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Bebop Spoken There

Trevor Mires: ''My mum is a Dean Martin fan: I'm not, so I would grab my skateboard and get out of the house whenever I heard "Everybody Loves Somebody, Sometime." ". (Jazzwise, April 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

17972 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 293 of them this year alone and, so far, 49 this month (April 22).

From This Moment On ...

April 2025.

Fri 25: Vasilis Xenopoulos & Paul Edis @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT! Duo performance.
Fri 25: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 25: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 25: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 25: Andrea Vicari Trio @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. £8.00. Vicari (piano); Andy Champion (double bass); Russ Morgan (drums).
Fri 25: Jason Isaacs @ STACK, Exchange Sq., Middlesbrough. 4:00-6:00pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Fri 25: Red Kites Jazz @ Land of Oak & Iron, Winlaton Mill. 6:00-9:00pm. Free.
Fri 25: Vasilis Xenopoulos & Paul Edis @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 7:30pm. £15.00. at the door; £14.35. (inc £0.35 bf) online, in advance.
Fri 25: Struggle Buggy @ The White Room, Stanley. 7:45pm. Rhythm & blues.
Fri 25: Paul Skerritt Big Band @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm. £20.30., £18.00. All-star big band.
Fri 25: Andrea Vicari Trio @ Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. Vicari (piano); Andy Champion (double bass); Russ Morgan (drums). An Opus 4 Jazz Club event.

Sat 26: Durham Alumni Big Band @ Number One Bar, Darlington. 12 noon. Free (donations).
Sat 26: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 26: Vasilis Xenopoulos & Paul Edis @ Elvet Methodist Church, Durham. 7:30pm. Tickets: £12.00. + bf. Duo performance.
Sat 26: Neil Cowley Trio @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm. £22.50.
Sat 26: Pete Tanton & the Cuban Heels @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 27: Musicians Unlimited @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 27: Andrea Vicari Trio @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00pm. Vicari (piano); Andy Champion (double bass); John Bradford (drums).
Sun 27: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 27: Vasilis Xenopoulos-Paul Edis Quartet @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm. Xenopoulos, Edis, Paul Susans, Russ Morgan.
Sun 27: Ruth Lambert Trio @ Juke Shed, North Shields. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 27: JustKing Jones @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. 7:00pm (doors). £17.50. JustKing Jones (alto sax, soprano sax); Jordan Williams (piano); Jason Clotter (bass); Malcolm Charles (drums). Ace NYC outfit!
Sun 27: Jazz Jam Sandwich! @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 27: Swing Manouche @ Warkworth Memorial Hall. 7:30pm. £15.00. Tickets from 01665 711388.
Sun 27: Vasilis Xenopoulos-Paul Edis Quartet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Xenopoulos, Edis, Ken Marley, Russ Morgan.

Mon 28: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 29: ???

Wed 30: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 30: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 30: International Jazz Day @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £16.00.; £14.00. adv.. Feat. Guido Spannocchi, John Pope & Steve Hanley + Take it to the Bridge participants + Open Mic Night participants.

MAY 2025

Thu 01: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: Member’s Contribution.
Thu 01: Alabaster de Plume @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm.
Thu 01: Living in Shadows + OUTRI @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Thu 01: The Shayo Experiment @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Shayo Oshodi & Liam Oliver.
Thu 01: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm. Free.

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

Wednesday, May 11, 2022

Album review: Jazz at Berlin Philharmonic Xlll - Celebrating Mingus 100

Magnus Lindgren (bari sax, bass clarinet, arr.); Georg Breinschmid (bass); Gregory Hutchinson (drums); Danny Grissett (piano); Matthias Schriefl (trumpet); Camille Bertault (vocal); Shannon Barnett (trombone); Tony Lakatos, Jakob Manz (sax).

Recorded live in Berlin's Philharmonic Concert Hall on April 13 - 9 days short of it being 100 years to the day of his birth - this rumbustious celebration of one of jazz's most important and influential innovators, Charles Mingus, does the great man proud.

Whilst it may, at times, be more in your face than the original versions on the legendary album Mingus Ah-Um it is, nevertheless, an album capable of being judged on its own merits.

Jelly Rolls is brought in by bassist and co-leader Breinschmid who came to jazz from the Vienna Philharmonic he also solos in the latter stages of the piece; his symphonic apprenticeship did him no harm whatsoever. Manz paintstrips on alto, Aussie Barnett takes the Jimmy Knepper role and Schriefl brought to mind Teddy Buckner's shift with Kid Ory's Creole Jazz Band at one of the Dixieland Jubilee concerts - 1953 I think. Buckner, on parole from Lionel Hampton, was as far removed from Mutt Carey as was conceivable. Schriefl would have had the same effect.

The German trumpet player displays more technique on the quirky Fables of Faubus beginning with some growling that would have had Ellington writing a concerto for him before charging onwards and upwards.

Goodbye Pork Pie Hat introduces Camille Bertault who remembers Lester Young in French. My linguistic skills aren't that good but the word chapeaux cropped up so it must have been authentic. 

Boogie Stop Shuffle had some nice tenor from Lakatos. Piano by Grissett, one of two Americans on the gig, the other being drummer Hutchinson who, like Danny Richmond on the original was heard at length. In between, there was some blistering baritone by co-leader and arranger Lindgren. Bertault did some scatting and the crowd loved it - me too!

La Bertauld also provided some words to Mingus'  Self-Portrait in Three Colors. The additional colors being supplied by, I think, Lakatos on tenor, Lindgren on bass clarinet and more piano from Grissett.

The final number - Better Git it in Your Soul - was, as expected, an absolute belter!
Everybody got in on the act (or should that be ACT?) Baritone blowing like his influence Pepper Adams, Bertauld scatting, trumpet screaming, bass, drums, alto, trombone all in there pitching culminating with what could have been an avant-garde group playing Dixieland or vice versa!

This must have been quite a concert!

Released on CD and digi - June 24 . ACT 9955-2. Details.

PS: I realise the release date is still some way off but I was so excited about it I couldn't wait to tell the world (I'll probably flag it up again nearer the time). Lance

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