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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

17719 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 39 of them this year alone and, so far, 39 this month (Jan. 15).

From This Moment On ...

January 2025

Sun 19: Glenn Miller Orchestra UK @ Glasshouse, Gateshead. 3:00pm. ‘Glenn Miller & the Rat Pack Era’.
Sun 19: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 19: Spilt Milk @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 5:15-7:00pm. Free. Nolan Brothers (vocal harmonies).
Sun 19: Tenement Jazz Band @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 19: Nick Ross Orchestra @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 7:30pm.
Sun 19: Freight Train (Tobin/Noble/Clarvis) @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Sun 19: Jazz Jam @ Fabio’s, Saddler St., Durham. 8:00pm. Free. A Durham University Jazz Society promotion. All welcome.

Mon 20: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 21: ???

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.
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: Edison Herbert Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 25: Jack & Jay’s Songbook @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

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

Monday, September 11, 2023

Album review: John Garner/Simon Roth - ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ (Wormhole World)

John Garner (violin, sympolin); Simon Roth (drums, percussion)

Here we have 28 not even sketches, (one for each letter of the phonetic alphabet plus Ampers And and Hi, Phen). Brevity is the dominant feature of the first 26 pieces. In fact I’d barely copied the cover picture off the internet and written the title and musicians’ names before I realised I had just missed November and was now onto Oscar, rapidly followed by Papa. After Zulu, however, Ampers And and Hi, Phen Stretch out to 5 minutes 50 and 17:21 respectively, taking up nearly half the album.

The 26 preceding sketches do all have characters of their own but most are gone in a flash. None of the ‘alphabet’ pieces lasts more than 2:21 and most clock in at less than a minute.  It opens with a 7 second fanfare for Alpha, gives us a foxtrot for Foxtrot, but I was disappointed that Golf didn’t really swing. I particularly liked the violin lament of Juliet (and Sierra strikes a similar tone) and the percussive rattle of Tango. Whiskey is another piece of nominative determinism in that it is a snippet of an Irish jig; Yankee, similarly, is a hoe-down. There is a lot of humour in these snippets, perhaps best exemplified by the attempts at parlering francais in Quebec and its touch of the Gallic nightlife. The opening of Ampers And gives us scuttling crustaceans and violin scratchings before a pause leads into, at times quite elegant, plucked violin. Closer Hi, Phen is indescribable. The longest piece on the album, it is brimming with ideas, mixing folk music, hints of the Orient, rolling drums, open landscapes and sections where Garner seems to chase himself around his instrument. More comes out with each listen.

In fairness, and to reflect the almost cursory nature of some of the music, the CD is available on BANDCAMP for only £4.50 or £3.00 if you’re download minded. Dave Sayer

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