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Bebop Spoken There

Van Morrison: ''Basically, I'm coming from jazz. Not pop, not rock, not what's commercial. That's where I started, and that's still where I am. I feel the same as I did when I was listening to Louis Armstrong, Lead Belly, Jelly Roll Morton''. (The Northern Echo, 12 June 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

1803759 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 480 of them this year alone and, so far, 58 this month (June 18).

From This Moment On ...

JUNE 2025

Sat 21: Jason Holcomb Jazz Ensemble @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 5:30-7:30pm. Free. A 'Sunderland Year of Music' event.
Sat 21: Milne Glendinning Band @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 21: Red Kites Jazz @ Staithes Café, Dunston. 7:00-9:00pm. Free.
Sat 21: Papa G’s Troves @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 22: Phoenix 4 @ Wallington, Northumberland. 12 noon-1:00pm & 2:00-3:00pm. Tel: 01670 773606. National Trust admission prices apply. ‘Tunes in the Blooms’.
Sun 22: Lapwing Trio @ Wallington, Northumberland. 1:00-2:00pm. Tel: 01670 773606. National Trust admission prices apply. ‘Tunes in the Blooms’.
Sun 22: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 22: Jason Isaacs Trio @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 4:00pm. £18.00. + £1.08 bf.
Sun 22: JazzMain @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 23: MSK Trio @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 1:00pm. £9.00. at the door; £8.20. (inc £0.20 bf) online, in advance.
Mon 23: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club (1:00pm). Free.

Tues 24: ???

Wed 25: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 25: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 25: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 25: The Magpies of Swing @ The Roxy, Leadgate, Co. Durham. 7:30pm. A Ginger Jitterbugs swing dance event, all welcome.

Thu 26: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: Brass Instruments & the use of mutes.

Fri 27: Lewis Watson Quartet @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm.
Fri 27: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 27: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 27: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 27: Strictly Smokin’ Big Band @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 8:00pm. ‘Time After Time’.

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

Saturday, June 19, 2021

Album review: Andreas Toftemark Quartet - A New York Flight

Andreas Toftemark (tenor sax); Calle Brickman (piano); Felix Moseholm (bass); Andreas Svendsen (drums).

If we had a Jazz Euro 2021 then, on the strength of this miniature (37 mins), Denmark would be well in contention. Toftemark is a new name to me although he studied in New York with such luminaries as Eric Alexander and Joel Frahm as well as performing with Peter Bernstein and Ethan Iverson and that experience shows in this recording made in his homeland.

Make no mistake, he's a swinger. Light of tone, but not gutless. Runs the changes like nobody's business, but much much more than a mere technical exercise.

I first heard Blue and Sentimental by the pre-war Basie band with Herschel Evans on tenor. This version gives an idea as to how it may have sounded had Lester played tenor instead of clarinet and it had happened 80 years later!

Love me or Leave me - the second option is out of the question, nobody's going to leave this gently swinging version.

Autumn in New York is a perfect example of how to play a ballad without coming across as overly sentimental or, conversely,  paying scant regard to the sentiments of the song. Charlie Parker, Lester, Getz were past masters of the art and Toftemark too has acquired the knowhow. Those qualities are also present in I'm a Fool to Want You albeit I found the head perhaps a touch over-dramatic but, I hasten to add, only a touch!

Of the two originals; A New York Flight is, in effect, what it says on the tin ie a blast but, 2223 is more enigmatic. A series of numbers, we're told, that seem to follow Toftemark in love and in friendships - make of it what you will or, alternatively, just settle back and enjoy the music.

Three great Danes make up the quartet and, they ain't dogs! Lance 

Available now on April Records. Try/buy.

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