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Bebop Spoken There

George Porter Jr.: ''To me, syncopation is like jazz. It wasn't meant for the masses. It was meant just for a hip few". (DownBeat, May 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

18043 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 364 of them this year alone and, so far, 42 this month (May 15).

From This Moment On ...

MAY 2025

Sun 18: Jason Isaacs @ STACK, Seaburn. 12 noon-2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sun 18: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 18: Ruth Lambert & Giles Strong @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 18: Steve Summers Quintet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 19: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 19: Lewis Watson Quartet @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £10.00.

Tue 20: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Stu Collingwood, Paul Grainger, Bailey Rudd.
Tue 20: Alexia Gardner Quintet @ Pleased to Meet You, Bridge St., Morpeth NE61 1ND. 8:00pm.

Wed 21: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 21: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public). b Wed 21: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 22: Nuevo Castillo Orquesta @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £5.00.
Thu 22: Anna Reay & Deon Krishnan @ STACK, Exchange Sq., Middlesbrough. 7:30-9:15pm. Free.
Thu 22: Pedal Point Trio @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Fri 23: Dean Stockdale Quartet @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. ‘Celebrating Oscar’.
Fri 23: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 23: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 23: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 23: Anna Reay & Deon Krishnan @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 4:00-6:00pm. Free.
Fri 23: Joe Steels Group @ The Pele, Corbridge. 7:00pm. £10.00. + £1.55. bf. A Northumberland Jazz Festival fringe event.
Fri 23: Spilt Milk @ STACK, Exchange Sq., Middlesbrough. 7:00-9:00pm. Free. Nolan Brothers (vocal harmonies).
Fri 23: Gaz Hughes Quartet @ Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm.
Fri 23: Strictly Smokin’ Big Band @ The Witham, Barnard Castle. 8:00pm. £19.00.; £17.00. ‘Time After Time’.

Sat 24: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 12:30-2:15pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 24: Tyne Valley Big Band @ Bywell Hall, Stocksfield. 1:30pm. Northumberland County Show.
Sat 24: Jason Isaacs @ STACK, Seaburn. 3:30-5:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 24: Ray Stubbs R&B All Stars @ The Peacock, Sunderland. 6:00pm.
Sat 24: Dean Stockdale Quartet + Mingus Sings @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 7:00pm. Admission: see website: www.queenshall.co.uk. Stockdale (piano); Tim Williams (guitar); Gavin Barras (double bass); Gaz Hughes (drums) + Mingus Sings: Sara Oschlag (vocals); Alan Barnes (reeds); Tim Lapthorn (piano); Arnie Somogyi (double bass); Clark Tracey (drums). A Northumberland Jazz Festival event.
Sat 24: Joseph Carville Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 24: Saltburn Big Band @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm. £12.00.
Sat 24: NUJO Jazz Jam @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 8:00pm (7:00pm doors). £3.00. + bf.
Sat 24: Papa G’s Troves @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

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

Ten Art Pepper Moments

There's a current trend prevalent on jazz blogs and magazines for "Ten Best" posts so, never having been one to ignore the dictates of fashion - over the years I've crushed my toes in winkle-pickers, wore Slim-Jim ties and when long hair was in I wore my hair long (the latter a fashion that, by necessity, is returning) -  I've opted to pick out my Ten Art Pepper Moments - not all on record.

1. Stan Kenton - How High the Moon. A feature for June Christy who was as cool as ever on this 1947 track.  There's solos by trombone and trumpet but it's the short but illuminating solo by Art that makes the record and what set me off on a lifetime of appreciation.

2. Stan Kenton - Art Pepper. A Shorty Rogers arrangement for Kenton's 1950 Innovations Orchestra. With a 16-piece string section, a couple of French horns and a tuba  added to the 20-piece big band the basic effect is almost cinematic until the coolest sounding alto ever makes his entrance. The star is on screen and the action begins. Languid, lyrical at first then the tempo ups. If this were a film then this would be the car chase.

3.  Art Pepper Quartet - Diane. Dedicated in 1956 to his second wife with whom his relationship was, to say the least, tempestuous this beautiful ballad suggests that it wasn't all conversations with the flying plates. 

4.  Art Pepper Quartet - Jazz Me Blues. From his 1957 album, Art Pepper Meets The Rhythm Section - the rhythm section being that of Miles Davis (Red Garland, Paul Chambers & Philly Joe Jones) - This track reminds me, albeit in a totally different way, of the same tune played by Bix 30 years earlier. They both waxed lyrical.

5.  Art Pepper + Eleven - Anthropology. This is different, Art plays clarinet. He's not as fluent as he is on alto but he's nevertheless proficient and more at ease playing bebop than just about any other clarinetist of that era (1959). The album, as a whole, is one of the most enduring of his career - or anybody else's come to that. 1959, to think at the time I took that year for granted! 

6.  Milcho Leviev Quartet - Blues For the Fisherman. One of two LPs recorded live at Ronnie Scott's in 1980 Art had, by this time, long been under the influence of John Coltrane. Strange that, in his youth he'd found an alternative path to Bird and yet in his later years became very much a "Tranee". In a sense there were two Art Peppers. Both different and both brilliant.

7.  Art Pepper at Newcastle Jazz Festival May 1981. It was the latter Art Pepper I heard at the Newcastle Playhouse. The personnel was similar to the above album with Leviev on piano, Carl Burnett, drums and Bob Magnusson replacing Tony Dumas on bass. It was one of the most compelling concerts ever. Art, his health now failing, nevertheless played a storming set even though the audience was full of apprehension. This was indeed a man walking on eggshells. It was also one of the most unforgettable concerts I've ever attended.

8. Art Pepper: Notes From a Jazz Survivor (DVD) - A film shot in 1982 Art describes the ups and downs of his life - not for the fainthearted but a must for anyone interested in this all-time great musician.

9. Straight Life by Art and Laurie Pepper. All other jazz autobiographies pale into insignificance alongside this warts and all account story of a man and, among other things, his music. (Schirmer Books 1979).

10. ART: Why I Stuck With a Junkie Jazzman by Laurie Pepper. This is Art's third and final wife Laurie telling her story admitting that she herself was no angel. It's a near essential follow up to the earlier book filling in quite a few gaps as well as being a compelling read on its own. (Art Pepper Music Corporation 2014).

That's my ten Art Pepper moments. There should have been more. In fact every album he ever made could have been listed and discussed in detail. That's for another day by someone else!

Now's the time for you to have your say. Pick ten of anything jazz related. Albums, tracks, gigs, books, movies. From Bunk, to Monk, to Jazz Funk the choice is yours.

Mail them to me - lanceliddle@gmail.com.
Lance

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