Black Swan jam session - Nov. 19

Michael Young (piano); Paul Grainger (double bass); Mark Robertson (drums) + John Rowland (tenor sax); Luis Verde (alto sax); Shivan Ruddick (trumpet); Kate O'Niell (vocals); Edgar Bell (cornet); Lara Hopper (trumpet); Robert Johnson (tenor sax); Carl Peacock (piano); Jamie Watkins (double bass); Liam Oliver (guitar); Shayo (vocals); Haruki Shimizu (drums); Paul Ruddick (alto sax); Ian Drever (vocals); Moyo (guitar); Esther Coombes (alto sax, clarinet); Owen Jones (double bass); Niffi Osiyemi (vocals); Jan Spencelayh (vocals); Bailey Rudd (drums); Felix Parkin-Christie (drums)

Snow on a cold, dark, mid-November evening. Numbers would be down, wouldn't they? Ah, that's to underestimate the pulling power of the Black Swan jam session. Paul Grainger invited pianist Michael Young and drummer Mark Robertson to join him in forming the house trio. At the half past seven down beat, the room was, as usual, bustling with students, former students and a rag-tag of jazz lovers.

The stuff that dreams are made of ...The Maltese Jazzmen

The Maltese Falcon, the Buddy Bolden cylinder - collectable items the value of which are reputed to be beyond the dreams of avarice. Today, in a South Shields charity shop I came across a CD that whilst its value may not  be quite beyond the dreams of avarice it was certainly worth more than the 50p I paid for it - or so it seemed.

The Deuchar/Gascoigne Legacy. Celebrating 50 Years of the Vieux Carré Jazzmen looked to be 'the stuff that dreams are made of'.

John Broddle funeral details announced.

The funeral of John Broddle will take place at Tynemouth Crematorium on Tuesday 3rd December at 12:45pm. 

Afterwards all are welcome to remember John at Cullercoats Crescent Club with music courtesy of Rendezvous Jazz. 

In the photo, taken at the Crescent Club in 2016, John is on the left of the picture sharing a vocal with Neville Sarony who was visiting from Hong Kong.

Album review: Lynne Arriale - Being Human (Challenge Records)

Lynne Arriale (piano, Yamaha Clavinova); Alon Near (bass); Lukasz Zyta (drums)

This one's been lying on the back-burner since March. Every time I've been about to crank up the old Victrola something that looks better jumps the queue only for me to find out that, like most queue jumpers, it's all front and no substance. You definitely can't judge an album by its cover. Being Human is an obvious exception. Lynne Arriale not only looks human but her music conjures up the 'best expressions of what it means to be human'.

John Stowell & Tom Remon @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle - Nov. 14

John Stowell (guitar); Tom Remon (guitar)

Following his appearance earlier this year working alongside Sid Jacobs, Tom Remon returned to Prohibition Bar with another top notch American guitarist as his sparring partner. From Portland, Oregon, John Stowell quietly went about his business, setting up his gear on the Pink Lane venue's small corner stage, his custom made, headless Soulezza guitar taking pride of place. Several of the region's six-stringers were in the house, they weren't going to miss this one! 

Sunday night @ the Globe: Liane Carroll - Nov. 17

© Sheila Herrick

Liane Carroll (piano, vocals)

The night was cold, windscreens were showing signs of frost. Winter had arrived a couple of weeks ahead of schedule. Even England's 5-0 win over the Rep of Ireland didn't warm the cockles. It was a night to be sitting by the radiator with a bowl of gruel not to be venturing forth in woolly hat and last year's Christmas jumper. However there was method behind the madness of going to the Globe by bus, train and Mr Shank's pony.

Liane Carroll!

Julian Lage @ the Glasshouse, Gateshead - Nov 17

Julian Lage (acoustic guitar)

The intimate auditorium of Sage 2 proved to be the ideal setting for an evening of surprising solo guitar playing from Lage. The obvious first – an acoustic folk instrument – not a gypsy jazz guitar à la Django Reinhardt but instead one favoured by flat-pickers. And flat-pick he did! Each note strong and propulsive but with a dynamic range and sensitivity that totally captured the audience.

