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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

Thu 16: Pete Tanton & the Cuban Heels @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Fri 17: Lindsay Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 17: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 17: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 17: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 17: Joe Steels Trio w. Graham Hardy @ The Pele, Corbridge. 7:00pm. £10.00. (inc. a welcome drink & table reservation). Book at: www.drinks@thepele.co.uk. A ‘Jazz at the Pele’ promotion.
Fri 17: Russ Morgan Quartet @ Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. Opus 4 Jazz Club.
Fri 17: Redwell @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

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.

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.

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, August 14, 2021

Newcastle Jazz Festival Day One - Alice Grace w. Strictly Smokin' Big Band . Dean Stockdale Trio @ Newcastle Civic Centre - August 13

Photo © Kim 
Bainbridge. 
This promised much and delivered even more! Alice Grace singing Ella Fitzgerald backed by a swinging big band - what could go wrong?

Nothing! Absolutely nothing!

From the opening Honeysuckle Rose which began so gently with just the rhythm section behind her before erupting like Vesuvius when the full band hit the triple fortissimos until the final That Old Black Magic Alice had the audience enraptured.

Our girl looked good and sounded even better - or was it vice versa? - probably both!

The songs had all been recorded by Ella F and feature on the recently recorded crowd-funded album Alice and the band will shortly release. Every one a gem. 

Frank Loesser and Jule Styne's I Said No with its clever and amusing lyric. Puttin' on the Ritz, a song that Irving Berlin wrote for the Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers movie Top Hat, had an alto solo from Steve Summers and, whilst Ginger may have been able to dance backwards in high heels Alice didn't chance it but, instead, was content to deliver an impeccable vocal. 

Mean to Me featured nice tenor from Jamie Toms and that great line by Roy Turk - why must you be mean to me when you know what you mean to me? Comparable with anything Cole Porter wrote! Certainly better than Can't Buy me Love although Alice and SSBB, like Ella before her, proved that you can make a purse out of a sow's ear. 

A Flower is a Lovesome Thing, sung tenderly and effectively with Dave Kerridge blowing tenor on the Strayhorn classic. Lullaby of Broadway and a Michael Lamb arrangement of There's a Boat That's Leavin' Soon For New York proved that there's more to Porgy and Bess than Summertime. Gil Evans arranged it for Miles but Michael's version would probably have been too fast for Miles. Fortunately, it wasn't for Alice.

Steve Summers blew on Get Happy then we hit the penultimate Time After Time. This had been quite a set. Get happy? We certainly did!

Alice Grace (vocals) Michael Lamb, MD, Graham Hardy, Gordon Marshall, Stuart McLean-Fowler (trumpets); Chris Kurgi-Smith, Mark Ferris, Keiran Parnaby, John Flood (trombones); Jamie Toms, Dave Kerridge, Steve Summers, Keith Robinson, Laurie Rangecroft (reeds); Pawel Jedrzejewski (guitar); Graham Don (keyboards); Michael Whent (bass guitar); Guy Swinton (drums)

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Photo © Kim
Bainbridge.
Dean Stockdale (piano); Mick Shoulder (bass);  Abbie Finn (drums)

Earlier, the Dean Stockdale Trio got things underway with a mix of standards and originals. Three seasoned players at the top of their game they set the scene perfectly for what was to come. Lance

On the Sunny Side of the Street; Promise the Moon; Moon River; First Light; Kelly's Blues; Out of Nowhere.

Link to more photos by Kim.                                                                                    ps: Good to (finally) meet Maurice Rodham who preceded me in Windows Music Shop all those years ago. Maurice went on to greater things as a music teacher at St. Cuthbert's in Newcastle. His pupils included Steve Summers, tonight's lead alto, and Cormac Loane, another good friend of mine now based in Birmingham. Aged 91, Maurice looked well.

1 comment :

Steve T said...

Summertime was sped up at Montreux with Quincy Jones, a magnificent and emotional DVD/video.

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