Bebop Spoken There

David Bailey (photographer): ''When I was 16 I wanted to look like Chet Baker. He was my idol - him and James Dean.'' (Talking Pictures documentary : Four beats to the bar and no cheating April, 2026)

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

18429 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 18 years ago. 293 of them this year alone and, so far this month (April 13 ) 27,

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

From This Moment On

April

Wed 15: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 15: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 15: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 16: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £5.00. Subject: Jewish Musicians/Composers/Vocalists.
Thu 16: Sleep Suppressor + Silk Road + So Anne So @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:00pm. £10.00., £8.00., £6.00.
Thu 16: Fourpenny Rabbits @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Fri 17: Russ Morgan Quartet @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. £8.00. 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: Ben Crosland Quartet @ Sunderland Minster. 7:30pm. £12.96 (inc. bf) online; £15.00 on the door. Old Black Cat Jazz Club.

Sat 18: Bright Street Big Band @ Washington Arts Centre. 6:30pm. £12.00. Swing dance sessions + Bright Street Big Band 7:30-8:15pm & 8:45-9:30pm.
Sat 18: Glenn Miller & Big Band Spectacular @ The Phoenix Theatre, Blyth. 7:30pm. £27.00 (inc. bf).

Sun 19: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 2:30pm. Trio + Lara Hopper.
Sun 19: Pete Tanton’s Chet Set @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm. £12.00., £10.00.
Sun 19: Straight to Tape @ The Tyne Bar, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. Edd Carr, Jonathan Proud, John Hirst. Blues trio.
Sun 19: Graham Hardy’s Eclectic Quartet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £12.00., £10.00., £7.00.

Mon 20: Friends of Jazz @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 20: Dean Stockdale Trio @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £10.00. Stockdale, Mick Shoulder, Abbie Finn.

Tue 21: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ The Victoria & Albert Inn, Seaton Delaval NE25 0AT. Tel: 0191 237 3697. Tickets: £14.00. ‘Pie & Pea Lunch’.
Tue 21: Neil Cowley Trio @ The Fire Station, Sunderland. 7:30pm. £29.00., £26.00., £23.00.
Tue 21: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Joe Steels (guitar); Paul Grainger (double bass); Jack Littlewood (drums).

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.

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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.

Friday, January 08, 2021 2:42:00 am

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