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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

17733 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 53 of them this year alone and, so far, 53 this month (Jan. 20).

From This Moment On ...

January 2025

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.

Thu 23: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, Holystone. 1:00pm. Free. Fortnightly.
Thu 23: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: Obituaries 2024.
Thu 23: Jason Isaacs @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 4:30-6:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Thu 23: Pedal Point Trio @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Fri 24: Zoë Gilby Quartet @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 24: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 24: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 24: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 24: Creakin’ Bones & the Sunday Dinners @ Lindisfarne Social Club, Wallsend. 9:00pm. Admission: TBC. Jazz, blues , jump jive, rock ‘n’ roll.

Sat 25: Boys of Brass @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 3:30-5:30pm. Free.
Sat 25: New '58 Jazz Collective @ Jackson's Wharf, Hartlepool. 6:30pm (doors). Free. A Burns' Night event. Jazz, swing, funk, soul, blues etc.
Sat 25: Edison Herbert Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 25: Red Kites Jazz @ Parish Hall, St Barnabas’ Church, Rowlands Gill. 7:30pm. £10.00. BYOB (tea & coffee available), raffle. Proceeds to St Barnabas’ Church. Performance feat. Shayo (vocals).
Sat 25: Jack & Jay’s Songbook @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 26: Musicians Unlimited @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 26: Graham Hardy Eclectic Quartet @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm.
Sun 26: Ruth Lambert Trio @ The Juke Shed, Union Quay, North Shields. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 26: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 26: Jazz Jam Sandwich! @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 26: Tweed River Jazz Band @ Barrels Ale House, Berwick-upon-Tweed. 7:30pm. Free.
Sun 26: Gratkowski, Tramontana, Beresford, Affifi @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £12.00. JNE.
Sun 26: Jazz Jam @ Fabio’s, Saddler St., Durham. 8:00pm. Free. A Durham University Jazz Society promotion. All welcome.

Mon 27: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 28: ???

Wed 29: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 29: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 29: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).

Thu 30: Matters Unknown (aka Jonathan Enser, Nubiyan Twist) + support TBA @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 8:00pm (7:00pm doors). £12.22 (gig & food); £9:04 (gig only).
Thu 30: Soznak @ The Mill Tavern, Hebburn. 8:00pm. Free.
Thu 30: Struggle Buggy @ Harbour View, Roker, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Rhythm & blues.

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

Thursday, March 02, 2023

Wayne Shorter (August 25, 1933 - March 2, 2023)

The sad news is out that Wayne Shorter passed away earlier today. One of the major innovators of the post hard bop school via his work with Miles, Weather Report and his own various quartets he became the keeper of the flame sparked by Coltrane whilst maintaining his own identity.

I saw him but the once - at a 2013 London Jazz Festival concert at the Barbican where he defied his then 80 years with a memorable first set performance. The second set saw him with the BBC Concert Orchestra which, despite his playing, paled by comparision. 

Still the memory of that first set will remain with me until I join him. In the meantime, I've the albums with Blakey, Miles, his legendary Blue Note album Speak No Evil and my own favourite  Without a Net to remember him by. The latter title absolutely sums up his playing.

Rest In Peace. Lance

7 comments :

Russell said...

I was lucky enough to hear Wayne twice with Weather Report and, on another occasion, at the long-since closed Riverside on Melbourne Street in Newcastle where he appeared with his band featuring a young Cyrus Chestnut on piano.

Steve T said...

Many years ago I had a video about Trane which featured Wayne saying people in the audience used to shout to him 'go ahead young young John Coltrane'. Nowadays people are more likely to say the Second Great Quintet are the greatest small jazz group ever though - with apologies to Maestro Ellington - I'd happily omit the word small. Other members of the band were increasingly writing music for this band and particularly Wayne Shorter and I suspect this was why Miles started sub-titling the albums 'Directions in Music by Miles Davis.'

While he undoubtably took a back seat in Weather Report from album three onwards allowing Maestro Zawinul to forge ahead, this was one of two bands virtually everybody agrees were the greatest in the whole of Jazz/Funk/Rock/Fusion. Prior to both Shorter was one of the greatest Jazz Messenger of all and had an illustrious solo career throughout.

I too was at that gig at the Barbican and I'm guessing Lance was also tempted by the Sonny Rollins gig the following night which ended up being cancelled. I think it's fair to say he liked it more than me; the first set was okay, it was fine, though he didn't contribute much, but I didn't even last the whole of the second set. He didn't need to perform with an orchestra to be a 'serious' musician and composer.

Recently I read somewhere that there used to be an all but official acceptance that Jazz had produced a magnificent seven jazz tenor players. With apologies to Mr Getz, I find it unthinkable that such a list wouldn't now include Wayne Shorter.

Anonymous said...

Stan Getz was in the top 7 and not Wayne? Messed up

Steve T said...

I think this Magnificent Seven was devised before Wayne, or at least before lots of Wayne.

Anonymous said...

Still the fact that Stan Getz would get a mention is nothing more than institutionalised racism quite frankly ...
Trane , Joe Henderson, Dexter, sonny, coleman Hawkins , Ben Webster , Lester Young, Hank Mobley ,
Getz isn't realistically in the top 20 let alone top 7

Bill Monty said...

Racism works two ways as your list shows. Stan Getz should be on anyone's list along with Tubby Hayes.

Anonymous said...

Even if your favourites are Tubby Hayes and Stan Getz, you still can’t have them above Trane, Wayne, Joe, Dexter, Hank Mobley, Lester Young, Ben Webster, Coleman Hawkins, Benny Golson , Sonny . It’s not racist to say that. It’s black American music - the greats of the music are in the whole not white and not English so ,to include either Getz or Hayes over Wayne is very offensive. It’s ok to be more into them in terms of taste but not at all in terms of importance to the black art form that is jazz.
Trane

Sonny
Dexter Gordon
Sonny Rollins
Wayne Shorter
Joe Henderson
Lester Young
Coleman Hawkins
Hank Mobley
Ben Webster

I challenge anyone to swap any of these artists with a white tenor player in terms of importance to the lineage, with a reason that is more than just personal taste.

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