Bebop Spoken There

Art Blakey (to Terence Blanchard): ''You ain't Miles find your own shit to do!'' (DownBeat May, 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

18504 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 18 years ago. 368 of them this year alone and, so far this month (May 7 ) 22

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

May

Fri 15: Conor Emery Quartet @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. Line-up Emery (trombone); Alix Shepherd (piano); John Pope (double bass); Abbie Finn (drums). SOLD OUT!
Fri 15: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 15: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 15: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 15: Gerry Richardson Quartet @ Sunderland Minster. 7:30pm. £13.01 adv., £15.00 on the door. Old Black Cat Jazz Club.
Fri 15: Puppini Sisters @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm. CANCELLED!

Sat 16: Sing Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. £27.50. Tutor: Alexia Gardner. God Bless the Child - Lady Day!. Enrol at: learning@jazz.coop.
Sat 16: Kaberry Big Band @ the Seahorse Pub, Hillheads Rd., Whitley Bay NE23 8HR. From 7:30pm. £15.00
Sat 16: Lady Nade @ Arc, Stockton. 8:00pm. ‘Lady Nade sings Nina Simone’.

Sun 17: Glenn Miller & Big Band Spectacular @ Forum Theatre, Billingham. 7:30pm.
Sun 17: QOW Trio @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £14.00., £12.00., £7.00. Spike Wells, Riley Stone-Lonergan & Eddie Myer.

Mon 18: Friends of Jazz @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 18: Mark Williams Trio @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £10.00.

Tue 19: GoGo Penguin + Daudi Matsiko @ Wylam Brewery, Newcastle. 7:00pm (doors). £22.00 + £4.40 bf.
Tue 19: Danny Lowndes’ Hot Club @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £15.00 + £5.00 bf.
Tue 19: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Michael Young (piano); Paul Grainger (double bass); Mark Robertson (drums).

Wed 20: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 20: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 20: Jordan Jackson @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £19.80 (inc. bf); £15.40 (inc. bf).
Wed 20: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 21: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ The Millstone, Mill Rise, South Gosforth, Newcastle. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 21: Jazz Classics with Rivkala @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. Rivkala (vocals); Alan Law (piano); Paul Grainger (double bass).
Thu 21: Paul Skerritt @ Angels' Share, St George's Terrace, Jesmond, Newcastle NE2 2SX. 8:00pm. Free. Booking advised (0191 200 1975). Skerritt w. backing tapes.

Saturday, January 02, 2021

Film review: I Called Him Morgan

Lee Morgan met an untimely death. I Called Him Morgan tells the story. Director Kasper Collin's 2016 feature length documentary juxtaposes interviews with some of the figures who were present on the night Morgan was killed, alongside an audio cassette tape interview with Helen Morgan, common-law wife of the hard bop trumpet icon.
As the story unfolds it becomes apparent that those who knew Lee and Helen were fond of both, there is little in the way of negative criticism of either principal character. The emergence on the scene of a teenage Morgan working with Dizzy and Trane is afforded due reverence by fellow musicians, one suggesting a 'cocky' Morgan knew he was good, so much so he wasn't afraid to take on Dizzy on the stand! Archive footage of Morgan with the Jazz Messengers playing his famed trumpet intro on Moanin' proves to be a musical highlight but it is the testimony of those who were there, those who were part of it, which makes I Called Him Morgan so compelling. 

Helen Morgan, who was some years Lee's senior, is heard on tape talking almost a quarter of a century after the fateful day Lee met his end. The man who secured the interview with Helen Morgan in February 1996 - Larry Reni Thomas - reveals that there was to be a follow-up interview but it never happened as the following month his interviewee died. So, this lone cassette tape serves as Helen Morgan's account of events in Slugs' Saloon, NYC on the evening of February 19, 1972. 

Since the release of Kasper Collin's film, which was premiered at the Venice Film Festival, more than one of the on-screen talking heads has left us, including Jymie Merritt who died last year. Thankfully some of the participants are still with us: Wayne Shorter (Morgan suggested to Art Blakey that the now octogenarian saxophonist should join the Messengers) and Billy Harper. The Cookers' tenor saxophonist was in Slugs' Saloon on the night of February 19, 1972. Listening to Harper recalling the occasion somehow made a connection, however tenuous, given that in recent years the Texas-born musician has graced the stage at Sage Gateshead. 

I Called Him Morgan is currently available on Netflix (www.netflix.com).          
Russell
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