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Bebop Spoken There

Steve Coleman: ''If you don't keep learning, your mind slows down. Use it or lose it''. (DownBeat, January 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

17733 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 53 of them this year alone and, so far, 53 this month (Jan. 20).

From This Moment On ...

January 2025

Wed 22: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 22: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 22: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 22: Pasadena Roof Orchestra @ Fire Station, Sunderland. 7:30pm.

Thu 23: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, Holystone. 1:00pm. Free. Fortnightly.
Thu 23: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: Obituaries 2024.
Thu 23: Jason Isaacs @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 4:30-6:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Thu 23: Pedal Point Trio @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Fri 24: Zoë Gilby Quartet @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. 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: Creakin’ Bones & the Sunday Dinners @ Lindisfarne Social Club, Wallsend. 9:00pm. Admission: TBC. Jazz, blues , jump jive, rock ‘n’ roll.

Sat 25: Boys of Brass @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 3:30-5:30pm. Free.
Sat 25: New '58 Jazz Collective @ Jackson's Wharf, Hartlepool. 6:30pm (doors). Free. A Burns' Night event. Jazz, swing, funk, soul, blues etc.
Sat 25: Edison Herbert Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 25: Red Kites Jazz @ Parish Hall, St Barnabas’ Church, Rowlands Gill. 7:30pm. £10.00. BYOB (tea & coffee available), raffle. Proceeds to St Barnabas’ Church. Performance feat. Shayo (vocals).
Sat 25: Jack & Jay’s Songbook @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 26: Musicians Unlimited @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 26: Graham Hardy Eclectic Quartet @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm.
Sun 26: Ruth Lambert Trio @ The Juke Shed, Union Quay, North Shields. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 26: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 26: Jazz Jam Sandwich! @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 26: Tweed River Jazz Band @ Barrels Ale House, Berwick-upon-Tweed. 7:30pm. Free.
Sun 26: Gratkowski, Tramontana, Beresford, Affifi @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £12.00. JNE.
Sun 26: Jazz Jam @ Fabio’s, Saddler St., Durham. 8:00pm. Free. A Durham University Jazz Society promotion. All welcome.

Mon 27: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 28: ???

Wed 29: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 29: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 29: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).

Thu 30: Matters Unknown (aka Jonathan Enser, Nubiyan Twist) + support TBA @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 8:00pm (7:00pm doors). £12.22 (gig & food); £9:04 (gig only).
Thu 30: Soznak @ The Mill Tavern, Hebburn. 8:00pm. Free.
Thu 30: Struggle Buggy @ Harbour View, Roker, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Rhythm & blues.

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

Friday, April 30, 2021

Album review: Dave Holland – Another Land

Dave Holland (bass/bass guitar);. Kevin Eubanks (guitar); Obed Calvaire (drums)

If you were to stack all the albums that Dave Holland has appeared on as leader or sideman on top of each other, you’d need to put a flashing light on top as a warning to low flying aircraft. Holland is one of the two most significant British branches on the Miles Davis family tree and is, by any measure, a national treasure. At an age when a national treasure is entitled to the tartan rug, comfy slippers and Ovaltine he continues to develop, to seek, to challenge and adapt and his productivity is as high as it ever was.

He set up the Dare2 label for his work in 2005 but was so impressed with Edition Records when they released Good Hope, Holland’s 2019 album with Zakir Hussain and Chris Potter, that he has released this in a collaboration between the two labels.

Another Land feels like a cousin of Prism, the Holland quartet date from 2013 and, if you liked that album, (and why would you not?) you’ll be pushing your pointy elbows out to get to the front of the queue for this one.

This is Dave Holland’s power trio album. Obed Calvaire is a new name to me but he has played with Wynton Marsalis, Joshua Redman, Lizz Wright, the SF Jazz Collective and a host of others.  Holland has worked with Eubanks before, most notably on Extensions (1990) and Prism, both of which were quartet albums. Any suspicion that this might be thin gruel by comparison are dashed after a couple of bars of the opener, Grave Walker, when the guitar crashes in on top of the dirty drum and bass funk opening. They don’t hit the ground running so much as trampling. This is a grungy wall of sound, a snap and swing where the rolling funk meets a ZZ Top snap and swing, the rhythm section as tight as two in a three legged race.

By contrast the title track is all space, both drums and guitar the background to Holland’s bass solo, providing only occasional fills for much of the tune; a different type of intensity, close focused.

Gentle Warrior’s urban groove lifts the spirits before the rolling, punchy drums of 20 20’s opening explorations develops into an extended rock out that provides propulsive support to Eubanks long notes, Calvaire back seat driving with vigour. Quiet Fire is a Eubanks solo of delicate Metheny-esque lines and is followed by  Mashup gives Eubanks the opportunity to show off all of his chops as the guitar riffs, scrabbles and curves before Calvaire solos, explosively covering the kit to maintain the mood. Comparisons with Cream are not inappropriate.

Passing Time opens with a heavy, dark riff, like it’s going to be a blues-rock from the Savoy Brown stable before it steps down into a Eubanks guitar run and a dancing bass solo. The Village follows a similar model of heavy opening leading into a bass guitar solo from which Eubanks’ guitar lifts off in a series of loud long notes and frantic scrapples and into thunderous drums, with which the guitar keeps pace as the volume rises and then falls into a three way conversation. After all of the blues and boogie, closer Bring It Back Home has a more chilled groove behind Eubanks’ shuffling boogie guitar probings. And that’s your visit to Another Land over.

So what have we learned? Dave Holland still has it by the bucketful, I need more albums that feature Kevin Eubanks and I’ll look out for Obed Calvaire in the supporting cast next time I’m allowed in a record shop by the nice man from the credit card company.

Dave Sayer

Grave Walker, Another Land, Gentle Warrior, 20 20, Quiet Fire, Mashup, Passing Time, The Village, Bring It Back Home

Edition/Dare2Records

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