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

18445 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 18 years ago. 309 of them this year alone and, so far this month (April 20 ) 43,

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

Thu 23: FILM: Big Mama Thornton: I Can’t Be Anyone But Me @ Tyneside Cinema, Newcastle. 6:15pm. Dir. Robert Clem (2025).
Thu 23: Castillo Nuevo Orquesta @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. £6.50. 7:30pm (doors).
Thu 23: Eva Fox & the Sound Hounds @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Thu 23: Jeremy McMurray’s Pocket Jazz Orchestra & Musicians Unlimited @ ARC, Stockton. 8:00pm. £19.00. inc. bf.

Fri 24: Noel Dennis Trio @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. Dennis, Mark Willams, Andy Champion. SOLD OUT!
Fri 24: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 24: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 24: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 24: Trio Grand @ Land of Oak & Iron, Winlaton. 6:00-9:00pm. Free.
Fri 24: Ben Vince + The Exu @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm (doors). £14.33., £11.16, £8.00. A ‘jazz adjacent’ gig!
Fri 24: Daniel John Martin w. Swing Manouche @ The Ship Isis, Sunderland. 7:30pm. £13.20 (inc. bf).
Fri 24: TBC @ The Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm.

Sat 25: Giles Strong Quartet @ Hindmarsh Hall, Alnmouth. 7:30pm. CANCELLED!
Sat 25: Daniel John Martin w. Swing Manouche @ The Old Cinema Launderette, Durham. 7:30pm (7:00pm doors). £13.20 (inc. bf).
Sat 25: ‘Portrait in Evans’: Noa Levy & Alan Barnes w. Paul Edis Trio @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm. £24.00. Sage Two. ‘Portrait in Evans’. Levy, Barnes, Edis, Andy Champion & Steve Hanley.

Sun 26: Musicians Unlimited: Big Band Blast @ West Hartlepool RFC. 1:00-3:00pm . Free.
Sun 26: Daniel John Martin w. Swing Manouche @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00pm. £10.00.
Sun 26: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 26: Ruth Lambert Trio @ Juke Shed, North Shields. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 26: Ni Maxine + Nauta @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm. £17.51., £14.33., £11.16.
Sun 26: Joe Steels @ The Pele, Corbridge. 7:00pm. Free (donations direct to the musicians). Joe Steels & Friends.
Sun 26: C.A.L.I.E @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £16.00., £14.00., £7.00.

Mon 27: Friends of Jazz @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 27: House of Blues @ the Globe, Newcastle. 7:00pm. £7.00., £5.00. advance. A student-led jazz session. ‘House of Blues’ is, perhaps, a misnomer.
Mon 27: Littlewood Trio @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £10.00 + bf, £7.00. + bf.

Tue 28: Long/Remon/Zilker @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. Tom Remon plays Irish folk!

Wed 29: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 29: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 29: Long/Remon/Zilker @ The Ship Isis, Sunderland. 7:00pm. £10.00. + £1.00. bf. Tom Remon plays Irish folk!
Wed 29: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 29: Hackney Colliery Band @ Alnwick Playhouse. 7:30pm. £25.00.

Tuesday, January 19, 2021

R.I.P. Junior Mance (1928 - 2021)

It wasn't until 2003 that I first heard Junior Mance live. It was in fact the first and only time and it was in Gateshead at that town's Caedmon Hall where the event took place in a concert organised by Jazz North East.

If I hadn't heard him live prior to that memorable concert (and I'm sure I must have done somewhere down the line) then I more than made up for it on record.

The first time I heard the pianist was on a 1954 album titled Jam Session with Clifford Brown, Maynard Ferguson, Clark Terry and others. There were two pianists listed - Richie Powell was the other one - and when I heard the piano solo on Move I thought both pianists were having a work out. It was some years later that I discovered it was only Mance which made me appreciate him all the more - shades of the apocryphal story of the young Art Tatum and the piano roll.

One of the albums that I play most frequently and what I'm playing now, as I type, is Dizzy's 1959 album Have Trumpet Will Excite! which, on the strength of his piano solo on St. Louis Blues, could have been subtitled Have Junior Mance Will Excite! On Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams Dizzy plays possibly one of his most melodic solos ever and Mance picks it up playing part of the trumpet player's solo note for note before adding his own variation - one of those magical moments.

The news that Junior Mance died on January 17 (or was it 16? reports vary) signifies the loss of yet another jazz great - he was 92.
Sadly missed.
Lance

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3 comments :

Miles said...

Mance appeared with Dizzy at the City Hall in the 50's I think it was the Newport Jazz Package that included Brubeck and Buck Clayton.I moved house last year and threw away all my old programmes otherwise I could give you more details.
Miles

Thursday, January 21, 2021 10:36:00 pm
Lance said...

Thanks Miles. You've put my mind at rest. I knew I'd seen Junior Mance with Dizzy but assumed it was a JATP gig. So, I dug into my programmes and there it was NEWPORT JAZZ FESTIVAL - Newcastle City Hall, Sept. 1959. Dizzy, Leo Wright, Junior, Art Davis and Les (sometimes referred to as Lex) Humphrey.

Thursday, January 21, 2021 11:01:00 pm
Mike Farmer said...

Junior Mance was a true bop legend and I saw him in Manchester with Dizzy and also when backing singer Joe Williams. Years later I got to see him on Jazz Cruises and once played Green Dolphin Street on Tenor Sax with him during a jam session. I attended a recording session when he played Monk tunes with Joe Temperley. Peter Washington and Mickey Roker. I bought the CD recently and it's excellent. R.I.P Junior.

Friday, January 22, 2021 10:20:00 pm

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