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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

Wednesday, October 26, 2022

Album review: Monty Alexander: the Montreux Years

Two vinyl albums from four sessions spread over thirty-three years by Monty Alexander at the Montreux Jazz Festival although it was back in 1976 when he first played there.

These previously unreleased tracks serve as a reminder as to just what a great pianist he was and indeed still is. He swings like nobody's business with a technique comparable to his early idols. On top of that, his Jamaican heritage - he was born there in 1944 before moving to Florida and then New York twenty years later - is never too far away making a seamless fusion between the two cultures. He is to jazz what Bob Marley was to reggae. The final track, A Nod to Bob, played over a reggae rhythm acknowledges his fellow Jamaican. 

The pure jazz side is best exemplified in the trio tracks and the finger-busting solo piece The Serpent. The Jamaican Project and the Harlem Kingston Express tracks are peppered with calypso-like rhythms that create a flavour as exotic as a Jamaican Rum Punch.

Nice guitar from Ranglin and tenor from Blake are but a few of the many highlights in this collection.

Although highly recommended, I do have one minor quibble. It would have been nice to have the tracks in chronological order. I know that with the CD version you could programme them as such but, with the CD you are shortchanged by one track or 7 minutes and 13 seconds - Quincy Jones' The Pawnbroker. It's a beautiful ballad and Alexander extracts that beauty in his own sweet way ably supported by Coleman's bass. I wouldn't be without it for all the coffee in Jamaica's Blue Mountains. Lance

Trio (July 5, 1993): Monty Alexander (piano); Ira Coleman (bass); Ed Thigpen (drums).

Jamaican Project (July 16, 1995): Monty Alexander (piano/keys); Ernest Ranglin (guitar); Robert Thomas Jr. (hand drum); Dwight Dawes (keys); Carlton Messam (bass); Rolando Wilson (drums); Robert Angus (guitar).

Harlem Kingston Express (July 13, 2014): Monty Alexander (piano); Hassan Shakur (double bass); Obed Calvaire (drums); Andy Bassford (guitar); Leon Duncan (bass); Karl Wright (drums).

Harlem Kingston Express (June 30, 2016): Monty Alexander (piano); Hassan Shakur (double bass); Andy Bassford (guitar); Leon Duncan (bass); Karl Wright (drums/perc); Jason Brown (drums); Ron Blake (tenor sax).

Vinyl Tracklist:

A1) The Serpent (Live - Montreux Jazz Festival 1995) 05:48

A2) The Work Song (Live - Montreux Jazz Festival 2016) 07:53

A3) Hurricane Come and Gone (Live - Montreux Jazz Festival 2016) 09:49

B1) Night Mist Blues (Live - Montreux Jazz Festival 2014) 08:14

B2) LinsteadMarket (Live - Montreux Jazz Festival 1993) 08:34

B3) Crying (Live - Montreux Jazz Festival 1995) 07:45

C1) No Woman No Cry / Get Up Stand Up (Medley) (Live - Montreux Jazz Festival 2014) 08:14

C2) Renewal (Live - Montreux Jazz Festival 1993) 09:46

D1) Pawnbroker (Live - Montreux Jazz Festival 1993)* 07:13

D2) A Nod to Bob (Live - Montreux Jazz Festival 1995) 11:58

*LP & Digital only track

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