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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

17719 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 39 of them this year alone and, so far, 39 this month (Jan. 15).

From This Moment On ...

January 2025

Wed 15: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 15: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 15: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 15: Hot Club of Heaton @ Elder Beer, Heaton, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘third Wednesday in the month’ session. TBC.

Thu 16: Pete Tanton & the Cuban Heels @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Fri 17: Lindsay Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 17: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 17: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 17: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 17: Joe Steels Trio w. Graham Hardy @ The Pele, Corbridge. 7:00pm. £10.00. (inc. a welcome drink & table reservation). Book at: www.drinks@thepele.co.uk. A ‘Jazz at the Pele’ promotion.
Fri 17: Russ Morgan Quartet @ Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. Opus 4 Jazz Club.
Fri 17: Redwell @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sat 18: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 18: Alter Ego + Jamie Toms/Graham Don Duo @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 7:30pm. £15.00. at the door; £14.35. (inc £0.35 bf) online, in advance.
Sat 18: Tweed River Jazz Band @ Repas 7 by Night, West St., Berwick TD15 1AS. 7:30pm. Free. Album launch gig.
Sat 18: Delta Prophets @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 19: Glenn Miller Orchestra UK @ Glasshouse, Gateshead. 3:00pm. ‘Glenn Miller & the Rat Pack Era’.
Sun 19: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 19: Spilt Milk @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 5:15-7:00pm. Free. Nolan Brothers (vocal harmonies).
Sun 19: Tenement Jazz Band @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 19: Nick Ross Orchestra @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 7:30pm.
Sun 19: Freight Train (Tobin/Noble/Clarvis) @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 20: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 21: ???

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

Sunday, November 13, 2022

Album review: WDR Big Band - Birth of a Bird.

Johan Hörlan, Luigi Grasso (solo alto saxes) + WDR Big Band (see graphic for personnel, soloists etc.) Arrangements by Michael Abene.

Put WDR Big Band on the cover of an album and you know you're in for something special. Adding two outstanding alto saxists playing numbers associated with Charlie Parker ups the ante to something extra special which is what this album most certainly is.

Hörlan and Grasso are both in scintillating form - they had to be to do the music justice. Fifty/sixty years on the essence of Bird's music is uppermost albeit not without the players' own input.

Chi-Chi has the two altos blowing wildly, their individual lines intertwining like two serpents making love before they fly birdlike off in their own direction. The whole is underpinned by Michael Abene's arrangement for the ensemble.

Ah-Leu-Cha/Scrapple From the Apple. The altos are again to the fore in this clever merging of these two numbers but not before trumpet man Ruud Breuls has his say.

Ornithology is another example of the two players brilliance. When I recently posted my list of favourite alto players it may have been different had this album arrived earlier!

Embraceable You. In Bird's original version of the Gershwin ballad he ignored the head but took off immediately on his improvisation just as Hawkins had done a decade earlier on Body and Soul. Here, Grasso does likewise for a couple of minutes before stating the theme.

My Little Suede Shoes is, the blurb tells me, done over a calypso rhythm - maybe! Calypso or not it's still a fine version with the alto solos split by Andy Hunter's trombone which effectively overlaps with Grasso's entry.

Confirmation. Another Parker that, as of yet, hasn't been done too much to death at jam sessions. More trombone, this time from Ludwig Huss.

Yardbird Suite has most certainly been round the block a few times but none the worse for that. Here we have not one, not two, but three alto saxes! Karolina Strassmayer has the daunting task of following Hörlan and Grasso and her mellower tone blends well and offers contrast - the final exchanges had the hairs on the back of my neck rising.

The Gypsy - Hörlan's ballad feature - takes a similar approach to what Grasso did on Embraceable You and it's equally effective.

Segment from 1949 goes out with a bang. Apart from the altos there's Paul Heller on tenor and Jens Neufang on bari and the band supportive as ever thanks to Michael Abene's arrangements. Don't miss out on this one! Available usual suspects. Lance

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