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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

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: ???

Wed 22: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 22: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 22: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 22: Pasadena Roof Orchestra @ Fire Station, Sunderland. 7:30pm.

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

Monday, January 23, 2023

Bill Bryson

I'm into my second Bill Bryson book, Notes From a Big Country. I was so impressed by Notes From a Small Island that it became  my quest to read everything he wrote whether it be his hilariously funny, and yet accurately perceptive, travel books or a note to the milkman.

He served time as Chancellor of Durham University and it is to my eternal shame that, because of my ignorance, I didn't nip down the A1 and invite him out for a beer or two.

What's all this got to do with jazz? I hear you ask. Well, in a sense, a little and a lot!

My dear friend, jazz drummer, artist and cartoonist, the late Bill Shaw once said to me you must read Bill Bryson. I put it on the backburner and promptly forgot about it. Unfortunately, Bill Shaw died so there were no reminders.

Time passed until, looking for something to read in a local charity shop, I noticed a copy of Notes From a Small Island that had no missing pages, tea stains or other deterrents so, after noting that one of the literary critics in The Observer, a newspaper that changes its name to The Guardian (or is it vice versa?) on Sundays described it as 'Laugh-Out-Loud'. It was mine for a mere £1.10 and I was helping the Salvation Army as well. I guessed it would be a worthwhile investment as we all like to laugh out loud - now more than ever - and I figured that these Observer/Guardian Johnnies/Joannas would know what they were chuckling over.

And chuckle I did, in fact I was laughing so loudly that I was almost evicted from the pub for being drunk and disorderly which was only half true.

So now, back to the jazz. Somewhere along the way he writes "I'm not into Dukes and Earls outside of jazz music".

Where he is into jazz, even if he doesn't know it, is in his writing, the way he phrases a sentence, the laconic observations are as cool and perceptive as a solo by Stan Getz or Chet Baker. He's telling the world what they can't see. The way a jazz musician interprets a mediocre song and turns it into a work of art.

That's it. I've got a book to finish reading and a whole lot more of them to discover. Lance 

1 comment :

Ann Alex said...

Welcome to the club Lance. BB is one of my favourite authors and you have lots to look forward to, including a book on Shakespeare and also one on language, which will make you even more adept in that department than you are now!

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