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Bebop Spoken There

George Porter Jr.: ''To me, syncopation is like jazz. It wasn't meant for the masses. It was meant just for a hip few". (DownBeat, May 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

18018 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 339 of them this year alone and, so far, 17 this month (May 7).

From This Moment On ...

MAY 2025

Thu 15: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: The Greatest in Jazz - Guitarists.
Thu 15: Pete Tanton & the Cuban Heels @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 15: New Ways of Moving in the Counterworlds @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 8:00pm (7:00pm doors). John Garner & John Pope.

Fri 16: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 16: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 16: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 16: Sophie Speed with the Dean Stockdale Trio @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 16: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 1:00-2:45pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Fri 16: Jason Isaacs @ STACK, Exchange Sq., Middlesbrough. 4:00-6:00pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Fri 16: Giles Strong Quartet @ Longframlington Memorial Hall. 7:00pm (doors). Tickets: £12.00. from 01665 570984.
Fri 16: Hot Club du Nord @ St Cuthbert’s Centre, Crook. 7:30pm. £10.00.
Fri 16: Peter Donegan & Anthony Donegan @ The Witham, Barnard Castle. 7:30pm. ‘Lonnie Donegan - The Stories’.

Sat 17: Teresa Watson Band @ Billy Bootleggers, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. Blues.
Sat 17: The Society Quartet @ Hilton Garden Inn, Sunderland. 6:00pm. Tel: 0191 500 9494. £26.00 (inc. two course meal). Line-up: Jason Holcomb, Hannah Taylor, Alix Shepherd & Abbie Finn.
Sat 17: Milne Glendinning Band @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 17: Archie Brown & the Young Bucks @ Billy Bootleggers, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. Rhythm & blues, Americana etc.
Sat 17: Rockin’ Turner Brothers @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Rockabilly, Western swing etc.

Sun 18: Jason Isaacs @ STACK, Seaburn. 12 noon-2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sun 18: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 18: Ruth Lambert & Giles Strong @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 18: Steve Summers Quintet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 19: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 19: Lewis Watson Quartet @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £10.00.

Tue 20: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Stu Collingwood, Paul Grainger, Bailey Rudd.
Tue 20: Alexia Gardner Quintet @ Pleased to Meet You, Bridge St., Morpeth NE61 1ND. 8:00pm.

Wed 21: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 21: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 21: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

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 30, 2021

Album review: Chick Corea - Akoustic Band - Live

Chick Corea (piano); John Patitucci (bass); Dave Weckl (drums) + Gayle Moran Corea (vocal on You're Everything)

One of the frustrating things about albums distributed by Proper Distribution is that they don't attach any accompanying blurb meaning that one has to read the album notes. To do so usually requires some form of Jodrell Bank powered magnification. This isn't helped by the pastel shades and miniscule text used by the designers of the 'artwork'.

Of course one could go a-googling but, to me, that's a bit like cribbing in an exam and one never did that did one?

So, for once I'm writing about what I hear and not what the blurb tells me I'm hearing and, you know what? The blurb couldn't have done justice anyway to the music heard on this splendid double CD recorded live in St. Petersburg, Florida back in 2018.

Listening to this, just months after Chick Corea's death, brought it on home to me just what a great pianist he was and how comfortable he was in a conventional trio setting even though history will invariably associate him with Return to Forever - one of the most outstanding jazz-fusion bands.

Think of the great piano trios - Tatum, Peterson, Garner, Evans, Jarrett - Corea can go toe to toe with any of them. Standards or originals, he ticks all the boxes as the audience in Florida showed by their applause.

In Patitucci and Weckl he has two henchman at the top of their game. The bassist's arco intro to Eternal Child, the perfect prologue to the delicacy of Corea's entrance. 

The beauty of his playing is not in the flamboyance which there is but, only sparingly. Like Bill Evans, content is more important than technique and Corea uses both to great effect. You and the Night and the Music is practically rewritten without the tune losing its identity. Weckl has a workout and there's more arco from Patitucci. Mrs Corea exercises her vocal chords on You're Everything. The lady has an amazing range and the crowd seemed to like her.

I could listen to this forever and never Return to Forever. This, of course, isn't true as they were both great bands but, if I had to make a choice, I wouldn't be flipping a coin ... Lance

(Disc one): Morning Sprite; Japanese Waltz; That Old Feeling; In a Sentimental Mood; Rhumba Flamenco; Summer Night; Humpty Dumpty (set one)

(Disc two): On Green Dolphin Street; Eternal Child; You and the Night and the Music; Monk's Mood; Humpty Dumpty (set two); You're Everything

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