His language on the guitar has developed beyond his early bebop days with the Gary Burton Quartet and perhaps now has at its core a folksy, bluesy, essence. This is liberally peppered with free jazz exploration, often resolving to the blues but frequently forging its own path. Classical harmony, Jimmy Wyble-esque guitar counterpoint, astonishing single-line passages and fretboard-defying intervallic leaps make up the rest.

Olly Styles @ King's Hall, Newcastle University - Nov. 14

Olly Styles (tenor sax); Jamie Watkins (guitar)

Term time, Thursdays in King's Hall, Newcastle University music students perform short sets to an audience of fellow students and interested members of the public. Anything from classical to folk (Newcastle University's highly-regarded folk degree course has produced many fine musicians) to rock and jazz, the weekly four o'clock session is an opportunity to check out what's happening. 

Graham Hardy's Eclectic Quartet @ Blaydon Jazz Club - Nov. 11

© Roly Veitch

Graham Hardy (trumpet, flugelhorn); Ben Lawrence (piano); Andy Champion (double bass); John Bradford (drums) 

In its fortieth year, Blaydon Jazz Club is on a roll. A run of superb concerts, increasing attendances, jazz on Bridge Street, Blaydon-on-Tyne is alive and well. The Black Bull welcomed Graham Hardy's new outfit, 'Eclectic' by name, 'Eclectic' by virtue of the choice of material, the one down side to the occasion...the coughing and spluttering musicians! It's that time of year when the lurgy does its best/worst!

The Gil Scott-Heron Songbook @ Gosforth Civic Theatre - Nov. 7

Aki Remally (guitar, vocals); Fraser Urquhart (keyboards); Tom Wilkinson (bass); Max Popp (drums)

Circa 1990 Gil Scott-Heron played a gig at Riverside, that's the original venue on Melbourne Street. Some of us were there. Some thirty five years later, the American poet/songwriter/activist returned to Newcastle, in spirit only, in the form of Aki Remally. Gosforth Civic Theatre attracted a healthy crowd - how many of them were there (at Riverside) back in the day? Answer: probably not many. Those of us who were there took our seats in nervous anticipation...

Seek and ye shall find ...

An afternoon 'Spilletting' was well spent today on the north side of the Tyne.

Bus to North Shields, into the British Heart Foundation and there among glossy romances and improbable murders was John Swzed's 2002 biography of Miles, So What: The Life of Miles Davis. A book I'd long sought and now it was mine for a mere 50p!

I had the feeling that this was going to be my day and it was!

I jumped onto the Metro and got off one stop later at Tynemouth. Now if you haven't been to the market held on Saturdays and Sundays on Tynemouth Station then you haven't lived. You can buy anything - even WWll memorabilia and lots of books and vinyl.

Jazz Time Aycliffe Radio - Sundays 6.30-8.00pm (repeated Tuesdays 8.00-9.30pm)

There was glitch in the server last Sunday, so this is a repeat of last Sunday's intended broadcast with a couple of tweaks.

https://www.ayclifferadio.co.uk/listen

Playlist 17/11/24 (repeated Tuesday 19/11/24)

RIP: Quincy Jones.

Remembrance: Benny Goodman Orchestra with Peggy Lee, the Andrews Sisters.

Paul Skerrit talks jazz and requests: Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, Matt Monro, Quincy Jones.

Album review: Jake Long – City Swamp (New Soil)

Jake Long (drums, producer); Twm Dylan (electric Bass); Al MacSween (electric organ); Amane Suganami (electric piano); Tamar Osborn (flute, bass clarinet); Artie Zaitz, Shirley Tetteh (guitar);  Tim Doyle (percussion); Binker Golding, Nubya Garcia (tenor saxophone)

Listening to a few things that have come out of that big fancy London recently and looking at the recording dates I’ve come to the conclusion that there is a virtual Aladdin’s cave of music dying to see the light of day. This one was recorded in the olden days (November 2019) and has languished somewhere until it came out in May this year. It’s such a bold, sweeping work that I had trouble believing that it was such a small group performing, (ten rather than a bigger big band).

