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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

Sunday, October 01, 2023

Album review: Joshua Redman featuring Gabrielle Cavassa - Where Are We

Joshua Redman (tenor sax); Gabrielle Cavassa (voice); Aaron Parks (piano); Joe Sanders (bass); Brian Blade (drums) + Peter Bernstein, Kurt Rosñenwinkel (guitar); Nicholas Payton (trumpet); Joel Ross (vibes).

Where Are We is aptly named, the theme of the album being various American states and cities with Redman, vocalist Cavassa, piano, bass and drums putting their own impressions down on a selection of standards and originals.  The four guests also pop up individually on single tracks.

After Minneapolis (face toward mo[u]rning) opens with an explosive cadenza from Redman which is as violent a sound as I've ever heard from him. However, the song, an original by Redman couldn't conceivably have any other intro based as it is around, although not exclusively,  the murder of George Floyd. Cavassa's vocal adds to the emotive content.

Bruce Springstein's Streets of Philadelphia features Rosenwinkel and once more Cavassa, a co-winner of the 2021 International Sarah Vaughan Jazz Vocal Competition, gets right inside the lyric as indeed she does on all her featured tracks. Redman wails as if to the Blue Note manner born.

Chicago Blues is almost a romantic ballad unlike the original versions by Jimmy Rushing and later Joe Williams. Ross' vibes add to the mood.

Baltimore has no guests and Cavassa sits this one out. Some nice bass-work from Sanders. Redman is quite lyrical in a gutsy kind of way with Parks also in that groove.

By the Time I Get to Phoenix is undoubtedly the best version ever of this tune. I came to that conclusion long before Cavassa had even reached Albuquerque.

Do You Know What it Means to Miss New Orleans? The vocal brings Billie Holiday to mind which is no bad thing. New Orleans' native Payton adds to the authenticity and trumpet and tenor have some exciting contrapuntal moments.

The quartet travelled over a thousand (music) miles to Manhattan where they were joined by Peter Bernstein for a delightful take on the Rodgers and Hart classic.

My Heart in San Francisco (Holiday). Now that Tony has left us I guess it's open season on Bennett's signature tune. However, Redman manages to incorporate Monk's San Francisco Holiday into the mix hence the slightly different title. It all works out fine in the end.

That's New England also merges with a song by Charles Ives - Three Places in New England. Confused? Don't worry, so am I. Just sit back and enjoy.

Stars Fell on Alabama and Coltrane's Alabama offer two starkly contrasting images - lovers kissing in fields of white and black school children getting killed in a church bombing. Cavassa paints the former and the quartet the latter. 

Where Are You? Sensuous vocal, lyrical tenor, fine piano and a sympathetic rhythm section bring this beautiful and, at times, provocative album to a close. If we allocated stars this would be 10/10. Lance 

 Now available on the mighty Blue Note label - Find out more HERE.

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