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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

Thursday, July 15, 2021

Album (4 CD set): Chris Barber - A Trailblazer's Legacy

Presentation wise, possibly one of the finest 4 CD sets ever issued, and it's not bad musicwise either.

To deal with the packaging first. A hard backed 90 page booklet crammed with photos, flyers, testimonials to Barber from many rock stars ranging, alphabetically, from Andy Fairweather Low to Van Morrison giving an indication of just how far reaching his influence was. A detailed appraisal of the 69 tracks by Alyn Shipton, who collaborated with Barber on the bandleader's autobiography Jazz me Blues, is equally compelling. To make things totally comprehensive there's also photos and text from his parallel universe - that of a motor racing driver. This will sit just as easily on your bookshelf as it will on your CD shelf after it eventually makes way on your coffee table for some inferior product like Wagner's Der Ring cycle.

All well and good but, what about the music?

It's as near perfect a compilation as possible. The band's first recordings with future bopper Dickie Hawdon and Ben Cohen on trumpets. His stint with Ken Colyer. The long-lasting frontline partnership with Pat Halcox, Monty Sunshine and, of course, Ottilie Patterson. 

Eventually, the music weaves its way 70 years forward and to his final recording - a live version of Savoy Blues recorded at Pizza Express in 2018 with the aforementioned Alyn Shipton on bass.

Needless to say there are also tracks by several of the various American instrumentalists that Chris Barber recorded and toured with such as Sammy Price, Albert Nicholas, Edmond Hall and Louis Jordan as well as blues and gospel deities - Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee, Sister Rosetta Tharpe and James Cotton. 

Many readers, myself included, will have most of the early tracks on the original Tempo, Nixa and Decca singles, EPs and LPs as well the various reissues on Lake CDs. However, my one minor quibble is that there are no examples from my favourite Barber album - Battersea Rain Dance - no doubt some legal/label glitch prevented it. Nevertheless, if you're up for five hours of listening to some legendary British jazz ... 

I can't recommend this too highly. Forget about the Balls, the Bilks and the men who wore funny uniforms, this is what British jazz meant to so many for so many years. Only Humph came close.

It's a limited edition so don't hang about. Release date is July 23 - Last Music Company (distribution by Proper Records) and some of the flash boys are already asking forty squid. However, if you shop around you can pre-order for around £25.95. Lance

Tracks.

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