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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

17719 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 39 of them this year alone and, so far, 39 this month (Jan. 15).

From This Moment On ...

January 2025

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 w. Graham Hardy @ The Pele, Corbridge. 7:00pm. £10.00. (inc. a welcome drink & table reservation). Book at: www.drinks@thepele.co.uk. A ‘Jazz at the Pele’ promotion.
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: Tweed River Jazz Band @ Repas 7 by Night, West St., Berwick TD15 1AS. 7:30pm. Free. Album launch gig.
Sat 18: Delta Prophets @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 19: Glenn Miller Orchestra UK @ Glasshouse, Gateshead. 3:00pm. ‘Glenn Miller & the Rat Pack Era’.
Sun 19: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 19: Spilt Milk @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 5:15-7:00pm. Free. Nolan Brothers (vocal harmonies).
Sun 19: Tenement Jazz Band @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 19: Nick Ross Orchestra @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 7:30pm.
Sun 19: Freight Train (Tobin/Noble/Clarvis) @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 20: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 21: ???

Wed 22: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 22: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 22: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 22: Pasadena Roof Orchestra @ Fire Station, Sunderland. 7:30pm.

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 27, 2020

Book review: The Art of Jazz: A Visual History

Album covers, concert posters, paintings, photographs, every jazz fan will have their favourites. Turning the pages (all 256 of them) of Alyn Shipton's new book, it is likely that some, perhaps all of them, will be represented across its eleven chapters. From its nineteenth century roots to the present day, The Art of Jazz: A Visual History is a beautifully illustrated chronological survey of the music. 

The format is simplicity itself: chapter one Jazz Begins, chapter two The Jazz Age, through the swing era, WWII, bebop to modern, the New Orleans' revivalists and on to Twenty-First-Century Jazz with much else between. More than three hundred pristine images make leafing through this hardback tome a pleasure. 

A noted author, broadcaster and musician, Shipton offers authoritative commentary as the reader's eye darts from the printed word to the visual image and back again. Chapter one, page seven, the very first photograph (Charles Peterson, photographer) shows Duke Ellington holding (perhaps not playing!) Sister Rosetta Tharpe's guitar as Rex Stewart , Cab Calloway, Ivie Anderson and an anonymous French fan look on. 

Chapter two, page 33, Mondrian's famous painting Broadway Boogie Woogie gets a page all to itself. WWII, page 97, film posters advertising Stormy Weather (Lena Horne, Bill Robinson, Cab Calloway, Fats Waller) and Cabin in the Sky (Ethel Waters, Lena Horne, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington), turn the page, sheet music for Fats Waller's The Spider and the Fly (Poor Fly, Bye-Bye)

Reid Miles' design for Horace Parlan's Blue Note album Us Three (page 157) reminds the reader of the classic 'brand' and on Atlantic, Ornette Coleman's Free Jazz: A Collective Improvisation (chapter 8, page 188) makes the connection with the abstract expressionists of the time (Jackson Pollock's White Light, or part of it), an integral part of the label's vision. 

As a 'must have' book, or, at this time of year, an ideal gift, Alyn Shipton's book is highly recommended.
Russell   

The Art of Jazz: A Visual History by Alyn Shipton is published by Imagine (Charlesbridge Publishing)ISBN: 978-1-62354-504-8.  

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