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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

Monday, May 30, 2022

Sunday Night @ the Globe: "Two of a Mind" - May 29

Sue Ferris (baritone sax); Steve Summers (alto sax); Paul Susans (bass); Rob Walker (drums).

Recreating classic albums from the past has always been a crowd puller. The audience know what to expect and the musicians have a target to aim for.  That they don't always hit that target is the chance they and the audience take. Fortunately, last night's recreation of the 1962 Paul Desmond and Gerry Mulligan album Two of a Mind was, without a shadow of a doubt, spot on.

All the Things You Are and Blight of the Fumble Bee got the show off to a brisk start. The interplay between the two horns a joy to behold. Last minute dep Susans provided the harmonic foundation so important in a chordless quartet with Walker supplying the rhythmic drive. I'm not sure that Stardust worked but, then again, I don't think it worked that well for Desmond and Mulligan either so they were in good company. 

One that most certainly did work was The Way You Look Tonight. The contrapuntal passages and the theme shifting moments purveyed that breathless charm, to quote from the lyric, perfectly. Line For Lyons wasn't from Two of a Mind but from an earlier (1957) get together.

The first set concluded with Out of Nowhere and nobody was going anywhere.

For the second set, Summers added tenor and curved soprano saxes to his armory whilst Ferris opted to add alto sax and flute to hers and it was on this latter instrument that she blew a sizzling I'm Beginning to See the Light. From the subterranean depths of the baritone to the dizzy heights of the flute there's no musical vertigo for Sue. 

Steve rejoined the party on tenor and Sue returned to bari for Mobley's This I Dig of You and I dug of them. He explained that although the numbers in the second set weren't from the album they intended to play them as if they were.

It worked! If the first set paid lip-service to a classic recording, this set took it to an even higher level not least because of the variety offered by the permutations of the different horns: Bernie's Tune (alto/soprano); Metheny's The Moon Song (tenor/bass/drums); Mingus' Moanin' - not to be confused with the Timmons/Blakey classic (bari/tenor) and a flat out blast on Anthropology that even the insertion of those pesky fours couldn't spoil.

The spotlight may have been on the two out front but the two in the engine room kept the ship afloat.

The evening concluded with In a Sentimental Mood that even had a couple of dancers and no I wasn't one of them!

A brilliant and well attended night - Lance

1 comment :

Anonymous said...

Spot on review. It was indeed a great gig. Graham

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