A graduate of the Royal Northern College of Music Manchester, 35 year old Grant Russell is a very versatile bass player, well known in the north west and beyond for his formidable technique.
It’s been a while since Grant has been to the Railway. I think it may
have been during the pre-covid days as a sideman but tonight he was fronting
his own quartet and he could not have picked a better group of musicians with whom to share the bandstand.
Because of Storm Malik - I had a somewhat violent conversation with some flying gates and lost* - I viewed tonight's eagerly awaited gig via livestream as, indeed, we once all did, with great anticipation and I wasn't disappointed.
I love all the various incantations of the Hot Club de France but what I love most about Hot Club du Nord is their use of two guitars instead of the traditional three plus, with James Birkett on a semi-acoustic jazz guitar, it offers a contrast to Dave Harris' Macca which is of course the norm for this style making the rhythm less clunky and, dare I say it? much more swinging.
All the songs on this fine album were written and arranged by Ms Dodds, and they are well sung in collaboration with the above first call Scottish musicians whose names are not unknown to BSH readers. Ms Dodds is a highly respected singer from Edinburgh who has been performing in the UK and abroad since 2005, which includes headline gigs at London and Edinburgh Jazz Festivals, opening for Norma Winstone MBE, and collaborating with top names in UK jazz, such as guitarist Ant Law.
Requests Chick Corea & Gary Burton; Tommy Dorsey.
Ray Sams of Darlington New Orleans club makes his choices re bands that will be coming to the club in 2022: Tenement Jazz Band, TJ Johnson, New Century Ragtime Orchestra, Jeff Barnhart, Savannah Jazz Band.
From Saturday, January 29, you can listen to this year’s first edition of Jazz on the Tyne.
Presenter Colin Muirhead will be playing new music by Wendy
Kirkland, Shirley Smart & Robert Mitchell, and Pat Metheny. He will also look ahead to some upcoming gigs
in the North East, with tracks by Emma Fisk’s Hot Club du Nord, Rafe’s Dilemma,
Paul Taylor, and the National Youth Jazz Orchestra. Plus, there’s a listener’s request for a classic
tune, performed by Yusef Lateef.
You can listen to the show anytime here from noon on Saturday or to request tunes for future programmes, please email Colin at jazz.tyne.hive@gmail.com.
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| (Pic by Lance) |
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The first of Knats' "last Thursday in the month" jazz gigs at Hoochie was different - no surprise there! Every time I've seen the band they were different. However, the difference tonight was even more pronounced due to the absence of outstanding trumpet prodigy Ferg Kilsby. So what did they do - find another horn player? Nah! Instead they co-opted the vocal talents of rapper Holly Flo Lightly.
It worked amazingly well. She rapped the words with the rapidity of a speeded up Michael Brecker solo and when she moved out of the fast lane the voice was as mellow as a cello.
Bernie Ranson (saxes); Barbara Wilcox (keys); Harry Husaini (electric bass); Alan Wann (drums)
A double CD package featuring British
modernists and their American counterparts. The British, make that ‘Soho’,
modernists of the time, including John Dankworth, Tubby Hayes, Don Rendell and
Ronnie Scott, are represented in various combinations on disc one (15 tracks),
the Americans are heard on disc two (14 tracks), Donald Byrd a notable
exception, appearing on a London Blue Note recording session in August 1958.
The BSH reader will know all about Art Blakey, Kenny Burrell, Bill Evans and Horace Silver, with classic recordings in various formats sitting on shelves, perhaps gathering dust. Is the music heard on one disc better than the other? No. Is one disc more interesting than the other? Yes.
I can’t remember the last time I saw a set of vibes at the Railway but if you are going to invoke the sounds of George Shearing, I suppose vibes will be an essential item. Also on board was a young singer who had a nice sounding voice.
Simone McGregor was featured on about a third of the numbers played doing a great version of September in the Rain - a hit for Shearing and, in my opinion, one of the greatest tunes ever written. I should mention that singers are seldom seen at this venue as most of the acts that play here are usually instrumental quartets.
Most readers of BSH will be
aware that from the summer of 1959 until autumn 1961, Sonny Rollins spent his
time away from the limelight, playing saxophone, alone, come rain or come
shine, on the Williamsburg Bridge in New York. Rollins comeback album, issued
around January 1962, was called – you guessed it – The Bridge.
