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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

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. CANCELLED!
Sun 23: Jazz Jam @ Fabio’s, Saddler St., Durham. 8:00pm. Free. A Durham University Jazz Society promotion. All welcome.

Mon 24: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 24: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 6:30pm. Free.

Tue 25: ?

Wed 26: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 26: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 26: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 27: Jamie McCredie @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Fri 28: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free. THIS WEEK ONLY JAMES BIRKETT (guitar)!
Fri 28: Luis Verde Quartet @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. £8.00. SOLD OUT!
Fri 28: Spilt Milk @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 7:00-9:00pm. Free. Nolan Brothers (vocal harmonies).
Fri 28: Castillo Nuevo Orquesta @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £8.00.
Fri 28: Knats @ Lubber Fiend, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £11.50. (inc bf.). Album launch gig. Support act TBC.
Fri 28: Black is the Color of My Voice @ The Gala, Durham. 7:30pm. Apphia Campbell’s one-woman show inspired by the life of Nina Simone, performed by Florence Odumosu.
Fri 28: Great North Big Band Jazz Festival: Musicians Unlimited @ Park View Community Centre, Chester-le-Street. 8:00pm. £10.00. (Weekend ticket £20.00., available on the door). Day 1/3. Musicians Unlimited in concert.
Fri 28: Redwell @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

MARCH 2025

Sat 01: Great North Big Band Jazz Festival @ Park View Community Centre, Chester-le-Street. 11:00am. £15.00. Day 2/3.
Sat 01: TJ Johnson Band @ St Augustine’s Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm. £10.00.
Sat 01: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. £25.00. Tutor: Steve Glendinning. Get your funk on! Enrol at: learning@jazz.coop.
Sat 01: Shunyata Improvisation Group @ The Watch House, Cullercoats. 2:00-3:30pm. Free.
Sat 01: Ray Stubbs R&B All Stars @ Billy Bootleggers. Ouseburn, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free.
Sat 01: Struggle Buggy @ The Peacock, Sunderland. 6:00pm. Blues band.
Sat 01: Edison Herbert Trio @ The Vault, Darlington 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 01: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00.
Sat 01: Jack & Jay’s Vintage Songbook @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

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, July 14, 2024

Album Review: Lakecia Benjamin – Phoenix Reimagined (Live) (ropeadope)

Lakecia Benjamin (alto sax, voice); Zaccai Curtis (piano); Elias Bailey (bass) EJ Strickland (drums); John Scofield (guitar track 2); Kat Dyson (guitar track 3); Randy Brecker (trumpet Track 2); Jeff Tain Watts (drums track 2); Richie Goods (bass Track 3 & 4); Ray Angry (piano track 3); Melodie Ray (vocals track 3 & 4)

Ms Benjamin stares out of the cover of this album with her trademark defiance. If you’re looking at your audience like that, you better have something to back you up. In the absence of an army, she has joy and energy, attitude and talent to spare. This is a live-in-the-studio recording in front of a small audience at Bunker Studios in Brooklyn. I believe that anyone attending who failed to confirm loudly that they were feeling ‘ALRIGHT!’ was advised to pack a bag and move to New Jersey. Five of the nine tracks are revisits of pieces from her 2023 album, Phoenix, and two (Trane and My Favorite Things) are her tributes to, and acknowledgements of the influence on her music of, John and Alice Coltrane.

Having established that everyone is alright and telling the audience that we are celebrating joy, love, life, unity peace and freedom for everybody she launches into a furious Trane with a long fluid solo, scattering notes in her wake, the rhythm section sounding like they are taking large pieces of furniture apart, solid and wooden behind her. Pianist, Curtis, picks up the challenge, rising and falling through different moods, before Benjamin storms back in, piercing in a high register, reaching for the heavens.

It’s a fatter sound for Phoenix Reimagined as Randy Brecker brings his trumpet to the stage. Benjamin’s sax twists and tight turns are full of energy, darting, and challenge before John Scofield’s guitar joins in. Scofield constructs a solo from single note runs before stretching out more and building the energy levels back up. There is no drop off in Brecker’s solo and he matches Benjamin for joyful ebullience and sheer power before closing with a few sharp jabs; piano drums and bass are a many-headed single beast driving it all on behind them. Across Let Go Benjamin rails against inequalities as this piece of militant soul builds up, brick by brick, into a fairly solid edifice, the last brick being Kat Dyson’s powerful, blues guitar. Mercy owes more than a nod to Gil Scott-Heron in its early morning optimism and Benjamin’s solo is steeped in soul and blues with a lightly dancing, swinging main theme, Strickland’s drums rolling along in the background. Amerikkan Skin is a return to the defiance opening with an aggressive, shouted call to arms. A wailing sax break over pounded piano breaks into tragic tones. This is music of sorrow and loss, mournful and matched by Curtis’ tumbling piano notes which climbs into something bold to overcome what has just gone. A sudden stop sees us into the hope of Peace Is Possible as Benjamin tries to nurture new hope as she says “We going to be alright” in the face of home truths, “Another black man dead on the ground.”

New Mornings carries forward some of the optimism, but you know its heart isn’t really in it. There’s some lovely playing in it with sudden angular tones, chilled piano and a rippling solo from Curtis, anchored again by that heavy left hand. Benjamin closes with another powerful free-blowing solo before she takes My Favorite Things apart and puts it back in a different way. Curtis’ hammering piano grounds everything else. Rather than opening with the distinctive melody, Benjamin charges into the tune and the melody evolves out of her dynamic opening, largely framed by Curtis’ piano. The two sort out the rest of the track between them with Benjamin blowing wildly over pounding piano before it all comes back together (almost) in a swinging closing section. It’s a homage to Coltrane but not a blind copy.

Closer, Spirit, opens with a tumble of notes from the quartet that then flows into a storming rhythm and blues gallop with Benjamin’s, by now familiar trilling and punching, darting notes making up her solo. It’s like a tightrope walk with the audience holding their collective breath.

Ah, but this is a marvellous album, matching the standard of Phoenix itself. Having seen her twice since Phoenix was released it’s a pleasure to hear her caught live. Even more than Phoenix this seems more personal and stronger, perhaps because this band has been road tested (they have been all over the world promoting the album) and there are fewer guests on this than on the studio album. It may be that it’s more powerful because of the presence of some older tracks, (not that Phoenix itself had any dips in quality). Whatever the answer, Phoenix Reimagined (Live) is a blazing, furious, defiant statement of where Lakecia Benjamin is right now and if you don’t like that, you’d better start packing your bags and looking at train times for New Jersey. Dave Sayer

BANDCAMP

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