Bebop Spoken There

John Donegan: ''What you take in through your ears can come out through your fingers.'' (Notes to Which Direction October, 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

19,041 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 18 years ago. 905 of them this year alone and, so far this month (Oct. 26) 84.

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

October.

Tue 27: Alan Law @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 2:00pm. Free. Alan Law (piano) w. guest Julija Jacenaite.
Tue 27: Eva Fox & the Sound Hounds @ Newcastle Arts Centre. 7:30pm. Free (donations).

Wed 28: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 28: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 28: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 29: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ The Millstone, Mill Rise, South Gosforth, Newcastle. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 29: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £5.00.
Thu 29: Castillo Nuevo Orquesta @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. £6.50. 7:30pm (doors).
Thu 29: Radio Pensacola Band @ The Blacksmith’s Arms, Hartlepool. 8:00pm. Featuring guest Jan Spencelayh.
Thu 29: Simon Taylor Band @ Newcastle Arts Centre. 7:30pm. £8.00.
Thu 29: King Bees @ The Harbour View, Roker, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Superb Chicago blues band.

Fri 30: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 30: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 30: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.

Sat 31: Saltburn Big Band + Durham Alumni Big Band @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm.
Sat 31: East Coast Swing Band @ Cramlington Village Club, Park View, Cramlington NE23 6QJ. 7:30pm. £10.00. (from venue).

November

Sun 01: Smokin’ Spitfires @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:45pm. £10.00.
Sun 01: Ian Bosworth Quintet @ Chapel, Middlesbrough. 1:00pm. Free. Quintet w. special guest Donna Hewitt (tenor sax, clarinet)
Sun 01: Sax Choir @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 01: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 01: Sarah Heneghan Trio @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 02: Friends of Jazz @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 02: Saltburn Big Band @ Saltburn House Hotel. 7:00-9:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).

Friday, March 17, 2023

Gaz Hughes Trio @ the Lit & Phil - March 17

(© Patti Durham)
Gaz Hughes (drums); Andrzej Baranek (piano); Ed Harrison (bass).

Three linchpins of the UK's north west jazz scene made an eagerly anticipated trans-Pennine trip as part of their promotional tour promoting their recently released album Beboptical Illusion, the follow up album to Beboperation. Hughes asked for suggestions for the title of the next album and, not without a degree of self interest, Conversational Bebop crossed my mind! 

Drummer, leader, composer Hughes has previous north east form having appeared as part of Dean Stockdale's trio, here, last year and, a couple of years earlier at Gosforth Civic Theatre where his sextet took the music of Art Blakey to a new dimension.

Like the other two members of the trio at this sold-out (again!) concert, Hughes is often mentioned in dispatches by 'Our Man in Stockport' and deservedly so.

This was as tight a trio as I've heard in many long years of listening to tight trios.

Much of the music was from the Beboptical Illusion album and, not surprisingly, given the title, there was a lot of updated bebop in the writing and the solos.

Hughes is Blakey, Roach and Clarke (drum) rolled into one with a touch of Elvin and Tony Williams and a whole lot of Gaz in the mix.

Harrison provides much more than the central pulse, although he does that to perfection, but he also solos and offers alternative lines with a sound as sonorous/resonant  as I've heard from any bass player in recent years.

Baranek (pictured), as the man at the melodic face handles the leader's compositions to the manner born and, without a crotchet or a quaver in sight! He's as modern as they come without losing direction and his arrangement of Body and Soul could have been subtitled Art Tatum Meets Bud Powell Meets Andrzej Baranek.

The crowd were ecstatic and I suspect it was only the ageing limbs of some that prevented a standing ovation!

Tonight they play a two set gig at Opus 4 in Darlo. Those who make the trek to the Traveller's Rest are in for a treat. Lance

Concorde; Seven Steps to Heaven; Edith; Body and Soul; the Message; Beboptical Illusion; To the Moon and Back; Lullaby of Birdland.
at

No comments :

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments ( Atom )

Blog Archive