Total Pageviews

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

Saturday, June 24, 2023

Tenement Jazz Band @ the Prohibition Bar - June 23

(© Russell)
Charles Dearness (trumpet); Paddy Darley (trombone); Steven Feast (clarinet); John Youngs (banjo, vocals); Rory Clark (sousaphone)

The first jazz book I ever read - or attempted to read (I don't think I've finished it yet although it is still up there on the shelf gathering dust and absorbing any damp that may seep in) was Rudi Blesh's Shining Trumpets - and I wondered if, as an impressionable youngster, whether I should follow the classical path of my parents or the popular music (it had yet to be abbreviated to 'pop') of my friends or go with my gut instinct.

 Jazz seemed so complicated

The matter was resolved when I read a second jazz book which is still up there on the shelf (damp free and dusted regularly). Leonard Feather's Inside Bebop. This was, maybe still is, the definitive work on modern jazz as it was back then.

However, Blesh's book, as overtly biased as it was/is provided one of the most beautiful words in jazz, be it then, now or next Tuesday - polyphony.

Polyphony is to jazz what a fugue is to a classical ensemble. The difference being that in jazz, whether trad or avant-garde, polyphony is totally improvised.

Polyphony was the first word that sprung to my mind when the Edinburgh based Tenement Jazz Band band stomped off with Bogalosa Strut

Bands often, by choice or necessity, work without a drummer yet these guys swing so hard that a drummer would be surplus to requirements.

Dearness, with his shoulder length hair, may not look like Bix but his lyrical turn of phrase  could have had Bix, like Christ (and to many he was Christ) rising from the dead and applauding the young man.

You don't see many steel clarinets on gigs these days but, when you do, make sure that Steven Feast is on the blowing end. Great sound, not 'pure' clarinet but close enough for me.

Paddy Darley blows trombone like Kid Ory. I'm told that he used to work behind the bar at the venue. It must have been like coming home. 

John Youngs sang a few numbers - maybe he should stick with the day job. However, as the 'day job' is playing the banjo perhaps, on their next visit he should bring his guitar along. (just joking John, you're the best banjoist I've heard since yesterday.)

Rory Clark provided a solid foundation stomping along on sousaphone with the agility of a piccolo player and holding it all together.

It was an excellent session, the joint was jumpin' and the dancers enjoyed the mix of standards, originals, rags and blues.

Blues!? You wanna get the blues? Let me tell ya you don't need to go to Chicago or some joint in Alabama to get the blues. Just try the Tyne & Wear Metro ...

Still, it was a great couple of sets and there was another to come. This is one of those bands that have got it absolutely right with what they do.

Oh and, yes, if you wanna dance ... Lance

Numbers included: Bogalosa Strut; Canal St. Blues; Snake Rag; In the Gloaming; You Can Depend on me; Kinklets; Big Chief Battleaxe; Barataria; Bouncing Around; Louisiana Fairy Tale; Blue Drag; Stockyard Strut; Willie the Weeper; Mississippi Rag; She's Crying For me; Kansas City Rag; Till we Meet Again 

No comments :

Blog Archive