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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

17755 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 76 of them this year alone and, so far, 1 this month (Feb.1).

From This Moment On ...

February 2025

Sat 08: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 12:30-2:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 08: Jason Isaacs @ Seaburn STACK, Seaburn. 3:30-5:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 08: Milne Glendinning Band @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 08: Lewis Watson Quartet @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 7:30pm. £15.00. at the door; £14.35. (inc £0.35 bf) online, in advance.
Sat 08: Anth Purdy @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. ‘Swing Jazz Guitar’.
Sat 08: NUJO Jazz Jam @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A Newcastle University Jazz Orchestra event. All welcome.

Sun 09: Glenn Miller & Big Band Spectacular @ The Forum, Billingham. 3:00pm.
Sun 09: The New ’58 Jazz Collective @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 09: Am Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 09: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 09: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 09: Tom Remon & Mark Williams @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 09: Rod Oughton’s Tomorrow’s New Quartet with Ben van Helder @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Line-up inc. Deschanel Gordon.
Sun 09: Jazz Jam @ Fabio’s, Saddler St., Durham. 8:00pm. Free. A Durham University Jazz Society promotion. All welcome.

Mon 10: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

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.

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, August 15, 2022

Album review: Brian Landrus - Red List

Brian Landrus (baritone sax, bass clarinet,  flutes); Corey King (vocals); Geoffrey Keezer (piano, keys); Jaleel Shaw (alto sax); John Hadfield (percussion); Lonnie Plaxico (bass); Nir Felder (guitar); Ron Blake tenor sax); Rudy Royston (drums); Ryan Keberle (trombone); Steve Roach (trumpet,  flugelhorn)

Brain Landrus is not just concerned about the Earth’s declining ecological diversity, he is absolutely furious and there are parts of this album that assail the ears in a way that attempts to convey the full force of his fury and the accompanying desperation. On this album he has focused on thirteen of the most endangered animals on the Red List, the International Union for Conservation of Nature list that identifies the global extinction risk status of animal, fungus and plant species. Jasper Hoiby covered similar ecological themes on his 2020 album Planet B and we can go back to Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On in 1971 for the high profile release that included the much covered recently Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology).

But what’s the point? To paraphrase Frank Zappa (I think) “Isn’t writing music about endangered species like dancing about football?” (And writing reviews of it even more so?). Or is this the first of many, timely, albums as more and more artists become engaged with the most important issue of the day? Landrus’ hope with this album is that “Red List will help to facilitate critical yet uncomfortable conversations about changing our global habit of destroying nature for our own gain.”

On the album Landrus addresses these themes in two ways. He writes about the diminishing natural environments and he intersperses these with specific pen portraits of the animals at risk. He draws on nature for some of his music. He is quoted in DownBeat (August 2022, a comment that Lance put up on BSH) that "I kept listening to these different calls from different animals, same species, and they were all using major thirds." I could have expected an album full of mournful laments but much of it celebrates the diversity of the disappearing habitats and the animals themselves as if to strengthen the cry of ‘Look what we’re losing!’

To the music itself. It’s a mix of bold widescreen soul/jazz with occasional dips into other styles, such as reggae, played by a core septet with guests. The opening track Canopy of Trees is an overture, a full voiced prog-rocky opening with thumping piano before a more fluid solo by Keezer leads into a bold brass chorus and a wistful baritone sax solo. It’s a rousing call to arms.

The title track, Red List, sees Landrus use the full range of the baritone’s voice. It both soars and laments. It’s another great example of his arranging as the soloists call and respond with the main body of the players or solos are wrapped around the themes. It breaks down for the last minute of the tune to suggest the peril ahead, as if it can’t continue to hang together.

The track, Giant Panda is dominated by the baritone sax which seeks to capture the movement and the look of the animal. It’s almost a modern day Carnival of the Animals, though tinged with tragedy.

Tigris is probably my favourite on the album. It builds from a guitar/bass/drums opening to a full band peak before a further baritone sax solo over rolling drums and punching percussion. Stabbing piano leads into a soaring, screaming tenor sax solo before Felder brings it home with a solo that incorporates staccato stabs and fluid runs.

Bwindi Forest, (now a nature reserve in South-West Uganda and home to the mountain gorilla), the most discordant track on the album, is full of rage whilst Congo Basin is all space and big skies. Up River is beautiful soulful jazz pushed along by Lonnie Plaxico’s electric bass. The next track Only Eight is another chance for Plaxico to shine, this time on acoustic bass, though only briefly - all of 48 seconds. 

Vaquita, dedicated to and a celebration of the animal (a species of porpoise found in the northern end of the Gulf of California, in Mexico. It is the smallest of all living cetaceans.) The music is 70s soul jazz that conjures up images of the ocean. The solos, by Landrus and Jaleel Shaw are elegant as if to reflect the movement of the porpoise through the water.

On the face of it the closer, Javan Rhino, is an electric boogaloo but it has a darker edge, a shadow emphasised by the baritone sax. The weight of tone is more pessimistic than a lighter toned instrument would have been. It’s not an optimistic ending.

This is an album without a wasted moment. The music reflects Landrus’ concerns and he has amassed a top flight group and arranged them brilliantly. It deserves greater success than it will receive commercially but its profile may be raised by both its timeliness and, I suspect, recognition in any relevant awards later in the year.

There is more information about the album and the issues it raises on Landrus’ website HERE. The IUCN Red List can be found at IUCN Red List of Threatened Species

Red List was released in June and is widely available. Dave Sayer

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