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Bebop Spoken There

Stan Woodward: ''We're part of the British jazz scene, but we don't play London jazz. We play Newcastle jazz. The Knats album represents many things, but most importantly that Newcastle isn't overlooked". (DownBeat, April 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

17904 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 225 of them this year alone and, so far, 72 this month (March 24).

From This Moment On ...

MARCH 2025.

Mon 31: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

APRIL 2025

Tue 01: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Joe Steels, Paul Grainger, Mark Robertson.
Tue 01: Customs House Big Band @ The Masonic Hall, North St., Ferryhill DL17 8HX. 7:30pm. Free.

Wed 02: Lauren Bush: The Jazz Singer’s Toolkit @ The Pele, Corbridge. 1:00-4:00pm. Vocalist Lauren Bush with pianist Jamil Sheriff presents a jazz singing workshop. £40.00. (inc. evening concert, see below). Registration required for workshop: www.laurenbushjazz.com. All ability levels welcome.
Wed 02: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 02: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 2:30-4:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Wed 02: Lauren Bush & Jamil Sheriff @ The Pele, Corbridge. 7:00-9:00pm. £10.00. Concert performance. Tickets: www.laurenbushjazz.com.
Wed 02: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 02: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. POSSIBLE CANCELLATION. See website for updates: www.theglobenewcastle.bar.

Thu 03: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: Women in Jazz.
Thu 03: Eva Fox & the Jazz Guys @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 03: New ’58 Jazz Collective @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm. Free. A Tees Hot Club promotion. First Thursday in the month.

Fri 04: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 04: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 04: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 04: Ruth Lambert Quartet @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm. £12.00.
Fri 04: Tom McGuire & the Brassholes @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £20.00.
Fri 04: Nicolas Meier’s Infinity Group + Spirit of Jeff Beck @ The Forum, Darlington. 7:30pm.

Sat 05: Tenement Jazz Band @ St Augustine’s Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm. £10.00.
Sat 05: Sleep Suppressor @ Head of Steam, Newcastle. 5:30-6:00pm.
Sat 05: King Bees @ Billy Bootlegger’s, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 6:00pm. Free.
Sat 05: Raymond MacDonald & Jer Reid @ Lubber Fiend, Newcastle. 6:00-9:30pm. £7.72., £1.00. (minimum donation). MacDonald & Reid + Objections + Yotuns.
Sat 05: Jeff Hewer Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 05: Kamasi Washington @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 7:30pm. £33.00.
Sat 05: Vermont Big Band @ The Seahorse, Whitley Bay. 7:30pm. Tickets: £10.00 (from the venue).
Sat 05: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00.

Sun 06: Smokin’ Spitfires @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:45pm. £7.50.
Sun 06: Learning & Participation Showcase @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm (1:00pm doors). Free. Featuring participants from Play More Jazz! Play More Folk! Blue Jam Singers & more.
Sun 06: Joe Steels Group @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00pm. £10.00. Ferg Kilsby, Joe Steels, Ben Lawrence, Paul Susans, John Hirst.
Sun 06: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 06: Paul Skerritt @ The Hooch, Quayside, Newcastle. 6:00pm.
Sun 06: Leeway @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

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, January 11, 2023

Album Review: Donald Byrd - Cookin’ with Blue Note at Montreux

Donald Byrd (trumpet); Larry Mizell (synths); Fonce Mizell (trumpet, vocals); Allan Barnes* (tenor sax, flute); Nathan Davis (soprano, tenor sax); Kevin Toney (elec. piano); Barney Perry (elec. guitar); Henry Franklin (elec. bass); Keith Killgo (drums); Ray Armando perc.). 

After a campaign of corporate dumpster diving which has uncovered a treasure trove of lost gems, Blue Note are releasing a number of Live at Montreux sets. Alongside this one, other releases from Bobbi Humphreys, Bobby Hutcherson and Marlena Shaw are also coming out. The Donald Byrd set was recorded in July 1973 and featured the Mizell brothers who had become mainstays of his band by then as both writers and producers as well as musicians. They would stay with Byrd until after the Places and Spaces album, a favourite in this house.

By 1973 the Montreux Casino had been repaired after the fire immortalised in Deep Purple’s Smoke on the Water (or Smirk on the Watter as they say in Ashington) when ‘Some stupid with a flare gun burnt the place to the ground.’

This is a useful addition to the Byrd discography as it captures the increasing soul influence on Byrd, jazz generally and Blue Note in particular. He had released Blackbyrd, his first album produced by ex-Motown producer Larry Mizell, earlier in the year and the title track opens this album. Larry Mizell had written or co-written all of the tracks on that album and Byrd had recorded another album of Larry Mizell compositions or co-compositions in Street Lady just a month before this concert took place. To cement the soul credentials, Live at Montreux also includes a Stevie Wonder cover. Finally, and to pique the interests of any Donald Byrd completists out there, (and I’m sure there must be some), three of the tracks are available for the first time.

Miles Davis was, of course, one of the first converts to combining jazz with soul and there are elements of his influence here, but most of all, despite this being a fairly large band the emphasis is mainly on Byrd’s trumpet playing. These tunes make up a set of showcases for his lovely, burnished tone, which is front and central all the way through. Points to Rachel Jones who produced the album for release and to George Butler and Chris Penycote who captured it all in the first place.

Opener, Blackbyrd, could have been a Parliafunkadelic thang or an out-take from a Blaxploitation thriller soundtrack by Bobby Womack. A driving groove, explosions of colour, simple chanted lyrics ‘Walking along playing a song, Walk along, starting us off, Listen to the horn carry on, Get in the groove and move, Just can't lose’ provide the vocal backing for the saxes to take the limelight.

The Stevie Wonder song, You’ve Got It Bad Girl, is, again, a platform for improvisation. With Nathan Davis’s soprano taking the lead and wailing sinuously over the groove. A mellow laid back passage follows before it’s Byrd’s turn. He has a full, rich tone and it becomes apparent that, although the Mizell brothers were an important part of Byrd’s career at this point, everything is done in support of moments like this when it is his voice on the trumpet to the fore.

The East is another Byrd composition. Anchored by Franklin’s bass. It sounds like one of Davis’ experiments where the band just groove whilst Byrd plays over them before Barney Perry constructs a guitar solo that has its roots in the church. To take it home there’s some lovely layering as the horns and brass move between the front and back lines. It’s a great arrangement and impressive ensemble playing.

Kwame is (I presume) in tribute to Kwame Nkrumah the first President of the independent Ghana who had died the previous year. It opens with a bold, widescreen riff played by all of the band which shows the power in such a large group. It all falls away and Byrd builds a solo over a muted rhythm section. As the solo grows in energy, the rest of the band step back into the fray until it’s another full on assault. As mentioned above though, Byrd always stays just ahead of the pack.

The closer, Poco-Mania, is just a full-on funk charge with everyone running to get ahead of everyone else before Byrd, again, takes off and scorches his way through a ferocious solo before handing the baton onto, (I suspect), Barnes who takes over at the same energy level. Exhilarating stuff.

Donald Byrd – Live at Montreux was released in December and is available through all the usual outlets and there is more information about it HERE on the Blue Note website. Dave Sayer

*This is Allan Curtis Barnes and not the Alan Barnes who did a Christmas Carol last month in Newcastle.

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