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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

Tue 21: ???

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: 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

Wednesday, June 23, 2021

Album review: Julian Siegel Jazz Orchestra - Tales from the Jacquard

Tales from the Jacquard is a love letter to the East Midlands' lace-making industries. In the nineteenth century Joseph Marie Jacquard designed the Jacquard card. Attached to a loom, it played an important part in the garment-making production process. Julian Siegel's family ran a lace-making business in Nottingham. The composer-arranger-musician-bandleader said: I have clear memories of trips to the lace factory with my Dad in the 1970's and hearing the sound of the machines - he wanted to conduct them! 

A commission by Derby Jazz resulted in Siegel writing Tales from the Jacquard, a three part suite inspired by the aforementioned lace makers . Some thirty minutes of music was recorded in March 2017, originally broadcast on BBC Radio 3's Jazz Now programmeThis new Whirlwind Recordings' release features the 'Jacquard' alongside earlier Siegel compositions originally written for small band performance rearranged for the Julian Siegel Jazz Orchestra.  

On a visit to a lace making factory, Siegel came to realise that the punched cards of the Jacquard machine opened up possibilities in terms of inspiring the compositional structure of his music, informing the melody, rhythm and harmonic structures. An all-star ensemble rose to the occasion on the day of the performance in March 2017 with razor-sharp section work and a string of superlative solos.  

Siegel wrote for specific soloists and during the Jacquards' three parts we hear from Liam Noble, piano, Claus Stötter, flugelhorn (pt 1), Tori Freetone, flute, Noble, and Siegel himself playing soprano saxophone (pt 2), plus Harry Brown, trombone, Stan Sulzmann, tenor sax, Oli Hayhurst, bass, Henry Lowther, trumpet, Siegel again, this time blowing tenor, and ace London based American drummer Gene Calderazzo (pt 3). It could be said the compositional textures weave together in a sprawling, ambitious work, mirroring the factory environment which proved so inspirational to Siegel! 

The additional material, all seventy five minutes of it, ranges from Blues (Jason Yarde, soprano sax) to the closing piece, Cedar Walton's Fantasy in D, featuring first, trombonist Trevor Mires, followed by the two tenors of Siegel and Sulzmann blowing up a storm with Calderazzo having the final word. Tales from the Jacquard by the Julian Siegel Jazz Orchestra is available from Friday (June 25) on Whirlwind Recordings (cat. no WR4774). Russell                       
 
Julian Siegel Jazz Orchestra: Julian Siegel (tenor sax, soprano sax, bass clarinet, compositions, arrangements); Nick Smart (conductor); Tom Walsh, Percy Pursglove, Henry Lowther, Claus Stötter (trumpets); Mark Nightingale, Trevor Mires, Harry Brown (trombones); Richard Henry (bass trombone, tuba); Mike Chillingworth (alto sax); Jason Yarde (alto sax, soprano sax); Stan Sulzmann (tenor sax); Tori Freestone (tenor sax, flute); Gemma Moore (baritone sax, bass clarinet); Mike Outram (guitar); Liam Noble (piano); Oli Hayhurst (double bass); Gene Calderazzo (drums)  

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