Nicola Farnon Trio @ the Lit & Phil - Nov. 15

© Patti

Nicola Farnon (bass, vocals); Martin Longhawn (piano); Phil Johnson (drums)

Although it was only lunchtime, the lights in the room were dimmed at the bandleader's request. It was like a late night session in a club, and so was the music. If there were any misgivings about this time warp they soon vanished with Ms. Farnon's captivating smile and, of course, her voice.

Taking a Chance on Love and the trio were flying. The leader singing, scatting and bass fiddling, Longhawn feeling his way around the grand and Johnson laying down the beat. So far so good and if it didn't get any better than this we still wouldn't be asking for our money back!

Faye MacCalman & John Pope @ King's Hall, Newcastle University - Nov. 14

Faye MacCalman (tenor sax, clarinet, voice, electronics); John Pope (double bass)

MacCalman and Pope, two thirds of the highly acclaimed jazz-art-rock trio Archipelago work well together. They seem to have an instinctive sense of where the other is going feeding off each others' improvisational lines and turning them into a logical progression.

MacCalman gets a most appealing sound on tenor sax as well as rescuing the clarinet from the confines of tradland. She also has a pleasing voice that was heard to good effect on Softly as in a Morning Sunrise and her own Midnight Sky Icicles.

R.I.P. John Broddle

I've just received the sad news that  local singer John Broddle died yesterday (Nov. 13).

John, who in his younger days played football for Hull City, was a good crooner often sitting-in with the local trad bands.

He always sang good songs. He sung them well and often not without a sense of humour. I recall him singing Rodgers and Hart's classic Where or When at Cullercoats Crescent Club where the above photo was taken. When it came to the line: The clothes you were wearing you were wearing then he added - you stank!

He was a character - one of the good ones.

Your memories of John are welcomed. Lance 

(Press release) The Glasshouse announces artistic partners to curate and create new music

·   The Unthanks, Corinne Bailey Rae and Maria Włoszczowska begin 3 year    partnerships with The Glasshouse International Centre for Music in Gateshead.

·    Artists will curate and create new work at The Glasshouse for audiences from the North East and beyond.

·  Announcement comes as the venue marks 20 years of the iconic riverside building.

The Glasshouse International Centre for Music has announced its new artistic partnerships, reflecting its reputation as one of the great places where artists and music fans meet.

As the venue prepares to mark 20 years of music in this landmark building, three new Artistic Partners will be working with The Glasshouse and Royal Northern Sinfonia for three a year period.

corto.alto & Daudi Matisko @ Hoochie Coochie - Nov. 13

© Russell

corto.alto: Liam Shortall (trombone, bass guitar, electronics); Mateusz Sobieski (tenor sax); James McKay (guitar); Fergus McCreadie (keyboards); Graham Costello (drums) 

My first visit to Hoochie since the change of ownership and I was pleased to note the same ambience remains with both staff and punters.

I'd had varied reports about the band that is fast becoming a phenomenon, corto.alto, and wanted to see for myself if they were as good as folk said they were or would the Scottish band be beyond my ken? I'm most pleased to say  that what I heard, once my acoustically tuned ears became acclimatised to the loops and samples and electronic tiddly-om-pom-poms, was some great playing.

Roy Cansdale funeral arrangements

Roy’s funeral is to be held at 12.30pm on Friday 29 November at

Eden Valley Crematorium 

Temple Sowerby

Penrith CA10 2AN.

Family and friends are invited to get together afterwards from 2:00pm onward in the Kremer bar at Kendal Rugby Club, Shap Road, Kendal LA9 6NY.                                               

Roy’s family have requested that musicians bring their instruments so that we can give this talented bass player and very nice guy a suitable send-off.   All are welcome to either or both venues, but if you definitely intend to come to the Rugby Club please let me know so that Roy's sons, Jonathan and Charles, can make sure that catering will be plentiful. Steve Andrews

(Press release) Applications are invited for Northern Line, Jazz North’s live touring support programme for northern artists

Northern Line is now open for applications until Wednesday 11th December, 12 noon 

Jazz North, development agency for northern jazz, has been boosting artists’ careers since its inception in 2012. Northern Line is the flagship development programme that takes their live touring careers to the next level. 

