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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

Friday, June 30, 2023

Shakti @ Eventim Apollo, Hammersmith - June 27

John McLaughlin (electric guitar), Ganesh Rajagopalan (violin, konokol), Zakir Hussain (tabla, konokol), Selvaganesh Vinayakaram (ghatam, percussion, konokol), Shankar Mahadevan (vocals, konokol).  

The last time I saw these musicians was the fiftieth anniversary of the partition of India and Pakistan and the ticket said Zakir Hussain and John McLaughlin, though they would become known as Remember Shakti. Mrs T was heavily pregnant and from the second row the ghatam resembled a full-term bump so I attributed the huge applause from the audience facing it to them seeing the head, by way of pacifying a heavy, hot, uncomfortable far better half.

This time around it’s the fiftieth anniversary of the creation of Shakti, though we’re still several weeks shy of fifty years since I saw the Mahavishnu Orchestra; McLaughlin’s previous band. That night in '87 it was Zakir Hussain’s turn to blow my mind.

 

It’s almost forty years since my last visit to Hammersmith and it’s much bigger than I remember it and my eyesight is much worse. The four of them arrived to rapturous applause and all sat cross-legged on the additional stage. Opening track was from the original group and was followed by others from the three original albums, some from the Remember Shakti albums of the late eighties/early nineties and some from the new album which arrived in the post shortly before I set off for the Smoke.

 

They were soon joined by singer Shankar Mahadevan, a big deal in Asian communities I understand and there was a huge Asian contingency in the audience. In '87 I remember John receiving the biggest applause but tonight was about Zakir Hussain: one person shouted ‘love you Zakir’ promptly followed by ‘love you more’ which reminded me of the response to Pat Metheny at the Lowry in Manchester a few years back.

 

At age 81 John is still a phenomenon. He now plays electric guitar in Shakti, perhaps – like the twin-neck - he broke the custom acoustic he created to hint at the sound of a sitar, without patronising the music by playing one. In '97, with the absence of violinist L Shankar, we got Hariprasad Chaurasia playing bansuri flute (which was great) but it was also nice to have a fine violinist in Ganesh Rajagopalan this time. Ghatam and other Indian percussion was played by Selvaganesh, son of the late TH (Vikku) Vinayakaram, the original ghatam player who came back for Remember Shakti.

 

Shankar featured more prominently than I would have liked but there was plenty of konokol singing, at times from them all together (apart from McLaughlin), which was extraordinarily powerful.

 

But the night belonged to Zakir Hussain, who ought to be more famous than Elton (who should be less famous than Zakir),  a musician straight from the Gods and the esteem he’s held in by fellow musicians and the audience is clear to see. For those of us fortunate not to be old enough to remember Bird and Diz or Miles and Trane, John and Zakir is historic.

 

Support came from a very short set from French Vietnamese guitarist Nguyen Le and McLaughlin’s fellow Yorkshireman and band-member in Fourth Dimension Gary Husband switching between drums and keyboards. Some interesting innovations but also some soundscapes that reminded me of Pink Floyd, not a prog rock band I care for and not a prog rock band at all in the ears of many.

 

The last time I saw the Fourth Dimension I reviewed it for BSH and commented that – short of Shakti coming back together again – it would almost certainly be the last time. Surely that must be it. Steve T

1 comment :

Chris Kilsby said...

Thanks Steve - quite a night by the sound of it, one of a number of epoch-marking anniversary concerts. Maybe not marking the definitive end of an era, but certainly a reminder of time's passing, albeit in this case with McLaughlin retaining more of his remarkable powers than some of the veterans ambling around Glastonbury's stages this year.

While the big draw here was of course Zakir Hussain and JM, it seems the flame for this Indian strand of "jazz fusion" is being passed on, certainly with this band, and maybe elsewhere. I'm tempted to draw a small comparison with an Indo-fusion venture at the other end of the career journey, Leeds based Yaatri (https://lance-bebopspokenhere.blogspot.com/2022/07/yaatri-globe-newcastle-july-21.html#more). [Full declaration - my son is the drummer].

Yaatri toured UK-wide in May, to small but enthusiastic audiences, but seem to me to occupy an awkward niche fusing "prog", jazz and elements of classical Indian music. Present day (western) audiences seem less open to the Eastern canon than the older "hippy" generation (sorry Steve), and "South Asian heritage" audiences, in the UK at least, perhaps don't connect with the "jazz/prog" thing (cf the recent disappointing turnout for Jazz Orient, https://lance-bebopspokenhere.blogspot.com/2023/06/jazz-orient-customs-house-south-shields.html). This is a shame, since as Steve notes, extraordinary power can be found in Indian rhythms and progressions.

We were lucky to catch Yaatri in Leeds with a large(-ish!) crowd who responded rapturously to this power and emotion. The energy was stoked up by the addition of young tabla virtuoso Zuheb Ahmed Khan (flown out from Delhi for the tour) and last minute local recruit Vijay Venkat, a quite remarkable Indian flute player. The effectiveness and emotional power of the merger of east and west surprised me and I think has to be heard live to really "get it". Speaking to Zuheb afterwards, all was revealed, as while his upbringing has had much rigid classical tradition (and incredible hours of practice...) he is also familiar with long "jam sessions" with great improvisational freedom. So, while our ears differentiate between the tonality and palette of the music, the main objectives are the same and compatible.

Hopefully the Shakti reprise will spark off more collaborations, and we will get to access more of these incredible Indian musicians. Chris K

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