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Bebop Spoken There

Trevor Mires: ''My mum is a Dean Martin fan: I'm not, so I would grab my skateboard and get out of the house whenever I heard "Everybody Loves Somebody, Sometime." ". (Jazzwise, 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

17957 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 278 of them this year alone and, so far, 34 this month (April 14).

From This Moment On ...

April 2025.

Sun 20: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 20: Salty Dog @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 20: Spilt Milk @ STACK, Exchange Sq., Middlesbrough. 7:00-9:00pm. Free. Nolan Brothers (vocal harmonies).
Sun 20: Tweed River Jazz Band @ The Barrels Ale House, Berwick-upon-Tweed. 7:00pm. Free.
Sun 20: C.A.L.I.E @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 21: Newcastle Record Fair @ Copthorne Hotel, Newcastle. 10:00am. Going in search of the Buddy Bolden cylinder…
Mon 21: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 22: Abbie Finn Trio @ Newcastle House Hotel, Rothbury. 7:30pm. Coquetdale Jazz.

Wed 23: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 23: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 23: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. CANCELLED!

Thu 24: Mary Coughlan @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm. £33.80. Blues, jazz etc.
Thu 24: Darlington Big Band @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm.

Fri 25: Vasilis Xenopoulos & Paul Edis @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT! Duo performance.
Fri 25: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 25: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 25: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 25: Andrea Vicari Trio @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. £8.00. Vicari (piano); Andy Champion (double bass); Russ Morgan (drums).
Fri 25: Jason Isaacs @ STACK, Exchange Sq., Middlesbrough. 4:00-6:00pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Fri 25: Red Kites Jazz @ Land of Oak & Iron, Winlaton Mill. 6:00-9:00pm. Free.
Fri 25: Vasilis Xenopoulos & Paul Edis @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 7:30pm. £15.00. at the door; £14.35. (inc £0.35 bf) online, in advance.
Fri 25: Struggle Buggy @ The White Room, Stanley. 7:45pm. Rhythm & blues.
Fri 25: Paul Skerritt Big Band @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm. £20.30., £18.00. All-star big band.
Fri 25: Andrea Vicari Trio @ Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. Vicari (piano); Andy Champion (double bass); Russ Morgan (drums). An Opus 4 Jazz Club event.

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, January 08, 2023

Album review: Rodney Whitaker - Oasis, The Music of Gregg Hill

Terell Stafford (trumpet/flugel); Tim Warfield (tenor/sop sax); Bruce Barth (piano); Rodney Whitaker (bass); Dana Hall (drums) + Rockelle Fortin (vocal on 4 tks)

The phrase "hits the ground running" is much used but, there are occasions when it's the only description that seems to fit. The opening track: Betty's Tune is just such a moment as it explodes like as though you've played an already uptempo 33rpm track at 45!

The vocal is by Whitaker's daughter Rockelle who, apart from writing the lyrics, delivers a 'ball out of the park' chorus that is quite amazing! Equally so are the trumpet, soprano and piano solos that precede Hall's drum blast with all underpinned by Rodney Whitaker's superb bass work.

In the main, hard bop. Music that swings like it did back in Blakey's day but with, perhaps, more subtlety and sensitivity. Stafford is simply as good as it gets now that Fats, Clifford, Lee and Freddie are gone. Warfield, a longtime associate of Stafford, too is a player to be reckoned with and Barth, Whitaker and Hall are as close to perfection as any mortal can expect to be. Rockelle's four vocals don't do any harm either and I look forward to hearing her on an album of her own.

All of the compositions are by Gregg Hill, surely one of today's great jazz composers, and he must surely be delighted by Whitaker's arrangements and, conversely, Whitaker and the band must be equally ecstatic over the material they are working with.

If this sounds like a rave review, I'll confirm it when I come down to earth! Lance

Available on Origin Records and via usual suspects.

Betty's Tune; Puppets; Minorablia; Interlude; Sunday Afternoon; The Jazzdiddy Waltz; S'Cool Days; Blues For Gregg; Fan-O-Gram; To the Well; Oasis.

1 comment :

Lois Mummaw said...

It’s so wonderful to hear an objective voice say the same wonderful things about Gregg, his compositions, and his choice of musicians to play and arrange them that I have been saying since 2017! Lois Mummaw (Gregg’s wife and biggest fan ♥️)

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