This transformational scheme offers northern jazz and jazz-adjacent artists and bands intensive 1:1 career-wide support, industry upskilling and a live touring bursary of up to £3000.

Roy Haynes (March 13, 1925 - November 12, 2024)

Benny Golson, Quincy Jones, Lou Donaldson and now Roy Haynes. It's been a bad year for our senior jazz citizens.

The passing of Roy Haynes brings back a special memory for me. July 10, 1983 at the North Sea Jazz Festival held back then in Den Haag (The Hague), Holland.

On stage were the Freddie Hubbard Festival All Stars, a group that was well named. Hubbard (trumpet and flugel); Lew Tabackin (tenor sax and flute); Joanne Brackeen (piano); Charlie Haden (bass) and Roy Haynes (drums). The music was hard bop with perhaps a look to the future. None of the five were musicians living on past glories but players, as I thought then, at the pinnacle of their careers never dreaming that Roy Haynes would still be with us until yesterday (Nov. 12). 

(Belated) Album review: Ronnie Cuber - Pin Point (Electric Bird)

Ronnie Cuber (baritone sax); David Sanborn (alto sax); George Wadenious (guitar); Rob Mounsey (keys); Will Lee (bass); Steve Gadd (drums); Steve Thornton (perc.); David Matthews (arrangements)

Picked this gem up in a second-hand record shop and it was truly 'a find' -  a day later it still is.

When it comes to baritone players Cuber is up there with best as he proves on this 1986 album. With fellow funky jazz rocker Sanborn alongside him they prove to be an amazing team. Apart from On Green Dolphin Street and David Matthew's Heavy Hang and Two Brothers the other four tracks on this 'preloved' piece of vinyl are all Cuber compositions that seem to fall effortlessly beneath the fingers of all seven. Effortlessly? Try matching the dexterity of the 'siblings' on Two Brothers - it's fast!

Press release: Tomorrow night (Nov. 13) @ Hoochie Coochie - corto.alto

Fast-emerging Scottish composer, producer and multi-instrumentalist corto.alto has been described as a traditional jazz head raised in the age of the internet. The moniker of Glasgow-based Liam Shortall, corto.alto brings a fresh perspective to a heady mix of intuitive improvisation, electronic production, broken beat bounce and bass-heavy dub. His debut album ‘Bad With Names’ out in Oct 2023 was shortlisted for the Mercury Prize 2024. It’s an honest and iconoclastic work. challenging the boundaries of contemporary jazz.

Doors 7:30pm. £14 and Red Stripe only £3 a pint! Lance

7:30 DJ Santa Leticia

8:15 Daudi Matsiko

9:00 corto.alto

10:30 DJ Santa Leticia

Tomasso, Tomasso & Wheatley @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth - Nov. 4

Rico Tomasso (trumpet, vocals); Cia Tomasso (vocals); Martin Wheatley (guitar)

In the early hours of Monday morning (sometime after 3:00am), as the late night jam session drew to a close, the Classic Jazz Party musicians could finally get some shuteye, although three of the musicians would be up and about early to fulfill a lunchtime engagement ten miles up the coast in Blyth.

Yamaha Music School occupies the first floor of an unprepossessing building on Seaforth Street, as the crow (gull, more like) flies, a matter of two hundred metres or so from Blyth Harbour. Once inside, it's striking how well equipped the place is. A Yamaha grand piano, naturally, plus an array of percussion instruments, including marimbas, xylophones and a recently acquired lithophone*. 

The Classic Jazz Party: Sunday evening jam session @ the Village Hotel, North Tyneside - Nov. 3

No time to sleep, the third and final jam session at this year's Classic Jazz Party was about to get underway.

Gone way past eleven o'clock, trumpeter Torstein Kubban assembled the troops and off they went, blowing into the early hours. 

The house band - Kubban, Graham Hughes (trombone), Jean-François Bonnel (reeds), Morten Gunnar Larsen (piano), Martin Wheatley (banjo, guitar), Harry Evans (tuba, string bass), Nicholas D. Ball (drums) - could have played all night, so good are these guys. However, this being a jam session, more than a few hopefuls were looking to get the call. 

