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HOWAY THE LADS!

Bebop Spoken There

John McLaughlin: '' A Love Supreme coincided with my search for meaning in life". (DownBeat, March 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

17873 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 194 of them this year alone and, so far, 41 this month (March 14).

From This Moment On ...

MARCH 2025.

Sat 15: Hot Teapots @ St Augustine’s Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm.
Sat 15: Lagos to Longbenton + Belladonna @ Whitley Bay Big Social, Whitley Road, Whitley Bay. 2:00pm. Free. Afrobeat/jazz fusion + soul/funk/R&B
Sat 15: Creakin’ Bones @ Billy Bootleggers. Ouseburn, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free.
Sat 15: Joseph Carville Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 15: Is This Jazz? @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Tickets: www.eventbrite.co.uk. Performances by Mu Quintet, Jinjé, A Brief Utopia, John Pope & Co + André Marmot (author of Unapologetic Expression: The Inside Story of the UK Jazz Explosion) in conversation + DJ sets ‘til 3:00am. ‘A Festival of New Jazz’.
Sat 15: Vintage Explosion @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 7:30pm. SOLD OUT!
Sat 15: Alligator Gumbo @ The Forum, Darlington. 7:30pm. £15.00.
Sat 15: One Night Standards @ The White Room, Stanley. 8:00pm. £8.67 (inc. bf). Note - previously advertised Salty Dogs cancelled.
Sat 15: Howlin’ Mat @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Blues guitar.

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: Pearl Blossoms @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Ragtime.
Sun 16: Hot 8 Brass Band @ Wylam Brewery. 7:30pm. ‘Big Tuba Tour’.
Sun 16: ARQ @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Sun 16: Air4ce @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 8:30pm (8:00pm doors). £12.00.; £10.00. Tom Atkinson’s all-star band (line-up inc. Lindsay Hannon & Sue Ferris).
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: Jamie Toms Quartet @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £10.00.

Tue 18: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Laurence Harrison, Paul Grainger, Tim Johnston.
Tue 18: Phil Bancroft’s Beautiful Storm @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £13.20 & £11.00.. A JNE-Gem Arts co-promotion.

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: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: Nicknames.
Thu 20: Terri Green Experience @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £15.90.
Thu 20: Lindsay Hannon Trio @ The Harbour View, Roker, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Hannon’s ‘Tom Waits for No Man’ set.
Thu 20: Ray Stubbs R&B All Stars @ Mill Tavern, Hebburn. 8:30pm. Free.

Fri 21: Paul Skerritt @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 21: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 21: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 21: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 21: Giles Strong Quartet @ 1719, Hendon, Sunderland. 7:30pm. CANCELLED!
Fri 21: New Century Ragtime Orchestra @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Featuring special guest Martin Litton (piano).

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

Thursday, January 28, 2021

Album review: Shai Maestro - Human

Shai Maestro (piano), Jorge Roeder (bass), Ofri Nehemya (drums), Philip Dizack (trumpet)

Early in the year perhaps, but a contender for album of 2021 already!   A sumptuous studio recording from the aptly named Shai Maestro, who is now firmly in the top bracket of international composer/pianists.  Maestro famously turned down a scholarship to Berklee in favour of tenure with Avishai Cohen (bass) and is now a star in his own right on the evidence of this remarkable recording from ECM.  

His previous ECM outing The Dream Thief (2018) was rapturously received, and his band here builds on the trio of fellow Israeli Nehemya and Peruvian Roeder with the addition of New York based Dizack on trumpet. Any fears that the interplay and nuance of the trio would be brassed off” are unfoundedDizack is a player of great subtlety and sensitivity, more in the breathy Arve Henriksen than Christian Scott mouldgiving this quartet an extra dimension and more gears than the already versatile trio.  

Maestro’s playing and compositions (all but one of the tracks here)  draw on a potentially bewildering range of influences, switching and blending between middle eastern folk, European “classical”, Latin and touching on avant-garde, though scarcely a blue note or swing rhythm will be heard. Strong rhythmic pulses and lyrical lines pervade most trackswith the trumpet providing further colour and texture. While the band can ride with Avishai Cohen’s glorious swagger, they can also float in understated beauty. Maestro’s distinction is that these sounds and influences are formed uniquely but easily into his own authentic personality 


While all 11 tracks are strong, a few stand out, foremost being the longest (at 8:32) Mystery and Illusions. As the name suggests this is artfully varied, veering between pastoral piano, thunderous drums, and lyrical call and response. Gorgeous falling waves of trumpet break finally into rapturous flight, soaring over a flat-out ensemble groove. The Thief’s Dream  is more uniformly up tempo,  exciting and busy, with driving piano and drums, showcasing Dizack’s vaulting but always sympathetic lines.  


Title track Human smears gospel drenched chords between piano and bass swapping a wholesome theme.   Hank and Charlie (named for Haden and Jones) is a suitably spiritual and spacious homage to the duo’s 1995 Steal Away  Compassion conjures sweet Chopin prelude images, while Prayer is led by drums, and is more ruminative and fragmented 


Altogether a rich and powerful delight, played with remarkable empathy and subtlety by a well-matched band of the top musicians of their generation.  One to play often, and discover more and more and yearn to see such a band live again!  


Chris K 


Release date: 29 Jan 2021   

Recorded at Studios la Buissonne in the South of France in February 2020, and produced by Manfred Eicher. 

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