bebop spoken here: Album review

From This Moment On

September.

Sun 20: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 20: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 2:30pm. Free.
Sun 20: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 20: Tweed River Jazz Band @ Barrels Ale House, Berwick. 7:00pm. Free.

Mon 21: Friends of Jazz @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 21: Lewis Watson Quartet @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. Coltrane centenary.
Tue 22: ???
Wed 23: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 23: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 23: Lewis Watson Quartet @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 7:30pm. A John Coltrane Centenary Concert (b. 23. 09. 1926). SOLD OUT!
Wed 23: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Thu 24: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ The Millstone, Mill Rise, South Gosforth, Newcastle. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 24: Castillo Nuevo Orquesta @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. £6.50. 7:30pm (doors).
Thu 24: Arun Ghosh @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 8:00pm (7:30pm doors). £21.05. (£22.00. on the door). A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Thu 24: Shalala @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £7.00.
Fri 25: Mark Williams Trio @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. £9.00.
Fri 25: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 25: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 25: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 25: Get the Blessing + Dilettante @ The Cluny (Cluny 2), Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £18.00. + bf. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Fri 25: Jazz Sabbath @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm.
Sat 26: Adam Fairhall & Johnny Hunter: Play Mary Lou Williams @ The Cumberland Arms, Byker, Newcastle. 6:00pm. Free. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Sat 26: John Pope Quintet + Urvashi @ The Cumberland Arms, Byker, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £15.40. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.

Saturday, January 09, 2021

Album review - Shapeshifters

Anna Chandler (alto sax); Sam Quintana (bass); Steve Hanley (drums).

Shapeshifters, not to be confused with other bands of the same or similar name, are a Leeds-based contemporary jazz trio who
laid down these tracks in 2019 and planned to tour with them in the spring of last year and, of course, spring really did hang us up the most.

So, rather than wait until an uncertain future made touring possible again the trio decided to release the album anyway and the launch will take place from 7:00pm to 8:00pm on January 25 in the form of a live stream Facebook gig.

It will be well worth putting a reminder in your diary as it's quite a delightful vignette.

Chandler's cool alto defrosts as the session progresses her tone ranging from early Art Pepper to his later, grittier, Coltranic sound. She also composed four of the six tracks with Hanley providing a fifth along with his reworking of All Blues.

The drummer slots in nicely providing the drive as well as soloing. In the absence of a piano the onus is on Quintana to provide the harmonic foundation which he does admirably.

Released by New Jazz Records on Jan. 25.

Lance

Dark Murmers; High Flyer; Mind Hoover (Hanley); Oh No; Hiding Away; Cliff Hangin' (arranged Hanley based on All Blues).