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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.

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.

Fri 02: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 02: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 02: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 02: Anna Reay & Deon Krishnan @ STACK, Seaburn. 4:30-6:15pm. Free.
Fri 02: Nauta @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 7:00pm. £7.50. A ‘Nauta’s House’ gig featuring Nauta & guests Shayo Oshodi & David Gray.
Fri 02: Spilt Milk @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 7:00-9:00pm. Free. Nolan Brothers (vocal harmonies).
Fri 02: Dom Pipkin @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). Solo piano.
Fri 02: Abbie Finn Trio @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm. £12.00. + bf.

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

Thursday, May 19, 2022

Book review: John Altman - Hidden Man: My Many Musical Lives.

Hidden Man, huh? Well, no longer will this be the case as the remarkably versatile and talented John Altman outlines a potted history of jazz and popular music as well as film scores from 1970 to the present day. In both the UK and USA he was there as a saxophonist, arranger, composer, conductor and producer. His prodigious memory and healthy photo archive provide the reader with an entertaining and fascinating collection of anecdotes of the behind the scenes' antics therein.

To attempt to list the unending names of the great and the good that Altman has played and collaborated with would be fruitless. As the cliché goes, it would be much easier and more economical to list the few that he has NOT been involved with. As this review is for a  jazz publication it might be wiser to the highlight the many jazz names that this prominent polymath knew and worked with. These include Quincy Jones (of whom a picture of him and Altman feature on the top of John's F/b home page), Benny Carter, Plas Johnson, Dudley Moore, Chet Baker, Amy Winehouse and...(at a stretch) Van Morrison. All of whom bear heartwarming and lovingly told tales of interactions with the author.

Not to be overlooked is that Altman is the nephew of both Sid and Woolf Phillips - two renowned bandleaders and musical directors in the UK during the 2nd half of the 20th Century. His cousin is Simon Phillips, an internationally recognised session and rock drummer who boasts appearances with Toto, The Who, Peter Gabriel, Frank Zappa and Gil Evans, amongst many luminous others. One cannot imagine a more successful and noteworthy UK music biz dynasty. It's no surprise that Altman's many talents and skills in so many different musical arenas are a product from his early musical years amongst this lot.

Altman formed his big band in 1985 and has performed with it in both London and LA - his musical home - frequently to this day. The repertoire consists of an equal mix of his original pieces and jazz standards. Having heard the band on a few occasions I can say that  I was  particularly delighted with his treatments of Clifford Brown's Joyspring and Mario Bauza's  Mambo Inn. Both of which show great respect for the stylistic idiom peppered with a healthy dash of John Altman. Plus, his longtime copyist, Leytonstone based tubist and bassist Graham Read, remains on his payroll today as both lead tubist and chief copyist. Such devotion and consistency, indeed.

As the tumult of the pandemic appears to be abating do keep an eye out for the John Altman Big Band who have been known to  appear annually at a pub in NE London. If so, the author will be the guy with the soprano saxophone hanging from his neck throughout the entire gig as well as conducting  and playing solos along with telling many stories - quite a few of which are eloquently and endearingly included in Hidden Man.

John Altman, like Salmon Rushdie, is no longer hiding. The fatwa has now been lifted. Read Hidden Man sharpish to experience the Forrest Gump of popular music's take on a lengthy and distinguished career. And it ain't over yet (especially if you can toddle  along to his next big band gig...) Frank Griffith

SBN 10: 1800501544 / ISBN 13: 9781800501546 Published by EQUINOX PUBLISHING ACADEMIC, 2022

1 comment :

Simon Spillett (on F/b) said...

Frank Griffith needs an award for coming up with the Forrest Gump line. I'd have given my eye teeth to coin something as pithy as that.

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