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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

Thu 16: Pete Tanton & the Cuban Heels @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Fri 17: Lindsay Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 17: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 17: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 17: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 17: Joe Steels Trio w. Graham Hardy @ The Pele, Corbridge. 7:00pm. £10.00. (inc. a welcome drink & table reservation). Book at: www.drinks@thepele.co.uk. A ‘Jazz at the Pele’ promotion.
Fri 17: Russ Morgan Quartet @ Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. Opus 4 Jazz Club.
Fri 17: Redwell @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sat 18: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 18: Alter Ego + Jamie Toms/Graham Don Duo @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 7:30pm. £15.00. at the door; £14.35. (inc £0.35 bf) online, in advance.
Sat 18: Tweed River Jazz Band @ Repas 7 by Night, West St., Berwick TD15 1AS. 7:30pm. Free. Album launch gig.
Sat 18: Delta Prophets @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

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.

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.

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, February 25, 2024

Album review: David Preston – Purple / Black Vol. One

David Preston (guitars); Kit Downes (Piano, Hammond and keys); Sebastian Rochford (drums & synths); Kevin Glasgow (bass)

This is an album that deserves to be liked more than I did. Everything that I’d look for is present and correct it just doesn’t quite all hang together as much as I’d hoped. Perhaps it’s the frequently occurring problem that occurs when an artist realises that his recording opportunities are limited and wants to essay a range of styles. Often this works to make a strong, wide-ranging album showing off all of their strengths; sometimes it doesn’t.

It starts well in a solid groove from the get go on O’Winston. Its rolling funk driven by Glasgow’s bass. Preston’s Scofield-esque playing works against Downes’ shards of notes. Electric guitar doesn’t always work well with acoustic piano but it does here. The two instruments coil around each other, swapping solos and each provoking the other. It greatly under-stays its welcome.

Casino Dream hits a similar groove after a bubbling start. It’s more open and spacious with an 80s' optimism to it. It’s a swinging urban funk with Downes pointillist on keys mixed in with a muscular backing from Rochford and Glasgow. This is followed by Urtext, which slows down proceedings. It’s an interlude of chords and minor embellishments; fragile late night music.

Purple/Black builds on Urtext but adds weight and gravitas in its slower pace. Rochford contributes great clunking blows on the drums and eschews cymbals; Downes fills all the gaps on Hammond and adds a few piano frills as well. Preston plays little beyond a few power chords and sustained notes. 

Blues for Klemens sees more sustain as it opens with a few delicate notes from Downes on piano to break up a frozen landscape. Rochford provides funeral drums in the distance as the piece slowly grows but loses none of its tension. Prison Lullaby feels like another interlude. It’s tight and oppressive, built around Rochford’s heavy, but spare drums; delicate piano is over-washed with guitar scratches and abrupt power chords.

I wonder if the delicate guitar notes on Shades of Shibuya are intended to evoke a Japanese samisen. Downes is equally spare on the piano; a rolling, repeated melody with few embellishments. It’s weightless. Similarly, I wondered if VHS Poem was intended to evoke the repeated urban images in Gregory Reggio’s 1982 film Koyaanisqatsi, famous for its Philip Glass soundtrack. Glasgow provides an insistent pulse on bass and, for much of this piece, there is relatively little contribution from the front line.

Closer Susie Q’s (no relation to the CCR track) is a resigned, melancholy, blues waltz. There’s a lovely romantic piano solo from Downes and Preston’s guitar sings out forcefully. Rochford rolls along steadily in the background. The last minute has real heft to it as the players challenge each other but this fades too early to the close and that is perhaps the problem with an album of ten tracks in 40 minutes. Allowed more time in the studio or on the bandstand, with a little more air beneath them, I can’t help thinking these pieces could really take flight. Having said that, I am intrigued enough to welcome Purple/Black Vol. Two when it hits the racks.

Purple/Black came out last year and is available from all the usual outlets. Dave Sayer

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