Bebop Spoken There

Ron Carter quoting Sonny Rollins: ''What we call jazz - that's keeping the world in equilibrium. I don't care what kind of music you like out here today. It all comes from jazz.'' (DownBeat August, 2026)

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

18767 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 18 years ago. 631 of them this year alone and, so far this month (July 31) 95.

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

From This Moment On

August

Wed 05: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 05: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 05: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 06: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ The Millstone, Mill Rise, South Gosforth, Newcastle. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 06: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £5.00.
Thu 06: Wild Women of Wylam @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Thu 06: Jeremy McMurray’s Pocket Jazz Orchestra @ Arc, Stockton. 8:00pm. Feat. guest Zoë Gilby.
Thu 06: Paul Skerritt @ Angels' Share, St George's Terrace, Jesmond, Newcastle NE2 2SX. 8:00pm. Free. Booking advised (0191 200 1975). Skerritt w. backing tapes.
Thu 06: Bridget Metcalfe Sextet @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm.

Fri 07: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 07: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 07: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.

Sat 08: ???

Sun 09: 58 Jazz Collective @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00-3:00pm. Free.
Sun 09: Tees Bay Swing Band @ Ropner Park, Stockton. 2:00-4:00pm. Free.
Sun 09: Am Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 09: The Gambling Janes @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 10: Friends of Jazz @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.Free.

Tue 11: Jazz Jam Sandwich @ Newcastle Arts Centre. 7:30pm. Free.

Wednesday, February 23, 2022

Album review: Juan Carlos Quintero - Table For Five!

Juan Carlos Quintero (guitar); Joe Rotundi (piano); Eddie Resto (bass); Aaron Serfaty (drums); Joey DeLeon (perc.)

What is it about Latin bands? The music is so infectious - close your eyes and you're back in the 1940s doing the rhumba or the mambo or the cha-cha-cha with, say, Carmen Miranda at the Copacabana - open them and you're back to the cold reality of Covid and conflict.

Nevertheless, this album is nearer Birdland than the Copa and, whilst maintaining the rhythms from south of the border, successfully incorporates them into the jazz lexicon.

The repertoire is, in the main, song book classics given a Latin twist. It could be argued, and I wouldn't disagree, that Quintero has incorporated the two genres better than anyone else since the bossa-nova  years of the 1960s. Lance

Alone together;Mambo Balahu; The Gentle Rain; Manha De Carnivál; Table For Five; Song For my Father; Porque Si Queres; Days of Wine and Roses; Giant Steps; Beautiful Love.

Check it out on all digital platforms. 

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