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

Wed 13: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 13: Jam session @ The Tannery, Hexham. 7:00pm. Free.
Wed 13: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 13: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 13: Hey Remember This @ Elder Beer, Heaton, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £12.00. JNE.

Thu 14: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £5.00. Subject: Philip Larkin’s Jazz Experiment.
Thu 14: Jerron Paxton @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). Superb country blues.
Thu 14: Solcade @ the Bridge Hotel, Newcastle. 7:00pm. EP launch. Rivkala & co..
Thu 14: Jacob Egglestone @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. Egglestone (guitar); Jamie Watkins (bass); Jack Littlewood (drums) & guests.
Thu 14: 58 Jazz Collective @ The Blacksmith’s Arms, Hartlepool. 8:00pm. Free.
Thu 14: Paul Skerritt @ Angels' Share, St George's Terrace, Jesmond, Newcastle NE2 2SX. 8:00pm. Free. Booking advised (0191 200 1975). Skerritt w. backing tapes.

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).

Thursday, January 26, 2023

Album Review: Mary Foster Conklin – These Precious Days

Mary Foster Conklin (vocals); John Di Martino (piano, arrangements); Sara Caswell(violin); Ed Howard (bass); Vince Cherico (drums); Guilherme Monteiro (guitar); Samuel Torres (percussion)

These Precious Days is the latest album by New York-based jazz vocalist and radio host Mary Foster Conklin. The CD has the distinctive feature of comprising lesser-known jazz and pop songs which have been mostly written by women, and the mix is so interesting that I've listed the song writers beside the song names (see below).

Ms Conklin had been playing music by women writers on her radio show since 2016. In 2021, Along with Martino and Caswell, Ms Conklin performed a set of new songs at the Soapbox Gallery in Brooklyn, which was later developed into material for this CD, with extra musicians.

Ms Conklin's voice is low-pitched and expressive and the instrumentalists are well up to the job, with solos mostly from piano and also violin, the latter making a refreshing change from the more usual saxophone or trumpet.

Leonard Cohen's Summertime ends with a short Klezmer-type chorus; Some Cats Know is sung in a deliciously sensuous fashion, with violin comments and cat-like singing tones; Scars has Landesman's wonderful lyrics about dealing with life experience; Just For Now is a love song done to Latin percussion; A Little White Ship is a rather dark song with a sinister sound.  The CD is satisfyingly rounded off with two of the more familiar tunes. An album which is well worth listening to.

Ms Conklin hails from New Jersey and she started out as an actor then switched to jazz singing. This is her fifth album and she has performed at most of the major jazz venues in New York and on the West Coast.

The CD will be released on February 24th 2023 on Mock Turtle Music, available everywhere.

See www.maryfosterconklin.com

Summertime (not that one but Leonard Cohen/Sharon Robinson); Some Cats Know (Leiber/Stoller); Just a Little Lovin' (Barry Mann/Cynthia Weil); Come in From the Rain (Melissa Manchester/Carole Bayer Sager); Scars (Simon Wallace/Fran Landesman); Just For Now (Andre and Dory Previn); A Little White Ship (Leiber/Stoller); Heart's Desire (Alan Broadbent/Dave Frishberg); Rainbow (Melba Liston/Abbey Lincoln); Until It's Time For You To Go (Buffy Sainte-Marie); September Song (Kurt Weill/Maxwell Anderson). Ann Alex

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