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Bebop Spoken There

Kurt Elling: ''There's something to learn from every musician you play with''. (DownBeat, December 2024).

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

17655 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 929 of them this year alone and, so far, 74 this month (Dec. 31).

From This Moment On ...

January 2025

Sat 04: Jason Isaacs @ STACK, Exchange Square, Middlesbrough. 3:30-5:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 04: Rivkala @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sat 04: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00. Xmas party (rescheduled from early December).

Sun 05: Smokin’ Spitfires @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:45pm. £7.50.
Sun 05: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 05: Salty Dog @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Americana, jazz & blues.
Sun 05: Papa G’s Troves @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free (donations).

Mon 06: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 07: Customs House Big Band @ The Masonic Hall, North St., Ferryhill DL17 8HX. 7:00pm. Free.

Wed 08: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 08: The Tannery Jam Session @ The Tannery, Gilesgate, Hexham. 7:00-9:00pm. Free.
Wed 08: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 08: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).

Thu 09: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: John H Hammond.
Thu 09: FILM: Soundtrack to a Coup D’Etat @ Tyneside Cinema, Newcastle. 2:35pm. Documentary (dir. Johan Grimonprez) ‘about jazz, (de)colonial history and activism featuring Louis Armstrong, Nina Simone and Dizzy Gillespie’.
Thu 09: Happy Tuesdays @ Ye Olde Cross, Ryton. 7:30pm. Free.
Thu 09: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. Ragtime piano. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 09: Mark Toomey Quartet @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm. Free. A Tees Hot Club promotion. The session now monthly, next one Thursday 2nd Feb, then first Thursday in the month thereafter.

Fri 10: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 10: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 10: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 10: Joe Steels Trio @ The Pele, Corbridge. 7:00pm. Free.

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

Sunday, February 28, 2021

Recording finds trio in their prime

(Press release)


Edinburgh guitarist Kevin Mackenzie releases the first recording with his latest group this Friday, March 5.

 

Prime Trio features Mackenzie with the former Young Scottish Jazz Musician of the Year, Peter Johnstone on organ and first-call drummer Doug Hough, and Mackenzie is excited by both the instrumentation and the personnel involved.

 

“The great thing for me about an organ trio is that it’s really a very compact unit and yet there are so many possibilities in terms of harmony. You can get a very full sound,” says Mackenzie, whose previous groups have included Trio AAB, with the Bancroft twins, Tom and Phil, the jazz-funk styled Swirler and the folk-jazz fusion ensemble Vital Signs.

 

Working in what has historically been a very popular format in jazz, with literally dozens of examples from the 1950s onwards, is both inspiring and slightly tricky, and Mackenzie concedes that finding a unique approach in a crowded market took some time.

 

“You think of all the guitar-organ-drums line-ups there have been and it can be daunting to follow people like Larry Goldings and Melvin Rhyne, who are two of my favourites,” says Mackenzie. “There are so many albums out there already but it’s not a question of trying to surpass the greats who have gone before because that’s impossible. It’s more about finding a sound, a style that reflects our own personalities individually and collectively and I think we’ve struck a balance between acknowledging our forebears and sounding like ourselves.”

 

The trio formed some three years ago and gigged around Scotland before the Covid pandemic brought live music to a halt. Mackenzie, who is a generation older than his two colleagues, met Johnstone in the late 2000s when the latter was a student on the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland jazz course in Glasgow, where the guitarist teaches.

 

“We actually had a trio with one of Pete’s RCS contemporaries, John Lowrie, but other projects got in the way until I started to see Pete on Scottish National Jazz Orchestra gigs. We resurrected the trio idea and Doug was the obvious candidate to bring in on drums. It was one of these situations where everything just feels right.”

 

The trio recorded the five tracks on their debut EP in January last year and as the Covid hiatus dragged on Mackenzie decided to prepare the recording for release rather than have the group appearing to be completely inactive.

 

“We’re probably aiming for the festivals in 2022 in terms of live work,” he says. “But I thought we should have something ready to show people what we sound like. What I particularly like about this group is, it’s a cooperative. Pete and I both compose and everyone contributes arrangement ideas. The EP has two tunes each by Pete and myself plus a version of Invitation, a jazz standard by Branislaw Kaper, and the result, I think, is a good showcase of the trio. It was recorded in a studio but it’s very much what people will hear us doing on a gig. So we just have to hope that won’t be too long.”

 

Prime by the Prime Trio is a digital release and is available from Friday March 5 here.       

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