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Bebop Spoken There

Kurt Elling: ''There's something to learn from every musician you play with''. (DownBeat, December 2024).

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

17641 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 915 of them this year alone and, so far, 60 this month (Dec. 26).

From This Moment On ...

December

Thu 26: The Boneshakers @ Tyne Bar, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. The 17th annual Boneshakers’ Shindig.

Fri 27: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 27: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free. Business as usual!.
Fri 27: Jason Isaacs @ Seaburn STACK, Seaburn. 3:30-5:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Fri 27: Michael Woods @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Country blues guitar & vocals.

Sat 28: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 11:30am. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 28: Fri 20: Castillo Nuevo @ Revoluçion de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30pm. Free.
Sat 28: Jude Murphy, Rich Herdman & Giles Strong @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sat 28: Ray Stubbs R & B All-Stars @ Billy Bootlegger’s, Stepney Bank, Newcastle. 9:00pm. Free.

Sun 29: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 29: Alexia Gardner Quintet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 30: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 30: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Wheatsheaf, Benton Sq., Whitley Road, Palmersville NE12 9SU. Tel: 0191 266 8137. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 30: Jason Isaacs @ STACK, Exchange Sq., Middlesbrough. 4:00-6:00pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.

Tue 31: Jason Isaacs @ Seaburn STACK, Seaburn. 12 noon-2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Tue 31: Lapwing Trio @ Wallington (National Trust), Cambo, Morpeth NE61 4AR. 12 noon & 2:00pm. Admission to site £19.00.
Tue 31: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 3:30-5:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Tue 31: Archie Brown & Friends @ Tyne Bar, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 4:00-8:00pm. Free.

January 2025

Wed 01: ???

Thu 02: ???

Fri 03: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 03: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 03: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 03: John Gregory @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Country blues guitar.

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, May 17, 2024

Lakecia Benjamin @ the Jazz Arena, Cheltenham Jazz Festival - May 4.

I had bobbed down to that Big Fancy London last year to see Benjamin at the Jazz Café. Since then she has continued her peregrinations around various international hot spots, in her quest to promote her fine Phoenix album. So, what did we learn from tonight’s gig? Firstly, she did not enjoy her visit to Budapest and, secondly, she came to make some noise. Whilst the main acts in the big tent next door were the sort of pop acts that help pay for the rest of the Festival, the Jazz Arena is where the next generation of big jazz headliners do their thing. Benjamin’s thing is loud, uncompromising, modern and reaching back to that explosion of Coltrane influenced music that lit fires that continue to burn.

A brief opening piece is a statement of intent; a fury of tumbling ‘Coltrane-esque’ notes ring out, furious and pile-driving, punching holes in the very fabric of the tent. American Skin opens with the same declaration as on the album, a defiant “I am somebody, I AM SOMEBODY.” A long, bluesy, middle-east tinged sinuous sax line sings out. She answers her own short shout outs with longer lines; the band members throw their separate weight behind her. The pianist leads off in a more lyrical section before Benjamin returns to rap out a call for peace in the cities.

My Favorite Things opens with a breakneck speed wail, pounding and hammering before they slow down to state the familiar melody before the band lifts off again, Benjamin blasting out more Coltrane type sheets of sound that rise in pitch as the energy levels soar. Her alto screams before she plunges into a veritable forest of notes and she duels with drummer, EJ Strickland, as the others drop out. She tumbles in and back out of the familiar melody. Benjamin punches the air in victory as the pianist solos, again hinting at the melody line and working away from it, hammering the keys. Benjamin returns to the fray, blowing looong lines and punching out notes as Strickland again pounds away on the drums. It’s breathless stuff!   

There is no let up for Jubilation which opens with full force Strickland as his drumming sounds like a demolition, pounding and rolling, crashing his cymbals; thunder and lightning. Benjamin’s solo is full of trills and longer swooping lines which she develops into a celebratory dance, packed with soul.

The pace drops for the next piece. Benjamin slides into a blues line followed by a moment of silence before she comes back in. A gospel laden duet with the piano before the blues returns with force and it seems that the music contains the roots of so much different music. As it goes on hints suggest that it’s Amazing Grace they are playing (they are!). From gospel and blues they move onto something funky and Stevie Wonder-ish. The dancing bass solo carries the mood forward.

There is an inevitability that she will close with A Love Supreme. It’s a crowd-pleaser but also a defiant planting of boots on the ground. This is where she is and she is making a pitch to wear the crown. A full charge from the bass and drums and powerful blowing from Benjamin sets the scene before a heavy chorded piano solo joins the battle and adds gravitas and weight. Benjamin’s solo rides the drums and the pace actually picks up, if that were possible. A dense piano solo hammers out the theme of Acknowledgement and Benjamin takes off again into more tightly wound flurries of notes and wailing squeals to bring the close.

Phoenix is a great album but, live, Lakecia Benjamin attains a whole new, higher level. She was great in London; she was even better at Cheltenham. Dave Sayer

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