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Bebop Spoken There

Sullivan Fortner: ''I always judge it by the bass player: If the bass player is happy, it's going to be a good night". (DownBeat, February 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

17777 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 98 of them this year alone and, so far, 23 this month (Feb.8).

From This Moment On ...

February 2025

Tue 11: Steve Summers Quintet @ Newcastle House Hotel, Rothbury. 7:30pm.

Wed 12: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 12: Jam session @ The Tannery, Gilesgate, Hexham. 7:00-9:00pm. Free.
Wed 12: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 12: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 13: Student Performances @ King’s Hall, Newcastle University. 4:00pm. Free. Inc. Olly Styles (tenor sax).
Thu 13: MOBO Awards Fringe 2025: Artist Showcase @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 7:00pm. Free (ticketed). Line-up inc. Hannabiell & Midnight Blue.
Thu 13: Indigo Jazz Voices @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:45pm. £5.00.

Fri 14: John Rowland Trio @ Jesmond Library, Newcastle. 12:30-1:30pm. £5.00. at the door. New second Friday in the month concert series.
Fri 14: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 14: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 14: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 14: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 4:00-6:00pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Fri 14: Archipelago + Anna Tempest @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm. £12.00., £10.00., £8.00.
Fri 14: Paul Jones & Dave Kelly @ Alnwick Playhouse. 7:30pm. Rhythm & blues.
Fri 14: Alexia Gardner Quintet @ The White Room, Stanley. 7:45pm.
Fri 14: Jazz Sabbath @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm.

Sat 15: Joseph Carville Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 15: James Birkett & Emma Fisk @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 7:30pm. £15.00. at the door; £14.35. (inc £0.35 bf) online, in advance.
Sat 15: Elkie Brooks @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 7:30pm. ‘The Long Farewell Tour’.
Sat 15: Milne Glendinning Band @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 16: Jason Isaacs @ STACK, Exchange Sq., Middlesbrough. 1:00-2:45pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sun 16: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 16: MOBO Awards Fringe 2025: BBC Introducing NE X MOBO Showcase @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 6:00pm. Free (ticketed). Line-up inc. Jambone, Knats, Rivkala, SwanNek.
Sun 16: The Shayo Experience @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 16: Gerry Richardson Quartet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Sun 16: Jazz Jam @ Fabio’s, Saddler St., Durham. 8:00pm. Free. A Durham University Jazz Society promotion. All welcome.

Mon 17: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 17: Russ Morgan Quartet @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £10.00.

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: McCoy Tyner/Freddie Hubbard Quartet - Live at Fabrik

McCoy Tyner (piano); Freddie Hubbard (trumpet, flugelhorn); Avery Sharpe (bass); Louis Hayes (drums)

The Fabrik or 'Fabrik' is a venue in Hamburg with a track record of presenting jazz, 'big name' jazz concerts at that. In 1986 Freddie Hubbard joined the McCoy Tyner Trio on-stage on a mid-summer evening (June 18 to be precise). This new release on Jazzline is another in an increasingly crowded market place of recently discovered and/or recently issued, albums. Why it has taken the best part of thirty six years for Live at Fabrik to see the light of day isn't clear. It would seem this 'trio plus guest' concert is best marketed as the 'McCoy Tyner-Freddie Hubbard Quartet'.

In his liner notes Michael Laages suggests this two-disc recording shows McCoy Tyner 'at the summit of his fame' playing alongside 'the exceptional charisma of Hubbard's trumpet'. Tyner and Hubbard were in their late thirties at the time of the recording and it's fair to say they were at the the peak of their creative powers: Tyner's percussive piano playing is evident throughout and Hubbard's sustained high-C bravura trumpet playing is, to say the least, impressive. Bassist Avery Sharpe and Louis Hayes (still going strong at the age of eighty four) make telling contributions throughout the two hours plus the quartet is on stage. 

Four of the album's eight tracks were penned by Tyner, Hubbard's Neo-Terra, the longest of several long tracks, clocks-in at a mammoth 25:49, alongside three standards - Body and Soul, 'Round Midnight and What is This Thing Called Love? The quartet's take on Johnny Green's Body and Soul suggests the venue wasn't/isn't on the intimate side. Indeed, the album's overall sound balance leaves something to be desired. That said, from the opener, Tyner's Inner Glimpse, it's a fast and furious ride, the principals to the fore. Neo-Terra is Hubbard venturing into jazz-funk mode (Hayes soloing, crashing cymbals et al), the hard bop years a distant memory. 

Disc two opens with Tyner's uplifting gospel-to-calypso Island Birdie, perhaps the album's atypical cut. 'Round Midnight features Hubbard playing trumpet and flugelhorn. Monk's timeless number doesn't escape Hubbard's piercing high-C treatment. Seventeen minutes' worth of Tyner's Blues for Basie finds the quartet in swinging form, Sharpe soloing. Live at Fabrik closes with What is This Called Love?, Tyner digging into some stride, the quartet going out all guns blazing. Russell

Live at Fabrik by the McCoy Tyner/Freddie Hubbard Quartet is available on the Jazzline label.   

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