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Bebop Spoken There

Stan Woodward: ''We're part of the British jazz scene, but we don't play London jazz. We play Newcastle jazz. The Knats album represents many things, but most importantly that Newcastle isn't overlooked". (DownBeat, April 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

17923 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 244 of them this year alone and, so far, 91 this month (March 31).

From This Moment On ...

April 2025.

Thu 03: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: Women in Jazz.
Thu 03: Eva Fox & the Jazz Guys @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 03: New ’58 Jazz Collective @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm. Free. A Tees Hot Club promotion. First Thursday in the month.

Fri 04: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 04: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 04: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 04: Ruth Lambert Quartet @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm. £12.00.
Fri 04: Tom McGuire & the Brassholes @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £20.00.
Fri 04: Nicolas Meier’s Infinity Group + Spirit of Jeff Beck @ The Forum, Darlington. 7:30pm.

Sat 05: Tenement Jazz Band @ St Augustine’s Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm. £10.00.
Sat 05: Sleep Suppressor @ Head of Steam, Newcastle. 5:30-6:00pm.
Sat 05: King Bees @ Billy Bootlegger’s, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 6:00pm. Free.
Sat 05: Raymond MacDonald & Jer Reid @ Lubber Fiend, Newcastle. 6:00-9:30pm. £7.72., £1.00. (minimum donation). MacDonald & Reid + Objections + Yotuns.
Sat 05: Jeff Hewer Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 05: Kamasi Washington @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 7:30pm. £33.00.
Sat 05: Vermont Big Band @ The Seahorse, Whitley Bay. 7:30pm. Tickets: £10.00 (from the venue).
Sat 05: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00.

Sun 06: Smokin’ Spitfires @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:45pm. £7.50.
Sun 06: Learning & Participation Showcase @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm (1:00pm doors). Free. Featuring participants from Play More Jazz! Play More Folk! Blue Jam Singers & more.
Sun 06: Joe Steels Group @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00pm. £10.00. Ferg Kilsby, Joe Steels, Ben Lawrence, Paul Susans, John Hirst.
Sun 06: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 06: Paul Skerritt @ The Hooch, Quayside, Newcastle. 6:00pm.
Sun 06: Leeway @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 07: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 08: ???

Wed 09: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 09: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 09: Tannery jam session @ The Tannery, Hexham. 7:00pm.
Wed 09: Anatole Muster Trio @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £17.50., £12.50. concs.
Wed 09: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. CANCELLED?

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

Friday, April 12, 2024

Album Review: Lizz Wright – Shadow (Blues & Greens Records)

When I think of Lizz Wright’s singing I think of a voice steeped in the melancholy of the blues, a voice so smoky she should move to Craster and produce kippers. It is a rich, deep voice, capable of a caress and a shout, one for the small hours and for the streets. She seems to sit outside the canon of the greats of jazz singing in a lineage that would include Nina Simone, Dee Dee Bridgewater and Cassandra Williams.

This album has protest songs, celebrations of love and joy and, in her cover of Sandy Denny’s Who Knows Where the Time Goes, reflections on a life passed by. It is one of a few covers that include folk songs, modern gospel and country. Her voice is front and centre with the arrangements supportive, rarely allowing the instruments to come forth. Even the richest arrangement, on No More Will I Run seem to wrap up her voice in a blanket that lifts it higher so she is always riding above the band.

Lost in The Valley is a song of hope as the protagonist climbs from the valley to the sky. It too has its roots in gospel; the church organ shares the musical lead with Ramamurthy’s Carnatic violin but it is the power of Wright’s vocals that carry it.

First track, Sparrow, opens with a pulsing heartbeat in intricate guitar, but the voice when it comes drags as if Wright has her own time. Her plea to “Let it Rain” is probably not what the denizens of these rain sodden isles want to hear right now but her follow up instruction to the rain that it should “Pain wash away ….We’re gonna rise up singing” is more supportable. A beautiful violin line behind her voice adds colour and depth and the panoramic vision is further enhance by Kidjo’s African wails.

Your Love is a celebration of a love that has her singing all day and constantly moving in the joy of it. It’s lush and rich and all enveloping. It wraps you up and glows. The pace slows for Root of Mercy. A slower gospel infused piece that has Wright singing over her own looped voice. Sweet Feeling is a Candi Staton song of lost love; Wright powers through over a swirling organ and thumping drums. Her voice is deep and rich. Even though it is a slow blues and she pours it out strongly, there is still that forlorn ache, albeit one that fills a room.

A rare foray into the Great American Songbook sees a cover of Cole Porter’s I Concentrate on You. Slowed down to a funereal pace, every word is lengthened and feeling is wrung out of each one. Wright rides the melody line across her full range soaring into a higher register before falling back to her trademark mellowness.

Those of us of advancing age who hold Who Knows Where the Time Goes in the highest regard are especially sensitive about interpretations of it. Lizz Wright’s version is beautiful with a simple stripped back arrangement. The bass carries the weight and all that melancholy and sorrow of reflection is carried to us by the emotion in her voice. Remarkably Denny wrote this when she was only 19. Wright is older and carries those extra years of life as lived into her performance.

Closer, Gillian Welch’s I Made a Lover's Prayer turns tragedy into hope. The sadness is in the vocals and the joy and hope are in the instruments as first, the Hammond organ and, later, the strings lift us back out of the valley.

Shadow is Lizz Wright’s first release on her new Blues & Greens Record label. The album is distributed by Virgin and is available from all the usual places that you buy your music. Dave Sayer

Lizz Wright (vocals); Adam Levy (guitars); Chris Bruce (guitars, keyboards); Rashaan Carter (bass); Deantoni Parks (drums); Abe Rounds (percussion); Kenny Banks Sr. (piano); Glenn Patscha (piano, Rhodes, B3); Arun Ramamurthy (Carnatic violin); Trina Basu (violin); Lynne Earls (Wurlitzer, baritone acoustic guitar) Melissa Bach (cello); Katherine Hughes (violin); Jeff Yang (viola); plus guests Angelique Kidjo (vocals); Brandee Younger (harp); Meshell Ndegeocello (bass).

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