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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

Wednesday, May 12, 2021

A (belated) book review. Gay Talese - Frank Sinatra Has a Cold and other essays

If I state that this is probably the finest piece of non-fictional journalism ever published I will probably be accused, as we BSH writers often are, of going over the top when we discover a new talent. Not that Gay Talese can be defined as new, the articles in this anthology date from 1961 to 1997 and Talese is still around - now aged 89.

The book isn't about jazz, nor is it totally about Frank Sinatra although that particular essay is one of the most astute observations of what life was like for those in and around the great man's day to day activities. It is universally regarded as one of the most influential American magazine articles of all time after it was published in Esquire magazine in 1966.

In the previous paragraph, I wrote that the book isn't about jazz, and it isn't, whilst yet it is. Talese's prose displays all the dexterity of a Stan Getz solo, the urbanity and sophistication of an Ellington composition as well as the astute observations of someone able to get just close enough to see it like it is. He gets the meaning out of words when he writes them the way that Sinatra does when he sings them.

Apart from Sinatra, Talese writes about boxers, Joe Louis, Floyd Patterson and Mohammed Ali - not about their fights but about their post fight careers. He goes to Dublin with Peter O'Toole, takes a witty look at the fashion magazine hierarchy, describes a life or death situation faced by an Italian tailor with a Mafioso Godfather after a customised order for a suit went wrong as well as an essay about an obituary writer who can't wait for his subjects to die so that his pre-written articles for the New York Times get published.

It's all there and much more.

My only regret is that it took me all these years to discover this book which came out in Penguin format in 2011. For this, my thanks go out to my dear friend Liz who brought it to my attention and to her son Kevin who brought it to hers!

Thank you both.

Lance

Gay Talese - Frank Sinatra Has a Cold and other essays. Penguin Modern Classics ISBN 978-0-141-19415-8

2 comments :

Liz said...

My pleasure Lance. As I said, it lay on my bookshelf for ages after my son bought it for me as a Xmas present. When I did pick it up again during the darkest of Pandemic days and with little else to read, I was overjoyed, and could not believe the extraordinary writing skill of Gay Talese!! When you find something like this, all you want to do is share it with like minded people, and that is what lance is doing!

Liz said...

My pleasure Lance. As I said, it lay on my bookshelf for ages after my son bought it for me as a Xmas present. When I did pick it up again during the darkest of pandemic days and with little else to read, I was overjoyed, and could not believe the extraordinary writing skill of Gay Talese!! When you find something like this, all you want to do is share it with like minded people, and that is what Lance is doing!

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