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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

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

Friday, September 22, 2023

Album review: Masumi Ormandy - Beyond the Sea.

Masumi Ormandy (vocals); Dean Johnson (bass); Tim Horner (drums); Allen Farnham (piano, synth., arrangements) + (collective on various tks)  Sara Caswell (violin); Jody Redhage Ferber (cello); Bria Skonberg (trumpet); John Allred (trombone); Danny Bacher (soprano sax, vocal); Houston Person, Tim Ries (tenor sax); Mino Cinelu (perc.); Chieli Minucci, Paul Meyers (guitar); Anders Bostrom (flute) Roseanna Vitro (vocal).

Japanese vocalist Ormandy moved to New York, via Tokyo and Frisco, to fulfil her dream of becoming a singer studying with Roseanna Vitro who appears on the final track.

Beyond the Sea is Ormandy's second album. She recorded the previous one when she was a mere seventy-seven years old. Now, seven years later (do the maths) the voice is still younger than springtime yet, paradoxically, with a maturity that defies time.

Accompanied by a choice selection, in various permutations, of NYC's finest jazz musicians it puts to bed the myth that singers deteriorate with age. At least those that don't burn the candle at both ends with late nights and the usual vices.

The opening/title track, Beyond the Sea, is taken slower than Bobby Darin's hit version and is none the worse for that with the strings and sop sax (or was it the dreaded synth?) setting the mood. 

I Can't Give You Anything But Love is a Dixieland romp with gutsy solos by Skonberg and Allred. Bacher duets vocally as well as blowing soprano.

Smile isn't one of my favourite standards but this version moved it up a notch or two. Nice piano and sympathetic strings over a bossa rhythm.

Like a River Flowing, a Japanese song with English lyrics, has some tenor sax from Ries who noodles behind the vocal. 

Here's to Life has violin and cello adding to the poignancy of the lyric.

Sentimental Journey shuffles along nicely with Allred, Bacher and Skonberg, tightly muted, giving it that swingy feel the tune deserves.

I'm Through With Love. Remember MM singing this in Some Like it Hot? Ormandy may be eighty four but she conveys the same emotion and there's also beautiful tenor from Houston Person.

Tea For Tea. After an out of tempo vocal verse it moves on to a Latin cha-cha rhythm with some tasty violin from Caswell.

I Left my Heart in San Francisco. When someone such as Tony Bennett has laid down the template for a song then the deck is stacked against the rest. Nevertheless, Ormandy doesn't fold and she offers an acceptable alternative.

It's Only a Paper Moon. More great tenor from Houston P alongside an excellent vocal.

Ringo No Uta (Apple Song). a Japanese folk song that not only has Ormandy's mentor Vietro joining her but also has a stunning flute solo from Bostro.

You won't hear many vocals as good as this by a singer as old as this and, nor will there be many vocals as good as this by many a younger singer - magic! Lance

Available on Miles High Records.

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