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Bebop Spoken There

Sullivan Fortner: ''I always judge it by the bass player: If the bass player is happy, it's going to be a good night". (DownBeat, February 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

17755 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 76 of them this year alone and, so far, 1 this month (Feb.1).

From This Moment On ...

February 2025

Fri 07: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 07: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 07: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 07: James Birkett & Emma Fisk @ Old Lowlight, Clifford’s Fort, North Shields NE30 1JE. 7:00pm. £15.00. + bf. www.oldlowlight.co.uk. SOLD OUT!
Fri 07: Stuart Turner Trio @ Billy Bootlegger’s, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. Jazz, blues, Americana etc.
Fri 07: Dean Stockdale Quartet @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm. £12.00.
Fri 07: Rose Room @ Wylam Institute. 8:00pm. £19.67.
Fri 07: John Rowland Quartet @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sat 08: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 12:30-2:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 08: Jason Isaacs @ Seaburn STACK, Seaburn. 3:30-5:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 08: Milne Glendinning Band @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 08: Lewis Watson Quartet @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 7:30pm. £15.00. at the door; £14.35. (inc £0.35 bf) online, in advance.
Sat 08: Anth Purdy @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. ‘Swing Jazz Guitar’.
Sat 08: NUJO Jazz Jam @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A Newcastle University Jazz Orchestra event. All welcome.

Sun 09: Glenn Miller & Big Band Spectacular @ The Forum, Billingham. 3:00pm.
Sun 09: The New ’58 Jazz Collective @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 09: Am Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 09: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 09: Tom Remon & Mark Williams @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 09: Rod Oughton’s Tomorrow’s New Quartet with Ben van Helder @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Line-up inc. Deschanel Gordon.
Sun 09: Jazz Jam @ Fabio’s, Saddler St., Durham. 8:00pm. Free. A Durham University Jazz Society promotion. All welcome.

Mon 10: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 11: Steve Summers Quintet @ Newcastle House Hotel, Rothbury. 7:30pm.

Wed 12: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 12: Jam session @ The Tannery, Gilesgate, Hexham. 7:00-9:00pm. Free.
Wed 12: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 12: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 13: Student Performances @ King’s Hall, Newcastle University. 4:00pm. Free. Inc. Olly Styles (tenor sax).
Thu 13: MOBO Awards Fringe 2025: Artist Showcase @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 7:00pm. Free (ticketed). Line-up inc. Hannabiell & Midnight Blue.
Thu 13: Indigo Jazz Voices @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:45pm. £5.00.

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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