Bebop Spoken There

Ludovic Beier (Django Festival Allstars): ''Manouche means 'free man,' and gypsies have been travelers since they migrated west from India to Europe.'' (DownBeat March, 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

18402 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 18 years ago. 266 of them this year alone and, so far this month (Mar. 31 ), 76

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

April

Fri 03: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 03: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 03: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 03: Castillo Nuevo Trio @ Hotel Gotham, Newcastle. 5:30pm. Free.
Fri 03: King Bees @ Billy Bootleggers, Newcastle. 7:00pm (doors). Free. Chicago blues.

Sat 04: Jake Leg Jug Band @ St Augustine’s Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm. £10.00. Darlington New Orleans Jazz Club.
Sat 04: Tees Bay Swing Band @ The Blacksmith’s Arms, Hartlepool. 1:30-3:30pm. Free. Open rehearsal.
Sat 04: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. £27.50. Tutor: Steve Glendinning. Anthropology. Enrol at: learning@jazz.coop.
Sat 04: Wild Women of Wylam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:00pm (doors). £10.00.
Sat 04: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00.

Sun 05: Smokin’ Spitfires @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:45pm. £10.00.
Sun 05: Ian Bosworth Quintet @ Chapel, Middlesbrough. 1:00pm. Free Quintet + guest Neil Brodie (trumpet).
Sun 05: Mark Williams & Tom Remon @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00pm. £10.00.
Sun 05: Sax Choir @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 05: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 05: Jazzmain @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £14.00., £12.00., £7.00.

Mon 06: Friends of Jazz @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 06: Saltburn Big Band @ Saltburn House Hotel. 7:00-9:00pm. Free.

Tue 07: Customs House Big Band @ The Masonic Hall, Ferryhill. 7:30pm. Free.
Tue 07: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Ben Lawrence (piano); Paul Grainger (double bass); Abbie Finn (drums).

Wed 08: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 08: Jam session @ The Tannery, Hexham. 7:00pm. Free.
Wed 08: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 08: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 08: Zoë Gilby & Johnny Hunter @ Elder Beer, Heaton, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £12.00. JNE.

Thu 09: Tom Remon + A.N. Other @ Newcastle Arts Centre. 7:30pm. Free.
Thu 09: Indigo Jazz Voices @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:45pm. £5.00.
Thu 09: Jeremy McMurray’s Pocket Jazz Orchestra w. Dan Johnson @ Arc, Stockton. 8:00pm. £15.00. inc. bf.

Sunday, March 12, 2023

Album review: Chet Baker - Blue Room

Chet Baker (trumpet, vocals); Phil Markowitz (piano); Jean-Louis Rassinfosse (bass); Charles Rice (drums). 
Chet Baker (trumpet, vocals); Frans Elsen (piano); Victor Kaihatu (bass); Eric Ineke (drums).

The Jazz Detective continues his investigations searching for previously undiscovered, unreleased gems and, as ever, comes up trumps with this one. Two sessions from April, 1979, by the legendary Chet Baker that have lain gathering dust in the Vara studio's vaults in Hilversum, having originally been broadcast on the Dutch KRO radio programme Nine o'Clock Jazz.

Baker is in fine form both vocally and instrumentally. Whatever demons he was facing don't show at these sessions. His laid back trumpet style and his laconic vocals are a personification of the less is more school. It's cool but it's not frigid. There's a warmth that seeps through. To express your feelings you don't need to write a sonnet, three little words - I love you - does the trick. Chet does that with each and every note he blows.

There's only one vocal on the first CD - Oh, You Crazy Moon - but it's beautiful, so full of emotion. The Best Thing For You is me is more uptempo than Chet usually prefers but if it's out of his comfort zone it doesn't show. And why should it? He chose the tunes and you don't invent a game to get beat at it. He handles the tempo with ease and without any pyrotechnics. Bravura flourishes were never a part of his armoury. 

Three tracks into the second CD we have another vocal - Candy - a tune he'd recorded in an earlier time, in a different place with a different band. This scatted version is okay but I don't think scatting is really his forté although the trumpet solo is excellent. However, if I had to pick out just one vocal it would surely be the conveniently titled My Ideal. A tune that he'd already made his own, the marriage between singer and song is well and truly consummated here.

The two rhythm sections are totally compatible with Baker. Markowitz in particular stretching out impressively.

It's been a good few days for listening. Lance

A 2 LP set will be available on Record Store Day (April 22) as well as well as a limited edition deluxe 2 CD set six days later.
Beautiful Black Eyes; Oh, You Crazy Moon; The Best Thing For You is me; Blue Room; Down.
Blue Gilles; Nardis; Candy; Luscious Lou; My Ideal; Old Devil Moon.
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