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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

17805 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 126 of them this year alone and, so far, 51 this month (Feb.16).

From This Moment On ...

February 2025

Sun 23: Musicians Unlimited @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 23: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 23: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 23: Mark Williams Trio @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm.
Sun 23: Ruth Lambert Trio @ The Juke Shed, Union Quay, North Shields. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 23: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 23: Jazz Jam Sandwich! @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 23: Mississippi MacDonald @ Georgian Theatre, Stockton. 3:00pm. Blues.
Sun 23: Mu Quintet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. CANCELLED!
Sun 23: Jazz Jam @ Fabio’s, Saddler St., Durham. 8:00pm. Free. A Durham University Jazz Society promotion. All welcome.

Mon 24: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 24: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 6:30pm. Free.

Tue 25: ?

Wed 26: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 26: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 26: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 27: Jamie McCredie @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Fri 28: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free. THIS WEEK ONLY JAMES BIRKETT (guitar)!
Fri 28: Luis Verde Quartet @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. £8.00. SOLD OUT!
Fri 28: Spilt Milk @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 7:00-9:00pm. Free. Nolan Brothers (vocal harmonies).
Fri 28: Castillo Nuevo Orquesta @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £8.00.
Fri 28: Knats @ Lubber Fiend, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £11.50. (inc bf.). Album launch gig. Support act TBC.
Fri 28: Black is the Color of My Voice @ The Gala, Durham. 7:30pm. Apphia Campbell’s one-woman show inspired by the life of Nina Simone, performed by Florence Odumosu.
Fri 28: Great North Big Band Jazz Festival: Musicians Unlimited @ Park View Community Centre, Chester-le-Street. 8:00pm. £10.00. (Weekend ticket £20.00., available on the door). Day 1/3. Musicians Unlimited in concert.
Fri 28: Redwell @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

MARCH 2025

Sat 01: Great North Big Band Jazz Festival @ Park View Community Centre, Chester-le-Street. 11:00am. £15.00. Day 2/3.
Sat 01: TJ Johnson Band @ St Augustine’s Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm. £10.00.
Sat 01: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. £25.00. Tutor: Steve Glendinning. Get your funk on! Enrol at: learning@jazz.coop.
Sat 01: Shunyata Improvisation Group @ The Watch House, Cullercoats. 2:00-3:30pm. Free.
Sat 01: Ray Stubbs R&B All Stars @ Billy Bootleggers. Ouseburn, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free.
Sat 01: Struggle Buggy @ The Peacock, Sunderland. 6:00pm. Blues band.
Sat 01: Edison Herbert Trio @ The Vault, Darlington 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 01: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00.
Sat 01: Jack & Jay’s Vintage Songbook @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

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, September 23, 2021

Album review: Chet Doxas – You Can’t Take It With You

Chet Doxas (sax); Ethan Iverson (piano); Thomas Morgan (bass)

This CD arrived on the day that the government announced an increase in National Insurance to pay for social care in the UK. We now have the threat of fuel price rises and the end of the Universal Credit uplift. Not only can you not take it with you, you might not have it for very long in the first place!!

I hadn’t heard of Chet Doxas or Thomas Morgan before this CD, though I knew Iverson from his playing with The Bad Plus, a self-proclaimed ‘power trio.’ This is a drummer less group that creates space and the instruments can float, unanchored, between each other. The lack of the drummer seems to make the listener lean in that much closer, though that’s partly the result of some soft playing as well. The standard of composition and playing is such that you want to catch all of what’s going on. Closer listening is rewarded.

Although this is a showcase for Doxas’ compositions he actually lays out for much of the album (his liner notes say he was practising getting out of the way) and Iverson’s piano is often the lead voice. This throws more light onto the bass as well and Morgan is always up to the task, a constant pulse, under and behind everything, on the title track, for instance, Morgan takes the lead, opening the album and there is relatively little of Doxas.

The second tune Lodestar (for Lester Young) has Iverson playing inside the piano. Sporadic fantastic sounds and increasingly heavy chords mark out a path for the sax to follow. It builds to a liberation then a Prez inspired outro that leads into Part of a Memory, a wailing lament that becomes a more uplifting dance with twinkling piano, the bass guiding the steps.

Twelve Foot Blues is the easiest track on the album to find your way into. It’s a rolling Mississippi riverboat blues with the three protagonists circling each other and giving each other the nod and a hint of who Could Ask For Anything More?

Doxas describes Last Pier as a film noir soundtrack with the piano playing the world weary Joe who cracks the case. The sax provides the relief and the imagery of the bad guy face-down in the water as dawn is breaking and the broad (can we still say that?) has been rescued.

Snapshot is a high volume, low knowledge argument with Doxas ranting through and round his sax. It’s what passes for politics on Fox News. By way of contrast, Up There in the Woods is an easy West Coast swing, a two-step in the light in tribute to guitarist Jim Hall.

The closer, View from a Bird, was inspired by Femme, oiseau, etoile by Joan Miro, rather than by Charlie Parker and its Spanish roots show through. It’s more of a Hollywood interpretation of Spain but it ends the album on an optimistic note, it’s an invitation to dance whilst you still have both the ability and the desire to.

You Can’t Take It With You is available on CD from Sept. 24 and on vinyl the week after. It can be bought HERE through Bandcamp, from Jeff ‘The Urban Spaceman’ Bezo’s site and through the usual other outlets. Dave Sayer

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