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Bebop Spoken There

George Porter Jr.: ''To me, syncopation is like jazz. It wasn't meant for the masses. It was meant just for a hip few". (DownBeat, May 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

17985(and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 306 of them this year alone and, so far, 62 this month (April 26).

From This Moment On ...

April 2025.

Mon 28: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 29: ???

Wed 30: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 30: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 30: International Jazz Day @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £16.00.; £14.00. adv.. Feat. Guido Spannocchi, John Pope & Steve Hanley + Take it to the Bridge participants + Open Mic Night participants.

MAY 2025

Thu 01: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: Member’s Contribution.
Thu 01: Alabaster de Plume @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm.
Thu 01: Living in Shadows + OUTRI @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Thu 01: The Shayo Experiment @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Shayo Oshodi & Liam Oliver.
Thu 01: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm. Free.

Fri 02: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 02: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 02: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 02: Anna Reay & Deon Krishnan @ STACK, Seaburn. 4:30-6:15pm. Free.
Fri 02: Nauta @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 7:00pm. £7.50. A ‘Nauta’s House’ gig featuring Nauta & guests Shayo Oshodi & David Gray.
Fri 02: Spilt Milk @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 7:00-9:00pm. Free. Nolan Brothers (vocal harmonies).
Fri 02: Dom Pipkin @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). Solo piano.
Fri 02: Abbie Finn Trio @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm. £12.00. + bf.

Sat 03: Hot Fingers @ St Augustine’s Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm. £10.00.
Sat 03: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. £25.00. Tutor: Steve Glendinning. Summer Samba Enrol at: learning@jazz.coop.
Sat 03: Jason Isaacs @ STACK, Exchange Sq., Middlesbrough. 4:00-6:00pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 03: Edison Herbert Trio @ The Vault, Darlington 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 03: Postmodern Jukebox @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 7:30pm.
Sat 03: NUJO Jazz Jam @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 8:00pm (7:00pm doors). £3.00. + bf.
Sat 03: Eva Fox & the Jazz Guys @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sat 03: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00.
Sat 03: Ray Stubbs R&B All Stars @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:30pm. Free.

Sun 04: Smokin’ Spitfires @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:45pm. £7.50.
Sun 04: Sax Choir @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 04: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 04: Spilt Milk @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 3:00-5:00pm. Free. Nolan Brothers (vocal harmonies).
Sun 04: Rivkala @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 04: Ben Crosland Quartet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

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, May 18, 2023

Album review: Buselli/Wallarab Jazz Orchestra - The Gennett Suite

Brent Wallarab (arr./conductor); Greg Ward (sop/alto sax); Amanda Gardier (alto sax); Tom Walsh (tenor sax/flute); Todd Williams (tenor sax); Ned Boyd (bari sax); Clark Hunt, Jeff Conrad, Scott Belck, Mark Buselli, John Raymond, Jeff Parker (trumpets); Tim Coffman, Andrew Danforth, Demondrae Thurman, Rich Dole (trombones); Luke Gillespie (piano); Jeremy Allen (bass); Sean Dobbins (drums)

Will there be a better big band (double) album this year? I have my doubts unless it's a reissue consisting of a couple of Basie and Ellington long players and, even then ...

This is simply magnificent! Don't be fooled by the title and think that this is merely some kind of a Pasadena Roof Orchestra or a Midnite Follies' reincarnation of the past, good as those bands are/were. It isn't and yet it would be if we were able to move the past one hundred years forward!

Wallarab's vision is to celebrate the Gennett recording studio where, in Richmond, Indiana, many of the first great jazz recordings were made by the New Orleans Rhythm Kings, King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band, Louis Armstrong, Hoagland 'Hoagy' Carmichael, Bix Beiderbecke and Jelly Roll Morton to mention but a few.

It's a band that swings as good as any big band from Goldkette to Schneider and those in between.

It's ancient, it's modern, it's yesterday, it's tomorrow as well as the day after tomorrow. The soloists pay tribute whilst retaining their own identity.

There are too many highlights to signal out every soloist and there is only one 'low point' which is, in itself, a high point - I refer to Jeremy Allen's bass feature, Interlude, during which he manages to incorporate the bass intro to All Blues.

Nevertheless, It would be churlish of me not to mention Greg Ward's sumptuous take on Stardust or Luke Gillespie's piano solos where, at times, his left hand is in the past and his right hand is looking to next Tuesday (and sometimes vice-versa!)

Co-leader Buselli and Belck alternate between trumpet and flugel. I could go on and on extolling every one from the person who made the intermission coffee (a change from those original Gennett intermissions!) to all the players and, not least to Brent Wallarab whose arrangements and concept of this project put him up there with - well you name it - anyone.

There are four movements, each relating to a specific band/artist and all are done with respect to the originals but very much for today. 

As a further incentive to get your paws on this doubler, the essays in the booklet are  themselves masterpieces.

VIDEO

Wonderful. Lance

Available June 9 (sadly not on Gennett who shut up shop in 1947/48) on Patois Records.

Movement 1 (Royal Blue): Tin Roof Blues (in two parts); Chimes Blues; Dippermouth Blues.

Movement 2 (Blues Faux Bix): Davenport Blues; Jazz Me Blues; Interlude; Wolverine Blues.

Movement 3 (Hoagland): Stardust; Riverboat Shuffle (in two parts).

Movement 4 (Mr Jelly Lord): King Porter Stomp; Grandpa's Spells.

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