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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

17733 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 53 of them this year alone and, so far, 53 this month (Jan. 20).

From This Moment On ...

January 2025

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.

Thu 23: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, Holystone. 1:00pm. Free. Fortnightly.
Thu 23: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: Obituaries 2024.
Thu 23: Jason Isaacs @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 4:30-6:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Thu 23: Pedal Point Trio @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Fri 24: Zoë Gilby Quartet @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 24: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 24: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 24: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 24: Creakin’ Bones & the Sunday Dinners @ Lindisfarne Social Club, Wallsend. 9:00pm. Admission: TBC. Jazz, blues , jump jive, rock ‘n’ roll.

Sat 25: Boys of Brass @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 3:30-5:30pm. Free.
Sat 25: New '58 Jazz Collective @ Jackson's Wharf, Hartlepool. 6:30pm (doors). Free. A Burns' Night event. Jazz, swing, funk, soul, blues etc.
Sat 25: Edison Herbert Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 25: Jack & Jay’s Songbook @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 26: Musicians Unlimited @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 26: Graham Hardy Eclectic Quartet @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm.
Sun 26: Ruth Lambert Trio @ The Juke Shed, Union Quay, North Shields. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 26: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 26: Jazz Jam Sandwich! @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 26: Tweed River Jazz Band @ Barrels Ale House, Berwick-upon-Tweed. 7:30pm. Free.
Sun 26: Gratkowski, Tramontana, Beresford, Affifi @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £12.00. JNE.
Sun 26: Jazz Jam @ Fabio’s, Saddler St., Durham. 8:00pm. Free. A Durham University Jazz Society promotion. All welcome.

Mon 27: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 28: ???

Wed 29: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 29: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 29: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).

Thu 30: Matters Unknown (aka Jonathan Enser, Nubiyan Twist) + support TBA @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 8:00pm (7:00pm doors). £12.22 (gig & food); £9:04 (gig only).
Thu 30: Soznak @ The Mill Tavern, Hebburn. 8:00pm. Free.
Thu 30: Struggle Buggy @ Harbour View, Roker, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Rhythm & blues.

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 05, 2022

Cheltenham Jazz Festival: Laura Jurd @ Parabola Arts Centre - May 1

It seems like years since I last saw Laura Jurd and I couldn’t remember how many times I’ve seen her. I know the first time was at the Scarborough Jazz Festival and Mrs T reminded me of one occasion I’d forgotten about. Nor had I done my homework properly and wasn’t expecting the eleven piece group I’d seen at Sage Gateshead a few years back. Interesting to see if the intervening years had affected my appreciation of this generation of British jazz.

Jurd was playing cornet on this occasion, with her regular quartet of Elliot Galvin on piano, Conor Chaplin on bass guitar and Corrie Dick on drums, with additional trombone and euphonium, the ubiquitous Rob Luft on guitar and the Ligeti String Quartet. Jurd is a regular member of the Electric Ladyland Big Band but this was obviously too close in the schedule for her to do both.

The set included compositions from Jurd, Galvin, Dick and Norwegian artists she’d collaborated with in the past, beginning with her own Stepping Out from the album Stepping Jumping In.

 

When Tony Dudley-Evans introduced the band he highlighted the contrast between this set, based on composition, and the previous set by Paul Dunmall based on improvisation, and I remembered a comment on one of the Charles Mingus documentaries that improvisation is a form of composition. I was immediately struck by the use of light and shade in the juxtaposition of quieter moments, with perhaps two or three instruments, and louder moments where the whole band were blowing, which was common to both bands. Also how the different elements of each band could pair different instruments to create more variety, clearly with greater opportunity for this in the larger band.

Jurd’s sound and technique is no less fantastic on cornet and Luft is never less than impressive, but the whole band demonstrated exemplary musicianship, blending the disparate sections seamlessly.  

 

Our busy schedule meant we came out before the end for a quick drink from the bar, essentially to get a couple of glasses for the bottle of prosecco we’d successfully stashed, but who knew – after all these years - the draught lager and cider would be so good, if – less surprisingly – so expensive. Also a chance to check the site out, reduced in size since the pandemic, with food stall prices inflated from expensive to silly, the CD store a no-show, presumably a result of  the rise of streaming, the demonisation of CD and the damp squib of a vinyls revival. Most alarming of all was the absence of a programme, an essential tool for the hapless reviewer, which wasn’t a popular move amongst festival-goers or volunteers either. Steve T     

1 comment :

Steve T said...

I've just noticed I've put Conor Chaplin down for bass guitar on this gig but he was playing upright and it was the following gig he played bass guitar. Sorry Conor.

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