Total Pageviews

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

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. 1:00-2:00pm. £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: Fiona Finden’s Jazz Express @ Flash House Brewing Co., North Shields. 8:00pm.
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.

Sun 16: MOBO Song @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 12 noon. Free, performances on the concourse. Line-up inc. Jazz Attack (on stage time TBC) & Jambone (12:20pm).
Sun 16: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 16: Jason Isaacs @ STACK, Exchange Sq., Middlesbrough. 1:00-2:45pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sun 16: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 16: MOBO Awards Fringe 2025: BBC Introducing NE X MOBO Showcase @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 6:00pm. Free (ticketed). Line-up inc. Jambone, Knats, Rivkala, SwanNek.
Sun 16: The Shayo Experience @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 16: Gerry Richardson Quartet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. .

Mon 17: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 17: Matt Forster Quartet @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 1:00pm. £9.00. at the door; £8.20. (inc £0.20 bf) online, in advance.
Mon 17: Russ Morgan Quartet @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £10.00.

Tue 18: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Alan Law, Paul Grainger, John Hirst.

Wed 19: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 19: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 19: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

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

Wednesday, March 20, 2024

Album Review: Charles Lloyd – The Sun Will Still Be There Tomorrow (Blue Note)

Charles Lloyd (tenor & alto saxophone, bass & alto flute); Jason Moran (piano); Larry Grenadier (double bass); Brian Blade (drums, percussion).

Blimey, this is good and deserving of all the raves that have been heaped on it thus far. It’s like a Lloyd biography, seamlessly combining the storm of his earlier Atlantic work with the becalmed ECM sounds of what we must now regard as his middle period. There are moments of languid beauty and times of barely restrained tumult stretched across two albums or 90 minutes of music. Floating and ethereal at times and a force of faith in hope and optimism at others.

I suppose the music would fall into the post-bop category. It feels as if the musicians are not band members per se but individuals with the freedom to follow their own hearts in the context of the tune. On occasion there will be contrasting lines taken that serve to support and enhance the nominal leader’s solo. There is warmth and humour alongside the faith; Lloyd has played with these musicians before (though not at the same time) and the familiarity and the friendship shines through.  

There’s been a lot of talk about Lloyd’s age (86) so when the album opens with a slow rolling blues, (Defiant, Tender Warrior) there is a worry that this will set the tone for all of what will follow. It is gently rolling with the horn sounding like a train in the distance and it fades away to a light breathy tone at times as if Lester Young has come back but the next track, The Lonely One, is full of vigour with dives and swoops on the sax in front of roiling drums and melodramatic single note punctuation from the piano, frequent flourishes and a probing bass solo. The humour is evident in Monk’s Dance which opens like a twisted honk tonk, full of ‘Monkish’ shapes and angles from Moran, sax and piano bouncing ideas off each other.

The Water Is Rising sees Lloyd playing long notes over a detached backing, front and rear disconnected until they combine into another rolling blues. There’s something ominous in both Moran’s solo and Lloyd’s that follows. It is a warning in a resigned tone, rather than an admonishment. The overdubbed flute duet of Late Bloom acts as an introduction to Booker’s Garden; a flute led piece that harks back to the times of Lloyd’s first coming in the late sixties; more upbeat, rhythm and blues rather than just blues, it features a lovely rising and falling bass solo and flute that dances around the garden.

The Ghost of Lady Day is fragile, sepulchral; a probing bass solo over cymbal shimmers, the piano and then sax feel like an intrusion. It builds and builds to the point where Lloyd’s whispers have become full blown wails and the drums are a boiling sea beneath him. Moran plays out funeral bells as it fades.  

The Sky Will Be There Tomorrow should be a comforting message but the listener is pulled in several different directions by the opening and when the band comes together briefly it is only another point of departure before a degree of peace is established. Even then there is conflict. Moran’s piano doesn’t support Lloyd’s solo but challenges and pushes him to greater heights before abandoning him to the support of just bass and drums.

The second disc opens with piano to the fore on Beyond Darkness before Lloyd’s flute takes us on a journey of highs and lows. Sky Valley, Spirit of the Forest, which follows, is elegant, spare and spacious. The rhythm section plays off against and with Lloyd, at times almost cradling the melody line he follows. Listen too intensely and you lose the arc across this piece, the longest on the album. Thematically, it takes us through some dark places and back into the light.

Cape to Cairo is one of the other long songs on the album and, again, shows that intimacy between the players. Moran’s piano playing frames Lloyd’s solo lines, Grenadier’s bass playing is full of lovely, round notes that hold and reverb. It’s probably the most nocturnal piece on the album and at one point even threatens to slide into something more suitable for the lost hours in a nightclub. It’s saved by an attention demanding, knotty solo by Moran. A reprise of the opener, Defiant, rolls us out as the original had rolled us in.

It has been an intense hour and a half listen but it’s been well worth hanging in there. It’s probably the album of the year so far.

The Sky Will Be There Tomorrow is available now from all outlets but you’re advised to shop around as prices vary for this one. Dave Sayer

No comments :

Blog Archive