The Classic Jazz Party: Sunday evening @ the Village Hotel, North Tyneside - Nov. 3

A long and hugely enjoyable weekend was approaching its end. From Thursday evening's Welcome Concert, a film show, three afternoon sessions, three evening sessions (this Sunday evening session the third of them) and three late night jam sessions, the Village Hotel on North Tyneside reverberated to the sounds of the 'classic jazz' era. 

Musicianship of the highest order, packed houses hanging on every note, there isn't really anything quite like the Classic Jazz Party. A third and final Piano Professor half hour took on a slightly different look when pianist Andrew Oliver was joined by drummer Nicholas D. Ball. A terrific thirty minutes. An Evening in Town transported the full house to London's nightspots of a century ago. The capital's many resident bands of the time entertained revellers looking for a good time. Martin Wheatley (banjo, guitar) presented an overview of the music and the musicians making a living playing in the dance bands and jazz clubs a century ago. 

Preview: John Stowell & Tom Remon (Prohibition Bar - Thursday 14 Nov.)

Tom Remon continues to do sterling work inviting American jazz guitar greats to join him on a tour of the UK. Following one such recent tour with the legendary Sid Jacobs, this week Tom will be touring with none other than fellow guitarist, the highly respected American John Stowell. Their short tour begins tomorrow night at Cooper's in Stockport, Wednesday sees the duo playing Manchester's Carlton Club, on Thursday, John and Tom will be at Prohibition Bar in Newcastle and the tour concludes at Hampstead Jazz Club on Friday evening.

R.I.P. Lou Donaldson (1926-2024)

Another of the greats has left us and with the passing of alto saxophonist Lou Donaldson on Nov. 9 the list of jazz survivors is becoming smaller by the day.

Donaldson was one of the great alto players who emerged from the influence of Charlie Parker to form his own funky/soul style.

It could arguably be said that his Blue Note album Alligator Boogaloo set the foundation for future funk saxists as Donny McCaslin and Kamasi Washington. However, for straight ahead jazz fans such as myself, it was his other Blue Note albums with Clifford Brown, Art Blakey, Horace Silver, Grant Green and Jimmy Smith that overworked the 'play' button.

Lou Donaldson was 98 years old when he died. Rest In Peace. Lance

Richard Wetherall Quartet @ the Moor Club, Heaton Moor, Stockport - Nov. 10

© Jeff Pritchard

Richard Wetherall (keys); Uli Elbracht (guitar); Ed Harrison (bass); Eryl Roberts (drums).

It’s unusual to find Richard playing the main role in a four-piece combo and doing all the announcements. He did them well. Also taking a major part in the proceedings was an old friend of mine who I had not seen for some time. 

I first met Uli Elbracht, originally from Cologne, at the Crown, an old jazz venue under the Stockport viaduct. This  was maybe 20 years ago.He impressed me then and impressed me tonight with his original composition entitled Anything You Like and I liked what he did with it and the Irving Berlin standard How Deep Is The Ocean?. This tune seems to be one that gets played a lot by Stockport musicians, in fact looking at my notes I see Ed Kainyek gave it a thorough workout only last week.

Sunday night @ the Globe: Sh#rp Collective - Nov. 10

© Sheila Herrick

Karen Rann (soprano sax): Mark Squires (piano); Dave Parker (bass); Michael Howard (drums).

 

I was an absentee at Sunday night's Jazz @ the Globe session so I'm unable to review the gig. 

However, judging by the photo that Sheila kindly sent it looks as though it was well-attended. The repertoire, reports Sheila, reflected very much the collective nature of the band with shared announcements and material that ranged from Jelly Roll Morton to Keith Jarrett as well as some originals from within the band.

Thank you Sheila, my sick note is in the post. Lance

Preview: Bud Powell all week on Radio 3!

