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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

17719 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 39 of them this year alone and, so far, 39 this month (Jan. 15).

From This Moment On ...

January 2025

Sat 18: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 18: Alter Ego + Jamie Toms/Graham Don Duo @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 7:30pm. £15.00. at the door; £14.35. (inc £0.35 bf) online, in advance.
Sat 18: Tweed River Jazz Band @ Repas 7 by Night, West St., Berwick TD15 1AS. 7:30pm. Free. Album launch gig.
Sat 18: Delta Prophets @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 19: Glenn Miller Orchestra UK @ Glasshouse, Gateshead. 3:00pm. ‘Glenn Miller & the Rat Pack Era’.
Sun 19: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 19: Spilt Milk @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 5:15-7:00pm. Free. Nolan Brothers (vocal harmonies).
Sun 19: Tenement Jazz Band @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 19: Nick Ross Orchestra @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 7:30pm.
Sun 19: Freight Train (Tobin/Noble/Clarvis) @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Sun 19: Jazz Jam @ Fabio’s, Saddler St., Durham. 8:00pm. Free. A Durham University Jazz Society promotion. All welcome.

Mon 20: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

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.
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.

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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