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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

17719 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 39 of them this year alone and, so far, 39 this month (Jan. 15).

From This Moment On ...

January 2025

Fri 17: Lindsay Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 17: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 17: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 17: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 17: Joe Steels Trio w. Graham Hardy @ The Pele, Corbridge. 7:00pm. £10.00. (inc. a welcome drink & table reservation). Book at: www.drinks@thepele.co.uk. A ‘Jazz at the Pele’ promotion.
Fri 17: Russ Morgan Quartet @ Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. Opus 4 Jazz Club.
Fri 17: Redwell @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sat 18: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 18: Alter Ego + Jamie Toms/Graham Don Duo @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 7:30pm. £15.00. at the door; £14.35. (inc £0.35 bf) online, in advance.
Sat 18: Tweed River Jazz Band @ Repas 7 by Night, West St., Berwick TD15 1AS. 7:30pm. Free. Album launch gig.
Sat 18: Delta Prophets @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 19: Glenn Miller Orchestra UK @ Glasshouse, Gateshead. 3:00pm. ‘Glenn Miller & the Rat Pack Era’.
Sun 19: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 19: Spilt Milk @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 5:15-7:00pm. Free. Nolan Brothers (vocal harmonies).
Sun 19: Tenement Jazz Band @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 19: Nick Ross Orchestra @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 7:30pm.
Sun 19: Freight Train (Tobin/Noble/Clarvis) @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 20: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 21: ???

Wed 22: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 22: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 22: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 22: Pasadena Roof Orchestra @ Fire Station, Sunderland. 7:30pm.

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

Saturday, April 09, 2022

Album review: The Gil Evans Orchestra Live at Fabrik – Hamburg 1986

Lew Soloff, Shunzo Ono, Miles Evans (trumpets); John Clark (French horn); Dave Taylor (trombone); David Bargeron (trombone/ tuba); Chris Hunter, Bill Evans, Howard Johnson (reeds); Gil Evans (leader/ elec. piano); Pete Levin (synth); Hiram Bullock (guitar); Mark Egan (bass guitar); Victor Lewis (drums); Marilyn Mazur (perc.); Delmar Brown (vocals & synth).

This is a previously unreleased 2 CD (or 3 LP) “live” recording of the Gil Evans Orchestra from October 26, 1986 held at ‘The Fabrik’ venue as part of the eleventh Hamburg Jazz Festival. It showcases Evans’ talent as a bandleader/arranger extraordinaire (and electric piano player) in the third and final phase of his career as a star in the jazz world. We’re lucky that a German broadcaster brought its microphones to record this event at a great location where the ambiance was good and where guest players like Victor Lewis and Marilyn Mazur had been added to an already formidable line-up.

Gil’s Orchestra was of course, like no other – unconventional, challenging to play in and to listen to, unpredictable, extraordinary and unique, lacking discipline and yet disciplined, with just a look or a pointed finger from the maestro to direct operations. The ensemble consisted of people who didn’t ordinarily play together (but who wanted to play for Gil). Musical tension was created by players in different styles and by the juxtaposition of various musical differences. Gil loved “the teetering on the edge” feeling that was the band’s ‘modus operandi’.

The music is as different as is possible to be from the superbly crafted arrangements prepared for the Claude Thornhill Orchestra or ‘The Birth of the Cool’ band or the Davis/Evans collaborations (Miles Ahead, Porgy and Bess, Sketches Of Spain) where Gil would sometimes agonise for days about the placing of a note in the score. Here, we have the free-flowing, Jimi Hendrix-influenced, collective improvisations, huge sonic performances dominated by synths and electronic instruments, some neat section play, and ‘free’ solos with the building and  release of tension throughout. Gil was fascinated by unusual sounds and many are included here – Bullock’s plangent guitar sound adds to his lustrous choice of chords, Levin’s synthesiser can provide backdrops which would normally need at least twelve conventional instruments. Soloff’s lead trumpet – Gillespie influenced but well into free and rock styles.

Many of the band’s usual repertoire are included here – Tony William’s There Comes a Time morphs into Zawinul’s Birdland. Hendrix’s Stone Free, Up from the Skies, Little Wing, and Voodoo Chile. Levin’s Subway, Delmar Brown’s extraordinary feature Sometimes and Gil’s own Orgone (previously known as Gone or Gone, Gone, Gone). Tracks range from 8 mins to 23 mins in length.

Some critics castigated Gil saying these extended pieces were self-indulgent, the solos were too long, the intros interminable. They missed the point of this spectacular, spontaneous, unpredictable, dumbfounding group where wild tumults of sound contrasted with “washes of music” to assail the listener’s ear. The very essence of jazz “The Sound of Surprise”. Dave Brownlow

The Gil Evans Orchestra Live At Fabrik NDR Kulture D77101

Lew S

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