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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

17805 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 126 of them this year alone and, so far, 51 this month (Feb.16).

From This Moment On ...

February 2025

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.

Thu 20: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, Holystone. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 20: James Birkett & Emma Fisk @ King’s Hall, Newcastle University. 1:15pm. Free.
Thu 20: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: Jazz Milestones - 1975.
Thu 20: Renegade Brass Band @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors).
Thu 20: Orange Claw Hammer + Peony @ The Globe, Newcastle.7:30pm. Orange Claw Hammer play Captain Beefheart.
Thu 20: Jeremy McMurray & the Pocket Jazz Orchestra @ Arc, Stockton. 8:00pm. Featuring special guest Zoë Gilby.

Fri 21: JazzMain @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 21: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 21: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 21: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 21: Joe Steels Trio @ The Pele, Corbridge. 7:00pm. £10.00. TBC.
Fri 21: Emma Rawicz w. Strictly Smokin’ Big Band @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm.

Sat 22: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 12:30-2:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 22: Jason Isaacs @ Seaburn STACK, Seaburn. 3:30pm-5:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 22: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 22: Mississippi MacDonald @ Claypath Deli, Durham. 7:00pm. Blues.
Sat 22: Lindsay Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ Old Cinema Laundrette, Durham. 7:45pm. £16.50. SOLD OUT!
Sat 22: Michael Woods @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Country blues guitar & vocals.

Sun 23: Musicians Unlimited @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 23: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 23: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 23: Mark Williams Trio @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm.
Sun 23: Ruth Lambert Trio @ The Juke Shed, Union Quay, North Shields. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 23: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 23: Jazz Jam Sandwich! @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 23: Mississippi MacDonald @ Georgian Theatre, Stockton. 3:00pm. Blues.
Sun 23: Mu Quintet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Sun 23: Jazz Jam @ Fabio’s, Saddler St., Durham. 8:00pm. Free. A Durham University Jazz Society promotion. All welcome.

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

Thursday, July 04, 2024

Album review: Ken Peplowski - Live at Mezzrow (Cellar Music)

Ken Peplowski (clarinet, tenor sax); Ted Rosenthal (piano); Martin Wind (bass); Willie Jones III (drums)

An album by Ken Peplowski is always welcome and, after Peplowski's recent health issues, it is doubly welcome to realise he is playing as good as ever. 

Vignette, a lesser known tune by Hank Jones, gets the date off to swinging start. It sounded familiar but it wasn't until after I'd borrowed a telescope from Jodrell Bank that I discovered from the notes that it was a contrafact of Sweet Sue, Just You.  

Prisoner of Love I only knew from an old Perry Como 78rpm but this one, seemingly, was inspired by James Brown. Even without the words Peplowski's big sound brings out the pathos of the melody.

Beautiful Love has our man really wailing on clarinet - such dexterity! Some nice bass-work from Wind followed by a series of fours all-round which went on just long enough before his liquid tone takes it out.

He remains on clarinet for All the Things You Are. However, unlike the current trend to play the Jerome Kern tune faster than Mark Cavendish shoots out of the peloton in Le Tour, Peplowski respects the composer's original intent and plays it as a slow and dreamy ballad.

Nothing slow and dreamy about André Previn's Like Young. Funky tenor driven along by Jones III creating a great groove that's enhanced by Rosenthal on piano and Wind on bass.

The Shadow of Your Smile, a wistful sound suggesting uncertainty. Imagine a puppy or a kitten in a strange house wondering if the owner of the house likes puppies or kittens. A track of poignant beauty.

Back to the clarinet for Cabin in the Sky from the film of the same name. The 1943 movie had an all-black cast including Louis Armstrong, the Duke Ellington Orchestra, Lena Horne, Ethel Waters and many more. Peplowski does it and them justice.

Monk's Bright Mississippi has Rosenthal in good form. Peplowski sticks with clarinet offering a contrast to Monk's original version with Charlie Rouse on tenor. Clarinet and piano chase each other until they're tired out. Willie Jones gives them a chance to recharge before Rosenthal jumps back in. He's done his Monastic homework.

Here's to Life contradicts those who claim that the clarinet is a cold and clinical instrument. Of course it can be, but not here. With just enough vibrato to express the emotions stirred up by Artie Butler's melody it becomes a song from the clarinettist's heart.

Who Knows? An Ellington tune I'd never heard of! Or so I thought. Investigations revealed that I had it on an old 10" LP - The Duke Plays Ellington - that had been on the shelf gathering dust for a considerable number of years. Rosenthal's piano solo comes to Duke via Monk or maybe vice versa. Whatever, it's great piano. Throw some superb clarinet and swinging bass and drums into the mix and you have a fitting finale to an album that's on the modern end of mainstream. Lance 

Release date tomorrow (July 5)

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