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Bebop Spoken There

Sullivan Fortner: ''I always judge it by the bass player: If the bass player is happy, it's going to be a good night". (DownBeat, February 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

17805 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 126 of them this year alone and, so far, 51 this month (Feb.16).

From This Moment On ...

February 2025

Tue 18: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Alan Law, Paul Grainger, John Hirst.

Wed 19: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 19: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 19: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 20: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, Holystone. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 20: James Birkett & Emma Fisk @ King’s Hall, Newcastle University. 1:15pm. Free.
Thu 20: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: Jazz Milestones - 1975.
Thu 20: Renegade Brass Band @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors).
Thu 20: Orange Claw Hammer + Peony @ The Globe, Newcastle.7:30pm. Orange Claw Hammer play Captain Beefheart.
Thu 20: Jeremy McMurray & the Pocket Jazz Orchestra @ Arc, Stockton. 8:00pm. Featuring special guest Zoë Gilby.

Fri 21: JazzMain @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 21: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 21: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 21: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 21: Joe Steels Trio @ The Pele, Corbridge. 7:00pm. £10.00. TBC.
Fri 21: Emma Rawicz w. Strictly Smokin’ Big Band @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm.

Sat 22: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 12:30-2:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 22: Jason Isaacs @ Seaburn STACK, Seaburn. 3:30pm-5:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 22: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 22: Mississippi MacDonald @ Claypath Deli, Durham. 7:00pm. Blues.
Sat 22: Lindsay Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ Old Cinema Laundrette, Durham. 7:45pm. £16.50. SOLD OUT!
Sat 22: Michael Woods @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Country blues guitar & vocals.

Sun 23: Musicians Unlimited @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 23: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 23: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 23: Mark Williams Trio @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm.
Sun 23: Ruth Lambert Trio @ The Juke Shed, Union Quay, North Shields. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 23: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 23: Jazz Jam Sandwich! @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 23: Mississippi MacDonald @ Georgian Theatre, Stockton. 3:00pm. Blues.
Sun 23: Mu Quintet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Sun 23: Jazz Jam @ Fabio’s, Saddler St., Durham. 8:00pm. Free. A Durham University Jazz Society promotion. All welcome.

Mon 24: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 24: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 6:30pm. 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

Monday, April 19, 2021

Album review: Chris Potter Circuits Trio - Sunrise Reprise

Chris Potter (tenor/soprano saxes, clarinets, flutes, sampler/keys); James Francies (piano, keys); Eric Harland (drums)

A slew of terrific sax players have plied their trade on livestreams and recordings in this last strangest year ever. I was curious then, how Chris Potter, widely touted as top titan of the tenor - post Michael Brecker - would sound to my ears after hearing some quite unbelievable playing from both sides of the Atlantic. From Stateside the likes of Wendell, Lovano and Redman as well as our own Trish Clowes, Alec Harper, Vasilis Xenopoulos, Harry Keeble and others.  On the evidence of this Edition Records follow up to his 2019 Circuits trio album, recorded in a short window of freedom in late 2020, I have to say he has a strong claim to top spot!

Potter is renowned for superlative technique and agile invention in warp speed improvisations, both are on show here in a tour de force of five substantial pieces which don’t hold back in dazzle, drive and duration. But while this is clearly Potter’s album, his compositions, structured mostly around his own lead, it is far from a one man show and the trio takes him in a more contemporary and electronic direction than much of his more classical tenor canon.  Harland on drums is a supreme foil for Potter with huge power, versatility and subtlety when called on. Francies is the youngster of the band by two decades, with R ‘n’ B and hip hop in his armoury, and brings swirling bass lines and proggy synths as well as molten lyricism of his own to match Potter.

Southbound opens with an airy and optimistic call laid down: the motif is then worked back and forth, before moving up a gear to stretch out into a weaving and swooping workout alternating between keys and sax driven relentlessly by Harland’s precise wizardry.

Serpentine is indeed a sinuous and funky beast, with another catchy motif stretched and swapped across the beat, and up and down through bewildering and seemingly effortless harmonic trails, culminating in a high energy drums and keyboard workout.

The Peanut comes down from the frenzy with a delightfully spacious and expressive sax and piano duet which builds to an anguished hiatus before resolution revealing Potter’s more spiritual face.

The final and longest number at 24 minutes, Nowhere Now Here/Sunrise Reprise, throws in some flute for variety before embarking on a quite remarkable journey through multiple moods and styles, featuring a drum solo of staggering finesse and musicality. Surely on anyone’s list for track of the year, with power and emotion tempered by precision and subtlety.

Altogether a breathtaking outpouring of remarkable music: in turns muscular and mysterious – a timely reminder that there is great art still in that contradictory phenomenon which is the USA.

Chris K

Try/buy CD,Vinyl LP, Digital here Label: Edition Records. Recorded: 19th September 2020 Release date: 14 May 2021

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