This week's Composer of the Week features pioneering bebop pianist Bud Powell. In his centenary year (b. 27.9.1924), BBC Radio 3 surveys Powell's contribution to jazz and considers his enduring legacy. Join presenter Kate Molleson and biographer Peter Pullman at four o'clock, Monday to Friday, as they discuss - and listen to - the music of Earl Rudolph 'Bud' Powell. Russell

The Classic Jazz Party: Sunday afternoon @ the Village Hotel, North Tyneside - Nov. 3

The final day of the 2024 CJP, just the nine and a half hours to go, plus, of course, a third and final jam session into the wee small hours of Monday. Mamie Smith's Jazz Hounds featuring Nicolle Rochelle helped clear any fuzzy heads resulting from the previous evening's late night jam session. Parisian Ms Rochelle looked a picture, despite having had little or no sleep! Andy Schumm (cornet) and Lars Frank (reeds) joined a stellar British line-up which included drummer Nick Ball playing a xylophone.

R.I.P. Roy Cansdale

Swing City Trio

Readers may have already heard this sad news, but my good friend, bass player Roy Cansdale, who played for so many years with Roly Veitch and myself as one-third of the Swing City Trio (pictured top left), died on November 5 in hospital in Whitehaven. He was 80 years old, and still playing until  he had a bad fall at the end of September.

Roy came from Lewes and played banjo, guitar, and then string-bass around the Brighton area from the early 1960s until he and his family moved up to Cumbria around 1982. I first met him at the end of the '80s, playing with Bruce Carnaffin's Mainline Jazz, and after that he was my bassist of choice - we played all over in different bands, but particularly in trios and quartets in the Lake District, for the next 35 years or so. Roy loved to play, and recently had taken up the guitar again in order to get more gigs. In fact, he even went back to his first instrument, the ukulele, but being a bassist at heart, he bought a bass uke!

Sinatra @ Capitol (Part two)

A Swingin' Affair. If any album can follow Songs For Swingin' Lovers for all-round perfection then this is the one. Like Swingin' Lovers and Close to You, it was recorded in 1956 - it was a very good year for arrangements by Nelson Riddle on some of the greatest songs ever written and sung by the greatest ever interpreter of them. A well balanced mix of joy and sadness.

Where Are You? I must confess that of the twelve albums I've selected this is the only one I don't physically possess. True I could get it from Amazon for £80 or a local record store for (maybe) less but that would take away the thrill of the chase. 

However, although I don't have the 1957 album, I do have most of the tracks scattered over various compilations so I feel justified. It's a 'weepie' - they usually are when Gordon Jenkins is at the helm. Listen to the string intro to Laura and the subsequent vocal then sigh...

Jazz Time Aycliffe Radio - Sundays 6.30-8.00pm (repeated Tuesdays 8.00-9.30pm)

https://www.ayclifferadio.co.uk/listen

Playlist 10/11/24 (repeated Tuesday 12/11/24)

RIP: Quincy Jones.

Remembrance: Benny Goodman Orchestra with Peggy Lee, the Andrews Sisters.

Paul Skerritt talks jazz and requests: Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, Matt Monro, Quincy Jones.

EFG London Jazz Festival 2024 - Concert reviews wanted.

This year's EFG London Jazz Festival is almost upon us and, for the first time in BSH's 17 years, we don't have anyone eagerly awaiting with notebook and pencil, or the digital equivalent, at the ready to review some of the shows.

 

This is unfortunate as the EFG is the Uk's biggest jazz festival running from Friday Nov. 15 to Sunday Nov. 24 with a whole host of concerts spread over various venues across London. So, if you are planning to attend one or more concerts and would like to submit a review please contact me: lanceliddle@gmail.com. Lance

Pensacola Boulevard @ Dorman's Jazz Club, Middlesbrough - Nov. 7

Django Zazou (trombone/accordion/vocals); Donna Hewitt (clarinet/tenor sax); Josh Bentham (trumpet); Graham Thompson (keys); Ron Smith (bass); Mark Hawkins (drums); Vicky Jackson (vocals).

This recently formed band of familiar local musicians played together for the first time as this month's guest band and provided the audience with a night of fine entertaining jazz mainly from the 1920s to the 1940s era.

The lively T'Aint No Sin sung by Django set the style for the night with solos from

Josh, tonight on trumpet as opposed to his normal tenor or alto sax, Donna on clarinet and Graham on keys. 