To find out more about why Rollins left the limelight behind for these
two years there’s an account of an interview with Rollins in last Friday’s
Guardian (Jan. 21).
It’s a fascinating tale of an already great musician’s quest to discover
his innermost musical self.
Read the interview here - Ann
Alex
The death has been announced of Marilyn Bergman who, along with her husband Alan, was part of one of the great lyric-writing teams in both Hollywood and on Broadway.
They collaborated with Bill Evans, Michel Legrand, Johnny Mandel, Sammy Fain, Quincy Jones, Marvin Hamlisch, Henry Mancini, Dave Grusin and many others providing lyrics to songs that were recorded by Frank Sinatra, Bill Evans, Sarah Vaughan, Barbra Streisand, Dean Martin, Michael Jackson and Neil Diamond to name but a few.
Marilyn Bergman died on Jan. 8 aged 93.
Rest In Peace.
For a fuller account of the Bergmans' achievements read the many obituaries such as this one in the Guardian. Lance
Glen Cartledge (guitar); Mike Hall (tenor sax); Ed Harrison (bass);
Jack Cotterill (drums).
This line-up was an interesting one as Mike Hall had been called in at the last minute and Glen mentioned that it was the first time he had played with drummer Jack Cotterill although he recalled playing with Jack’s grandad Pete Cotterill at the Bakers Vaults a great jazz dive in Stockport that in its heyday used to feature some great bands.
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Once again the Jazz Coop, in conjunction with Jazz North East, presented a concert that appealed to all but the most conservative members of the audience attending this week's Sunday session at the Globe.
Three musicians at the top of their game brought the jazz-funk groove of yesteryear bang up to date in ultra-contemporary fashion.
Adrian Cox (clarinet, vocals); Nils Solberg (guitar, vocals); Mez Clough
(percussion)
Preacher Cox in the pulpit on a Saturday? Ah, well, an upcoming Bad Manners gig in Mexico necessitated a change of routine due to the fact that at the time of today's usual one o'clock live stream spot Adrian Cox will be at 30,000 feet flying to Central America via Spain. In wishing him bon voyage, our man was joined by guitarist Nils Solberg and percussionist Mez Clough. The limitations of the AV format meant Solberg and Clough would be largely out of shot for much of the session. The trio couldn't have been more relaxed, Cox chatting between numbers with his online flock (in excess of sixty parishioners), kicking off with Somebody Loves Me.
https://www.ayclifferadio.co.
MLK, Nina Simone.
Burns night: Benny Goodman Orchestra.
From the archives: Ella Fitzgerald.
Dean Stockdale makes his selection: Gene Harris Quartet; Fred Hersch; Oscar Peterson; Sonny Stitt with Oscar Peterson; Bill Charlap Trio; Jeff Hamilton Trio.
Burns Night continued: Scottish National Jazz Orchestra; Brian Molley; Matt Carmichael.
Ikumi Koyama, a jazz singer/pianist from Japan, studied jazz piano in Japan and New York and is currently gigging in the London area. This recording features a mixture of well-known and lesser known standards plus two of her own compositions.
She has a most attractive voice and a piano style which should find her ideally suited to some of the upmarket venues in the capital that have good pianos. Ronnie Scott’s, Pizza Express, 606 etc.
What a belter! The opening track brings to mind a legendary recording from the past - Tenor Conclave - that threw John Coltrane, Al Cohn, Zoot Sims and Hank Mobley into the studio to produce some memorable music.
This session only has three horns out front but they hit the same high level - a level that is closer to the moon than it is to even the top of the Empire State or whichever is the highest building in Carpentersville, Illinois where it was recorded last July!
The above was written after I'd heard Montez Coleman with Roy Hargrove at a memorable concert in the Union Chapel, Highbury back in June 2011. Hard to believe that they both left us at an early age. Hargrove died in 2018 aged 49 and Coleman last Friday (Jan. 14) aged 48.
So, given Bosch's supportive role, the only jazz mention is a fleeting reference to an Eddie Harris and Les McCann number, Compared to What?, played on this occasion by John Legend and The Roots prompting Ballard to quip that she didn't think he listened to anything recorded this century!
