Total Pageviews

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

17630 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 904 of them this year alone and, so far, 49 this month (Dec. 20).

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

Sunday, June 02, 2024

Album review: Jack Walrath - Live at Smalls (Cellar Music)

Jack Walrath (trumpet); Abraham Burton (tenor sax); George Burton (piano); Boris Kozlov (bass); Donald Edwards (drums)

I sighed, I cried, I almost died at the thought of yet another hard-bop trumpet, tenor, piano, bass and drums combo shooting for the moon. Let's face it, Blakey, Silver and a whole lot of the Blue Note boys had worked this side of the street since time knows when and, as a counter-attraction, there were a couple of foreign teams kicking a ball around at Wembley and, hadn't I heard Walrath in a JNE concert at the Corner House back in 1986?

Still, nothing ventured, nothing gained, so I played the first track before heading downstairs to Wembley.  I didn't make it! Even if it had been Newcastle v Sunderland at Wembley (dream on!) no way was I going to curtail my listening of this album.

I can't remember much about that 1986 gig but, suffice to say, if it was even half as good as Live at Smalls then I'd have been boring everyone to death about it ever since.

Recorded in April 2023, this isn't a recording session pick-up group but a band that has been working as a unit since 2010. It's tight, sure it is, how could it not be? However, once it opens up it becomes a free for all with both horns going for broke with piano, bass and drums, not there just for the ride but to spur them on to even greater heights.

I've never been a big fan of finishing numbers with a seemingly endless round of fours - until now that is. On the opening Roadkill trumpet and tenor lock horns so fiercely that Smalls must have put the NYC fire department on a red alert. 

Six originals by Walrath, now in his seventies, set the scene. They're gritty, challenging compositions that stretch all five musicians to the limit and all five rise to the occasion maybe surpassing those limits. When empathy like this is present distant horizons no longer seem distant.

A must have! 

Now to watch the football but don't tell me who scored! Lance

Roadkill; A Bite in Tunisia; Left Turn on 86th Street; Grandpa Moses; Mood For Muhal; Sacrifice.

No comments :

Blog Archive