The Classic Jazz Party: Saturday evening jam session @ the Village Hotel, North Tyneside - Nov. 2

A mid-morning film screening followed by an afternoon concert schedule and an exhilarating evening session, it had been a long, enjoyable Saturday at the Classic Jazz Party. Time for bed? Don't be silly, it's time for the late night jam session! 

All seats taken, the beer flowing, crisps being munched (oddly, the Pub and Grill stocks Ready Salted, Ready Salted or Ready Salted), at something like 11:15pm Richard Exall mustered the house band and off they/we went. Exall's frontline partners - Malo Mazurié (trumpet) and Alistair Allan (trombone) - helping to share the load before a shedload of hopefuls got the nod.

Album review: the Gerry Mulligan Quartet - Spring in Stockholm, Live at Konserthuset, 1959 (New Land Records)

Gerry Mulligan (baritone sax, piano); Art Farmer (trumpet); Bill Crow (bass); Dave Bailey (drums) + Gene Krupa (spoken introduction)

The third great Gerry Mulligan Quartet. Following on from the groups where Chet Baker or trombonist Bob Brookmeyer shared the frontline with the leader, Art Farmer proves himself to be an equal to his illustrious predecessors.

Most jazz fans will, I guess, use the original recordings with Chet Baker on trumpet as the yardstick for anything that followed. This is understandable. At the time they were new, fresh and original. Still this concert, recorded in Sweden as part of a JATP package touring Europe in 1959, loses nothing by comparision.

Album review: Juliana Day – lull (New Jazz and Improvised Music Recordings)

Juliana Day (recorders, whistles, vocals, live electronics); Manon McCoy (lever harp, vocals, live electronics); Zebedee Budworth (hammer dulcimer)

This follows on, in the NJaIM canon, from two pieces by Paul Taylor that acted as interlude music (Interludes) and music to be played on the Civic Centre Carillon (Permutations) as part of the 2023 Newcastle Festival of Jazz and Improvised Music. This year Juliana Day’s lull provided the interlude music. Taylor’s music still works as a beautiful chilled sound and still gets played here at Sayer Towers. lull is a very different beast; shorn of an aural foreground of chat and the chink of stemware it elbows itself forward. Hearing it in a domestic setting it sounds much more prominent; assertive ambience, if you will.

The Classic Jazz Party: Saturday evening @ the Village Hotel, North Tyneside - Nov. 2

The early evening Piano Professor slot has become a tradition at the Village Hotel. As CJP attendees return from dinner, one of the pianists engaged to perform across the long weekend is afforded a half hour showcase to play a selection of numbers of their choosing. This evening's 'professor', Ulf Johansson Werre, presented a mix of rag to swing numbers.

Josephine Baker singing in French, rather, Nicolle Rochelle singing in French, held a full house spellbound. Living and working in Paris, Rochelle brings something of early twentieth century Paris to the party, that's the Classic Jazz Party. David Boeddinghaus has proven to be the ideal accompanist to Ms Rochelle, here at the Village Hotel and elsewhere, not least the French capital. On this session Rochelle and Boeddinghaus were joined by seven other top class musicians including Rico Tomasso (trumpet), Emma Fisk (violin) and Phil Rutherford (tuba), the latter two hailing from these here parts. Spellbound we were, a non-jazz audience would be similarly captivated. A winning set.   

Press release: Knats announces new single “Tortuga (For Me Mam)”

Today, Newcastle Upon Tyne quintet Knats return with their new single “Tortuga (For Me Mam)”.

STREAM / DOWNLOAD

The track marks their first release for London analogue specialist label Gearbox Records (Elliot Galvin, Cahill//Costello, Village Of the Sun), and comes on the heels of an incendiary year for the band including supporting Geordie Greep (black midi) on a UK tour as well as playing a sold out Jazz Refreshed headliner, supporting Str4ta at a sold Jazz Cafe and performing for the BBC Proms. The band are currently also touring the UK with R&B legend Eddie Chacon as his backing band.

Greg Abate tour to conclude at the Globe on Nov. 24

As the latest DownBeat poll shows Greg Abate is only two places below his rightful top spot in the alto sax section - he's in third place with 980 votes.

