Bebop Spoken There

Art Blakey (to Terence Blanchard): ''You ain't Miles find your own shit to do!'' (DownBeat May, 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

18504 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 18 years ago. 368 of them this year alone and, so far this month (May 7 ) 22

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

May

Sat 16: Sing Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. £27.50. Tutor: Alexia Gardner. God Bless the Child - Lady Day!. Enrol at: learning@jazz.coop.
Sat 16: Kaberry Big Band @ the Seahorse Pub, Hillheads Rd., Whitley Bay NE23 8HR. From 7:30pm. £15.00
Sat 16: Lady Nade @ Arc, Stockton. 8:00pm. ‘Lady Nade sings Nina Simone’.

Sun 17: Glenn Miller & Big Band Spectacular @ Forum Theatre, Billingham. 7:30pm.
Sun 17: QOW Trio @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £14.00., £12.00., £7.00. Spike Wells, Riley Stone-Lonergan & Eddie Myer.

Mon 18: Friends of Jazz @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 18: Mark Williams Trio @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £10.00.

Tue 19: GoGo Penguin + Daudi Matsiko @ Wylam Brewery, Newcastle. 7:00pm (doors). £22.00 + £4.40 bf.
Tue 19: Danny Lowndes’ Hot Club @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £15.00 + £5.00 bf.
Tue 19: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Michael Young (piano); Paul Grainger (double bass); Mark Robertson (drums).

Wed 20: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 20: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 20: Jordan Jackson @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £19.80 (inc. bf); £15.40 (inc. bf).
Wed 20: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 21: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ The Millstone, Mill Rise, South Gosforth, Newcastle. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 21: Jazz Classics with Rivkala @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. Rivkala (vocals); Alan Law (piano); Paul Grainger (double bass).
Thu 21: Paul Skerritt @ Angels' Share, St George's Terrace, Jesmond, Newcastle NE2 2SX. 8:00pm. Free. Booking advised (0191 200 1975). Skerritt w. backing tapes.

Fri 22: Paul Skerritt @ Market Place, Durham. From 12 noon. Free. Skerritt w. backing tapes.
Fri 22: Paul Edis Trio @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. £9.00. Edis, Andy Champion, Steve Hanley.
Fri 22: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 22: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 22: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 22: Castillo Nuevo Trio @ Hotel Gotham, Newcastle. 5:30pm. Free.
Fri 22: Paul Edis Trio @ St Cuthbert’s Centre, Crook. 7:30pm. £TBC. Edis, Andy Champion, Steve Hanley.

Tuesday, September 19, 2023

Album review: Alison Crockett - My Father's Record Collection Vol. 1. Echoes of an Era Redux

Alison Crockett (vocals); Thad Wilson (trumpet); Paul Carr (tenor sax); Todd Williams (piano); Elliot Seppa (bass); Dana Hawkins (drums)

Recorded live at Washington's Blues Alley, Echoes of Era Redux features Crockett recreating songs from Chaka Khan's legendary 1982 album Echoes of Era. This was an album where Chaka dipped her toes into the jazz tub and didn't get scalded. As Alison, who was knocked out by the album says of Chaka, 'She didn't sound like a jazz singer but nor did she sound like a funk singer either. She sounded like herself. That's what I tried to do.' 

I think she does exactly that.

Her other inspiration was her father's record collection which was large and eclectic and Echoes of Era was one that she pulled out at random and the project was born.

Them There Eyes is a raunchy romp with great solos from Wilson and Carr. An interlude (Origin Story) follows in which Alison describes her early introduction to jazz.

I Hear Music has more fine trumpet from Wilson with Carr following up with some hard blowing tenor and some frenetic scatting from Alison. Bass gets a chorus or two too. 

Another interlude (Thousands of Times) brings up All of me and Take the A Train. More scatting and band solos. Straight down the middle swing with a nod towards r'n'b by the tenor man on the former. Piano and bass cool things down before seguing into the latter number. Trumpet solo wouldn't have been out of place in Duke's band. Tenor solo likewise. Piano likewise. Scat fours - maybe...

Next interlude (How I Grew up) took us to I Get a Kick Out of You. By this stage I was starting to slightly tire of the scatting - a little goes a long way. However the mellow solo by Carr - had he switched to flugel? - made up for it. 

The next interlude (I Learned This From Chaka Khan) brought in Spring Can Really Hang You up the Most. Beautifully sung with just piano accompaniment.

The penultimate interlude (Chick Corea's Presence) was another blast by Alison on Highwire - the Aerialist with the trumpet player making like his namesake (Thad).

The final interlude (Here's the Band) was a brief intro to the band. Lance

Available Oct. 20. LISTEN.

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