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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

17805 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 126 of them this year alone and, so far, 51 this month (Feb.16).

From This Moment On ...

February 2025

Sun 23: Musicians Unlimited @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 23: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 23: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 23: Mark Williams Trio @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm.
Sun 23: Ruth Lambert Trio @ The Juke Shed, Union Quay, North Shields. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 23: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 23: Jazz Jam Sandwich! @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 23: Mississippi MacDonald @ Georgian Theatre, Stockton. 3:00pm. Blues.
Sun 23: Mu Quintet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. CANCELLED!
Sun 23: Jazz Jam @ Fabio’s, Saddler St., Durham. 8:00pm. Free. A Durham University Jazz Society promotion. All welcome.

Mon 24: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 24: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 6:30pm. Free.

Tue 25: ?

Wed 26: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 26: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 26: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 27: Jamie McCredie @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Fri 28: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free. THIS WEEK ONLY JAMES BIRKETT (guitar)!
Fri 28: Luis Verde Quartet @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. £8.00. SOLD OUT!
Fri 28: Spilt Milk @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 7:00-9:00pm. Free. Nolan Brothers (vocal harmonies).
Fri 28: Castillo Nuevo Orquesta @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £8.00.
Fri 28: Knats @ Lubber Fiend, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £11.50. (inc bf.). Album launch gig. Support act TBC.
Fri 28: Black is the Color of My Voice @ The Gala, Durham. 7:30pm. Apphia Campbell’s one-woman show inspired by the life of Nina Simone, performed by Florence Odumosu.
Fri 28: Great North Big Band Jazz Festival: Musicians Unlimited @ Park View Community Centre, Chester-le-Street. 8:00pm. £10.00. (Weekend ticket £20.00., available on the door). Day 1/3. Musicians Unlimited in concert.
Fri 28: Redwell @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

MARCH 2025

Sat 01: Great North Big Band Jazz Festival @ Park View Community Centre, Chester-le-Street. 11:00am. £15.00. Day 2/3.
Sat 01: TJ Johnson Band @ St Augustine’s Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm. £10.00.
Sat 01: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. £25.00. Tutor: Steve Glendinning. Get your funk on! Enrol at: learning@jazz.coop.
Sat 01: Shunyata Improvisation Group @ The Watch House, Cullercoats. 2:00-3:30pm. Free.
Sat 01: Ray Stubbs R&B All Stars @ Billy Bootleggers. Ouseburn, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free.
Sat 01: Lapwing Jazz Trio @ Three Sheets to the Wind, Alnwick. 5:15pm or 5:45pm (times tbc). Part of the Alnwick Story Festival's music fringe programme: Free.
Sat 01: Struggle Buggy @ The Peacock, Sunderland. 6:00pm. Blues band.
Sat 01: Edison Herbert Trio @ The Vault, Darlington 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 01: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00.
Sat 01: Jack & Jay’s Vintage Songbook @ 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

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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