much based on the power struggles of relationships that are less or more than 50%.

The Gentleman is a Dope: The voice of the other woman.


Comes Love: The inability to fight it.


My Last Affair: Famous last words!


Is You is or is You Ain't my Baby?: The oft asked question albeit usually more grammatically correct.


Mean to Me: The immortal line: Why must you be mean to me when you know what you mean to me?


Peel me a Grape: The gold digger's anthem.


Goody Goody: A comeuppance song complete with either a rarely heard verse or something of the singers own creation.


Temptation: Not the Crosby/Como classic but a more contemporary song.


Love me or Leave me: Take it or leave it!


Maclean wrote the arrangements  and her usual bass and drums help to keep things swinging along nicely.


Difficult to pigeonhole, perhaps at the jazz end of cabaret. Whatever, still very listenable - Joanna Berkebile's a name to keep an eye out for as is the Leslie Maclean Trio.

Lance


Joanna Berkebile - Love me or Leave me is available now from the usual suspects.

1 comment :

JoannaB said...

Thanks so much for your kind review from "across the pond"! For a sample listen or a signed CD, visit my website www.jazzjb.com.

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