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Bebop Spoken There

Sullivan Fortner: ''I always judge it by the bass player: If the bass player is happy, it's going to be a good night". (DownBeat, February 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

17777 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 98 of them this year alone and, so far, 23 this month (Feb.8).

From This Moment On ...

February 2025

Sun 09: The New ’58 Jazz Collective @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 09: Am Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 09: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 09: Glenn Miller & Big Band Spectacular @ The Forum, Billingham. 3:00pm.
Sun 09: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 09: Tom Remon & Mark Williams @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 09: Rod Oughton’s Tomorrow’s New Quartet with Ben van Helder @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Line-up inc. Deschanel Gordon.
Sun 09: Jazz Jam @ Fabio’s, Saddler St., Durham. 8:00pm. Free. A Durham University Jazz Society promotion. All welcome.

Mon 10: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 11: Steve Summers Quintet @ Newcastle House Hotel, Rothbury. 7:30pm.

Wed 12: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 12: Jam session @ The Tannery, Gilesgate, Hexham. 7:00-9:00pm. Free.
Wed 12: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 12: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 13: Student Performances @ King’s Hall, Newcastle University. 4:00pm. Free. Inc. Olly Styles (tenor sax).
Thu 13: MOBO Awards Fringe 2025: Artist Showcase @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 7:00pm. Free (ticketed). Line-up inc. Hannabiell & Midnight Blue.
Thu 13: Indigo Jazz Voices @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:45pm. £5.00.

Fri 14: John Rowland Trio @ Jesmond Library, Newcastle. 12:30-1:30pm. £5.00. at the door. New second Friday in the month concert series.
Fri 14: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 14: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 14: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 14: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 4:00-6:00pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Fri 14: Archipelago + Anna Tempest @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm. £12.00., £10.00., £8.00.
Fri 14: Paul Jones & Dave Kelly @ Alnwick Playhouse. 7:30pm. Rhythm & blues.
Fri 14: Alexia Gardner Quintet @ The White Room, Stanley. 7:45pm.
Fri 14: Jazz Sabbath @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm.

Sat 15: Joseph Carville Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 15: James Birkett & Emma Fisk @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 7:30pm. £15.00. at the door; £14.35. (inc £0.35 bf) online, in advance.
Sat 15: Elkie Brooks @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 7:30pm. ‘The Long Farewell Tour’.
Sat 15: Milne Glendinning Band @ 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

Saturday, November 18, 2023

Charles Lloyd Ocean Trio @ Barbican (EFG London Jazz Festival) - Nov. 17

Inevitably, tonight's gig exemplified the Art of the Trio. Charles Lloyd and the many iterations of his Ocean Trio have accrued a number of albums and concerts that show this master at his best.

(© Ash Knotek)
Opening for him was a contrasting but complementary trio, that of Norway's
Mette
Henriette, a more austere but no less engaging tenorist, accompanied by Johan Lindvall on piano and Judith Hamann on cello. Henriette's compositions (mainly drawn this evening from her latest album Drifting) are framed by gentle choral figures from Lindvall - I don't think I've ever heard a piano played so softly - and often playing in unison with Hamann's exquisite cello.

After a tentative opening, Henriette's tone focused, and her prowess in complex lines delivered with novel & intricate fingering, trills and startling breath control began to grip the hall. One couldn't avoid comparisons with the established north-European sounds of Garbarek and the recent collaborations of Andy Sheppard, which is no bad thing.  She has a distinctive presence, not only in her command of the tenor, but her very stature.  It’s hard to avoid the cliché of an ice maiden, but her shimmering steely-white gown and her still presence at the epicentre of the stage suggested a bright silver reed in a sonic sea. Her grounding in theatre and performance art paid dividends, making us hang on to her every breath and, more importantly, every silence. It was where her compositions started and finished.

 

On the way, contrasts were notably supplied by Hamann, playing every part of the cello, from the farthest reach of the tailpiece through the length of the strings. At one point, her suddenly severe bowing evoked cracking wood, a stark contrast to Henriette & Lindvall's folk-like melodies beneath. For all the apparent Nordic austerity, the drama in this was startlingly effective. Perhaps a trio that ignores a conventional rhythm section is a step too far for some dyed-in-the-wool jazzers, but I would hope that anyone with a feeling for the broad church of jazz would embrace the tone, technique and dramatic richness of Henriette's music.

 

(© Ash Knotek)
Coming from the American post-bop tradition, Lloyd's set offered something more familiar to the jazz audience. A confession: he was my gateway to the genre, his early (1964) Discovery set getting a re-release as Bizarre on CBS Jazz Realm at an affordable 29/11 in 1968. It disrupted and enriched my teenage prog-blues focus with gorgeous
tunes like Sweet Georgia Bright and Forest Flower, and subsequently brought me to Jarrett and DeJohnette through the Fillmore sets. So tonight was a full circle. And while his Ocean Trio (Gerald Clayton on piano and Marvin Sewell on guitar) eschewed the conventional bass & drum rhythm section, there was nothing missing in rhythmic drive or complexity.

Lloyd's command of his instruments (mainly a gorgeously plangent tenor, plus an outing for generously rounded flute and clarinet) is second to none. He stands alongside Rollins and Shorter in fluidity and sheer bravura, with even the fastest run or surprising swoop skilfully articulated and focused. Yeah, he's got a lotta technique, but my gosh you feel it! There's a spiritual basis to all he does - not least in the encore’s Tagi (Lament), a Brahmin text he intones over his partners' vamping - but gospel, standards and blues inform every number. 

 

Opening with Ornette Coleman's Peace, set the bar high, but established the Trio's role as soloists and rhythm section. A notable blues excursion from Sewell, swapping to a bottleneck & Fender had us whooping, even if the boss didn't join in.  Lloyd has established some new standards in the last decade or so, the gorgeous gospel-inflected Lift Every Voice and the ballad How Can I Tell You?, with generous soloing of great delicacy from Clayton and Sewell along the way in the flute-led Booker’s Garden.

 

Like Henriette's opening set, there was always space to breathe, to play gently to help us listen, and hang on to those effortless low Cs and B-flats. Clayton's solos were as expansive as Sewell's were complex, and Lloyd seemed to relish them.

 

What a marvellous opportunity to explore the Art of the Trio, specifically, tenor-led trios, both of the tradition and the future. To hear a new generation handle the baton so superbly in the same evening as a master effortlessly displays a lifetime’s skill was quite a privilege. Quite honestly, the distance between them, in terms of sheer inventive musicianship, was negligible. Bigger bands have their place but here was everything to play for. Richard Lee

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