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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

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

Saturday, March 23, 2024

Book Review: Chris Searle – Talking The Groove; Jazz Words From The Morning Star (Jazz In Britain)

The Costa Book Awards would each year, honour the best fiction, non-fiction, poetry, children’s books and first novels. One category they always missed was the best Bog and Bedside book; those volumes that are structured so you can read as much or as little as time allows and pick it up again anywhere in the book next time. Everybody has one. It was rumoured that Her late lamented Majesty had a copy of the Observer's Book of Corgis on the shelf in her smallest throne room next to Jane’s Fighting Ships for Phil. Had the award been available this year, this new collection by Chris Searle would be an obvious contender.

The good people at Jazz in Britain have compiled a couple of hundred reviews, interviews and comment pieces from Chris’s columns in the Morning Star from the 2010s to 2023 and present them here, along with a double CD, Talking The Groove – Jazz Against Racism, of pieces to accompany the book. Most of the pieces come in at about a page and a half of reading and many have accompanying gig reviews to give a fuller picture. Searle is a great enthusiast for the music with a great fondness for the British free scene centred on Dalston’s Café Oto, though his articles range far and wide; his enthusiasm is best reflected at the end of many of the articles in his urging the reader to buy this album or go to that gig. It’s immensely readable though, if I had any complaint, it’s that structuring the pieces in date order would have been preferable to the collection being in alphabetical order by artist.

As you would expect many of the artists he writes about use their music to promote a generally left-wing ideology. (Searle’s earlier book, Forward Groove, was a series of essays looking at the promotion of civil rights, equality and anti-racism and the anti-war movement of the 60s in jazz from its earliest days). He writes with great empathy for both the artists and their causes and he writes well. Those who come to this book looking for an analysis of the techniques used in particular works will be disappointed. Searle has a deep knowledge of the musicians and their works but confesses in Forward Groove that he doesn’t have that depth of knowledge. This suits me down to the ground as I am in the same boat. I know that the car moves me but don’t ask me to take the gear box apart (or more importantly, put it back together again).

 The CDs clock in at over 2 hours and include numbers by a John Stevens Sextet, several line-ups featuring Chris McGregor, the Trevor Watts Quintet, the Bruce Turner Quartet, Splinters, Mujician and the Trevor Watts/Mark Sanders Duo.

As Searle would write when he hears something he really likes, “Get hold of this book!”.

Talking The Groove is available for £16.99 HERE on the Jazz In Britain Bandcamp page. Dave Sayer

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