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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

17655 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 929 of them this year alone and, so far, 74 this month (Dec. 31).

From This Moment On ...

January 2025

Thu 09: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: John H Hammond.
Thu 09: FILM: Soundtrack to a Coup D’Etat @ Tyneside Cinema, Newcastle. 2:35pm. Documentary (dir. Johan Grimonprez) ‘about jazz, (de)colonial history and activism featuring Louis Armstrong, Nina Simone and Dizzy Gillespie’.
Thu 09: Happy Tuesdays @ Ye Olde Cross, Ryton. 7:30pm. Free.
Thu 09: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. Ragtime piano. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 09: Mark Toomey Quartet @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm. Free. A Tees Hot Club promotion. The session now monthly, next one Thursday 2nd Feb, then first Thursday in the month thereafter.

Fri 10: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 10: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 10: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.

Sat 11: Jason Isaacs @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 12:30-2:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 11: Under the Wellie @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 12: The New ’58 Jazz Collective @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 12: Am Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 12: King Bees @ The Tyne Bar, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. Superb Chicago blues band.
Sun 12: Dave Bottomley @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Country blues guitar.
Sun 12: Jack Pearce Quintet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 13: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 13: Raymond MacDonald & Andy Champion @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £10.00.

Tue 14: Zoë Gilby Quintet @ Newcastle House Hotel, Rothbury. 7:30pm.

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, December 31, 2023

Album review: Rob Cope - Gemini

Rob Cope (bass clarinet, soprano sax); Andy Scott (tenor sax); Paul Clarvis (drums); Liam Noble (piano).

There is some marvellous music on this album and there is also some bass clarinet. It does feel like an album of sketches and, at 38 minutes it is far too short. I would imagine that a live setting would put some extra air under the tunes and allow for extended versions that could really work out the real strengths of what’s on offer on the album. Some tracks (such as Together and the title piece, Gemini) feel like they have just started to settle into their flow when the curtain comes down.

The pieces range from the rolling rhythm and blues groove of Punch to the more pastoral Water, whilst The Dance is something altogether more frantic and Balkan; Up is post-bop with a touch of middle European swing, Across is a waltz led by Noble on the piano and Rain is a haunting free jazz sci-fi soundtrack, intense but separate and the closer, Generations is wistful and melancholic. It’s almost as if this were an audition collection and Cope was exhibiting a number of styles so that we know he can do anything. Perhaps a ‘Less is more’ approach would have served him better.

Despite the variety and the search for a single voice I can’t fault the standard of the playing. This is a tight outfit with nary a cigarette paper between them on the brisker pieces; solos and accompaniments repeatedly combine to great effect and whilst all get opportunities to shine, it is Cope that stands out. He mentions his classical training in the sleeve notes and that background remains a strong influence in the structure of some of the tunes, however, he solos like a jazz man and one could ask “Why does Rob Cope play like that?” and the answer would be “Because he can!”

Gemini is released on January 12 with an album launch at the Vortex in that Big Fancy London. I can’t find any other dates. The album is available from most outlets.

There’s not much about Rob Cope on that interweb thing, but THIS is a link to a Jazzwise piece that incorporates some information about the band and album from Ubuntu and a video. Cope is also a film maker and the video for Across (a mini Avatar) can be accessed by clicking on the photo in the Jazzwise article. Dave Sayer

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