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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

17744 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 64 of them this year alone and, so far, 64 this month (Jan. 26).

From This Moment On ...

January 2025

Mon 27: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 27: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 6:30pm. 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.

Fri 31: Alan Barnes Quartet @ The Old Library, Auckland Castle, Bishop Auckland. 12 noon-2:00pm (two sets). £12.00. admission (card or cash at the door). Barnes (alto sax, baritone sax, clarinet); Alan Law (piano); Mick Shoulder (double bass); Tim Johnston (drums). Note change of venue, no longer at Mrs M’s as advertised, the concert will be in the Old Library (Bishop Auckland Jazz’s regular venue). Important! It’s a ‘BYOB’ arrangement - ie bring your own booze (and/or tea, coffee, soft drinks).
Fri 31: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 31: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 31: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 31: Café Orkestar @ Café Under the Spire, Gateshead. 6:00pm. ‘Klezmer, Gypsy Jazz, Balkan & More!’.
Fri 31: Nothing in Rambling @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. £10.00. + bf. Country blues duo.
Fri 31 Zoë Gilby Quartet @ Wylam Institute. 7:30pm (7:00pm doors). £15.00. + £1.50. bf.
Fri 31: Creakin’ Bones & the Sunday Dinners @ White Room, Stanley. 7:45pm. £10.00 + bf. Jazz, blues , jump jive, rock ‘n’ roll.
Fri 31: Alan Barnes Quartet @ The Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. £15.00 Barnes (alto sax, baritone sax, clarinet); Alan Law (piano); Mick Shoulder (double bass); Tim Johnston (drums).
Fri 31: SwanNek + Rivkala @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 8:00pm. SwanNek’s new single launch gig. Pilgrim, formerly Hoochie Coochie.

February 2025

Sat 01: Alan Barnes & John Hallam with the Tom Kincaid Trio @ 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 - Cy Coleman’s Witchcraft. Enrol at: learning@jazz.coop.
Sat 01: Darling Dollies @ St George’s Church, Jesmond, Newcastle. 3:00pm. £10.00. Vocal trio.
Sat 01: Jason Isaacs @ STACK, Exchange Sq., Middlesbrough. 3:30-5:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 01: Jeff Hewer Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 01: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00.
Sat 01: Rockin’ Turner Brothers @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Western swing etc.

Sun 02: Smokin’ Spitfires @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:45pm. £7.50.
Sun 02: Lewis Watson Quartet @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00pm. £10.00.
Sun 02: Sax Choir @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free (donations).
Sun 02: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 02: Spilt Milk @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 5:15-7:00pm. Free. Nolan Brothers (vocal harmonies).
Sun 02: Jive Aces @ The Fire Station, Sunderland. 7:00pm. Sun 02: John Pope + Andy Champion + Ian Paterson @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. ‘Subterranean Explorations 1’. Three (half hour) solo bass sets.
Sun 02: Jazz Jam @ Fabio’s, Saddler St., Durham. 8:00pm. Free. A Durham University Jazz Society promotion. All welcome.

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

Monday, October 18, 2021

Vula Viel @ The Globe – Oct. 17

Bex Burch (gyil); Ruth Goller (bass); Jim Hart (drums)

Touring the UK and then onwards to dates in Denmark, Vula Viel’s German-registered tour van had arrived at their northernmost destination, the Globe. The arriving full house, though, was caught up in the deflated efflux from Newcastle United’s eventful but unsuccessful first renaissance attempt, up the road at the soon to be re-branded St James' Park.   As well as their continental connections, with Jim Hart based in France, and Ruth Goller hailing from the Süd Tirol, the band’s name (meaning “Good is Good”) and musical DNA are from even further afield than NUFC’s controversial sponsor, namely Ghana.

Bex Burch’s well documented (https://bexburch.com/vulaviel/) stay with the Dagaare people of  Upper West Ghana resulted in not only building and playing the remarkable gyil (a xylophone fitted with reverb effects)  but in adopting, and adapting, a whole musical structure based on the local tradition.  As well as the obvious distinctive repeated “African” rhythmical claves,  and the fixed pentatonic scale imposed by the gyil’s tuning, the music is strictly structured in long forms of alternating, repeated sections. The rigour of following these “changes” perhaps explains the concentration on the bass player’s face, as she had the continuous job of laying down both harmonic foundation and crunching riffs.  The serious look broke into smiles and laughter occasionally though, perhaps when the ever-inventive human dynamo Jim Hart did something unexpected on drums?

(Collage © Ken Drew)
The band launched straight into a single continuous set nearly two hours long, with almost no full stops and even fewer announcements, just occasionally slowing to a walking pace, making it difficult for the audience to gauge where to applaud! After a while, the crowd got the hang of what was going on, and enthusiastic cheering erupted after the most climactic episodes where all three players combined and interlocked in joyful grooves. These ever-shifting romps transcended the African feel recalling,  to my ear at least, the extended trance-like grooves of Can and other 70s  Krautrock bands.   Given the limited instrumental palette (previous line-ups featured sax and vibes) and rigid form, a surprising variety of intensity and mood was achieved, primarily by Hart’s supple power and ingenious deployment of every trick in the percussionist’s book – stick scrapes, crashes, chokes, shells, brushes, bells and the works!   Burch pulled off some beyond-the-xylophone stunts too, with intriguing searing reverb, and moody forays into vocals and a plucked thumb-harp.  The band finally closed by recruiting audience chanting for an encore of What’s Not Enough About That? from their well-received 2020 album.

Overall, a captivating and enjoyable voyage on a different musical ocean to my usual jazz waters – hats off to Vula Viel and the Globe for reminding us of the diversity and sheer joy of music out there! Chris K

1 comment :

Ken D said...

Just to add to Chris' fine review, it was in fact a co-promotion between Jazz North East and the Jazz.Coop (aka The Globe) re-scheduled from an earlier slot in the year. But its later booking certainly hit the spot in these happier times !!

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