Bebop Spoken There

Art Blakey (to Terence Blanchard): ''You ain't Miles find your own shit to do!'' (DownBeat May, 2026)

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

18504 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 18 years ago. 368 of them this year alone and, so far this month (May 7 ) 22

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

From This Moment On

May

Fri 15: Conor Emery Quartet @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. Line-up Emery (trombone); Alix Shepherd (piano); John Pope (double bass); Abbie Finn (drums). SOLD OUT!
Fri 15: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 15: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 15: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 15: Gerry Richardson Quartet @ Sunderland Minster. 7:30pm. £13.01 adv., £15.00 on the door. Old Black Cat Jazz Club.
Fri 15: Puppini Sisters @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm. CANCELLED!

Sat 16: Sing Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. £27.50. Tutor: Alexia Gardner. God Bless the Child - Lady Day!. Enrol at: learning@jazz.coop.
Sat 16: Kaberry Big Band @ the Seahorse Pub, Hillheads Rd., Whitley Bay NE23 8HR. From 7:30pm. £15.00
Sat 16: Lady Nade @ Arc, Stockton. 8:00pm. ‘Lady Nade sings Nina Simone’.

Sun 17: Glenn Miller & Big Band Spectacular @ Forum Theatre, Billingham. 7:30pm.
Sun 17: QOW Trio @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £14.00., £12.00., £7.00. Spike Wells, Riley Stone-Lonergan & Eddie Myer.

Mon 18: Friends of Jazz @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 18: Mark Williams Trio @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £10.00.

Tue 19: GoGo Penguin + Daudi Matsiko @ Wylam Brewery, Newcastle. 7:00pm (doors). £22.00 + £4.40 bf.
Tue 19: Danny Lowndes’ Hot Club @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £15.00 + £5.00 bf.
Tue 19: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Michael Young (piano); Paul Grainger (double bass); Mark Robertson (drums).

Wed 20: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 20: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 20: Jordan Jackson @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £19.80 (inc. bf); £15.40 (inc. bf).
Wed 20: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 21: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ The Millstone, Mill Rise, South Gosforth, Newcastle. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 21: Jazz Classics with Rivkala @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. Rivkala (vocals); Alan Law (piano); Paul Grainger (double bass).
Thu 21: Paul Skerritt @ Angels' Share, St George's Terrace, Jesmond, Newcastle NE2 2SX. 8:00pm. Free. Booking advised (0191 200 1975). Skerritt w. backing tapes.

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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