Nevertheless, it is still a cracking tale with Ballard involved in two cases involving murder and rape in which she not only has to watch her back from the villains but also her own colleagues and superiors who don't take kindly to Bosch's involvement or anything that may tarnish the system.
Israeli flautist Klein is indisputably a fine player. Whether or not as the blurb claims, his virtuoso improvisation lifts jazz flute playing to new heights is questionable. That he is a fine player is without dispute although his failure to show in the 2021 DownBeat Readers Poll suggests that the jury is still out. Maybe this release will sway them for next year's poll.
Nevertheless, it's well played, the tunes have a decidedly catchy feel to them and, given his background, there are distinct ethnic overtones which all add to the overall experience.
To learn more about Mattan Klein and the album go here - Lance
Available on Ubuntu Music UBU0092.
Sunderland’s new live entertainment venue, The Fire Station is set to host a special celebration of the life and music of Amy Winehouse, with some of the country’s most talented young jazz musicians joining forces for an unmissable showcase of the legendary singer’s music.
Amy Winehouse is undoubtedly one of the greatest musical talents to come out of the UK, with her unmistakable character, vocal dexterity and masterful songwriting making her a pop icon.
The National Youth Jazz Orchestra (NYJO) will head to The Fire Station on Thursday 10th February to perform a selection of arrangements from the singer’s iconic discography along with a number of her favourite tunes that she once performed as the featured female vocalist for NYJO over twenty years ago.
Robin Sunflower (harmonica, vocals);
Robin Dewhurst (piano); Adrian Ingram (guitar); Steve Lunn (bass guitar)
This turned out to be another drummerless line-up with the house piano once again being played by a very fine musician, Robin Dewhurst who was last here in Suzanne Fonseca’s band. On guitar was a man well known to guitarists here and abroad, Adrian Ingram, who was heavily featured throughout the evening.
Ingram seemed very much at home in Sunflower’s band which certainly covers a wide range of music from tunes made famous in the Dixieland era such as Darktown Strutters’ Ball to the Latin classic Sway.
You hear the familiar sound of a CD sized package dropping through the mailbox and you groan. The package is from Proper Music who know a thing or two about music which is all right and proper and you decide it's worth opening and maybe even listening to the contents.
Your fears turn to joy when you discover it's a 1959 Stan Tracey Trio recording!
Earlier today I'd splashed out a tenner for a Panasonic mini CD system in our local Sally Army charity shop. I praised the Lord and now the ammunition had been passed on for me to check it out.
It has to be said that the Jazz Coop are never complacent when it comes to programming their Sunday night jazz at the Globe sessions and last night was no exception.
An improv/free jazz event by two master practitioners of the genre. Drawing from the work of such legendary performers as Don Cherry, Ornette Coleman, Jimmy Garrison, Jeanne Lee, and Misha Mengelberg and, of course, adding their own input made for some compelling moments.
This Sunday evening, Garner Pope Duo...
Playlist: Requests: Tuba Skinny; Duke Ellington & Louis Armstrong.
RIP 2021: Howard Johnson & Gravity; Keith Belton & Tees Valley Jazzmen; Slide Hampton.
What's on in the NE: Dean Stockdale; Anth Purdy.
New(ish) Release: Wilbur de Paris.
Anniversary Memories of Jan 21: Benny Goodman Orchestra with Peggy Lee; George Gershwin; Anita O'Day; Stan Getz.
Abbie Finn.
I first heard him singing Nina Never Knew on record with the Sauter Finnegan Orchestra. I think that was his only recording with the band although Bill Finnegan's wife subsequently became his manager.
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Apart from being a fine, bop based, pianist, Greco stamped his individuality on GASbook classics as good, and sometimes even better than, Frank, Tony, Nat, Mel and the other crooner contenders.
I was privileged to hear him at Ronnie's, at Newcastle City Hall and Durham's Gala Theatre (photo with wife number 5 - Lezley Anders). What a singer! What a pianist! What an entertainer!
Necessity is the mother of invention they say or, in this case, Covid is the mother of invention otherwise it would be unlikely that the above four musicians based, respectively, in California, Montana, Maine and Texas would have recorded this fine album - the air fares alone would probably have been prohibitive.
However, modern technology requires no boarding pass, you don't even need to step out of your hometown which is how this virtual recording took place. And, in case you're wondering about the sound quality, let me tell you that Rudy Van Gelder couldn't have done it better!