Greg, is currently in the UK as part of a multi-date tour that concludes with two gigs in the north east, both on Sunday Nov. 24.

In the afternoon he's at the Queens Hall Library in Hexham and in the evening he's at the Globe in Newcastle. On both sessions he is accompanied by the Dean Stockdale Trio. Details: 

Sun 24: Greg Abate w. Dean Stockdale Trio @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm. Contact.

Sun 24: Greg Abate w. Dean Stockdale Trio @ The Globe. 8:00pm. Contact. Lance

Album review: Visions Jazz Ensemble - Across the Field (Patois Records)

Sam Butler, Nick Recktenwald (trumpets); Jeff Parker (trombone, bass trumpet); Garrett Fasig (tenor sax); Dan Ventura (piano); Jacob Smith (bass); Frances Bassett-Dilley (drums) + Wycliffe Gordon (trombone on tk 7)

A reimagined collection of college fight songs may seem a strange concept for an album although, after their recent presidential election, nothing surprises me when it comes to our American friends.

However, that's bye the bye and the end results of this album by co-leaders Butler and Fasig's Visions Jazz Ensemble works out surprisingly well.

The Classic Jazz Party: Saturday afternoon @ the Village Hotel, North Tyneside - Nov. 2

Beginning at noon, six sets in five hours required stamina. From Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake through to Bennie Moten, the packed house couldn't get enough of the world class performances produced by world class musicians from all four corners of the globe. Pianist Morten Gunnar Larsen and Spats Langham (guitar, banjo, vocals) led the way with a one hour set exploring the post-WWI partnership of composer/lyricist/vocalist Noble Sissle and ragtime composer and pianist Eubie Blake. Their set Just Wild About Noble Sissle & Eubie Blake featured an array of talent, including trumpeters Rico Tomasso and Torstein Kubban, Jean-François Bonnel in the reeds, and Harry Evans doubling on string bass and tuba. 

The Classic Jazz Party: Saturday morning cinema @ the Village Hotel, North Tyneside - Nov. 2

Jammin' the Blues is a priceless black and white short dating from 1944. Its story is complicated and convoluted, in essence, jazz enthusiasts Gjon Mili (the film's director) and Norman Granz battled Warner Bros., resisting the film company's attempts to take the project in a different direction. Here at the Village Hotel, a screening of the film was arranged at short notice, such short notice the event wasn't listed in the CJP's printed programme. 

Existing copies of Jammin' the Blues, online or elsewhere, are of poor quality. Mili and Granz couldn't have imagined that 80 years later an enhanced copy of their Academy-nominated film would be screened in a side room in a hotel on North Tyneside. Dance teacher, film buff and jazz fan, Andy Lewis set about 'upscaling' the film. A laborious, often frustrating, process, Durham based Lewis eventually succeeded in producing a watchable film. That's where the 'upscaling' came in. Thanks to a dogged determination to see it through, Andy is now in a position to present screenings with the bonus of an informative commentary.

Bonfire Night @ The Black Swan - Nov. 5

Stu Collingwood (piano, vocals); Paul Grainger (double bass); Abbie Finn (drums) + Harry Keeble (tenor sax); Kate O'Niell (vocals); Edgar Bell (trumpet); Lara Hopper (trumpet); Dan Potter (drums); Ian Drever (vocals); Olly Styles (tenor sax); Alec Gamble (guitar); Bailey Rudd (drums); Esther Coombes (clarinet, alto sax); Owen Jones (double bass); Hannah ? (vocals);  Darius Oraee (vocals); Jamie Watkins (double bass); Robert Johnson (alto sax); Andrew ? (cornet); Paul Skerritt (vocals); ? (drums); Jack ? (drums)  

Bonfire Night. It could only be a banger, couldn't it? The house trio - Stu Collingwood, Paul Grainger and Abbie Finn - lit the blue touchpaper with a slow-burning Days of Wine and Roses. In a Mellotone with a Collingwood vocal and a Latin feel Night and Day augured well. Eddie Harris' Freedom Dance brought tenor saxophonist Harry Keeble to the floor. Staying on to play Oleo, Keeble's soulmate Abbie Finn sketched out the melody. Impressive.