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Bebop Spoken There

Steve Coleman: ''If you don't keep learning, your mind slows down. Use it or lose it''. (DownBeat, January 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

17733 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 53 of them this year alone and, so far, 53 this month (Jan. 20).

From This Moment On ...

January 2025

Wed 22: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 22: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 22: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 22: Pasadena Roof Orchestra @ Fire Station, Sunderland. 7:30pm.

Thu 23: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, Holystone. 1:00pm. Free. Fortnightly.
Thu 23: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: Obituaries 2024.
Thu 23: Jason Isaacs @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 4:30-6:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Thu 23: Pedal Point Trio @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Fri 24: Zoë Gilby Quartet @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 24: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 24: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 24: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 24: Creakin’ Bones & the Sunday Dinners @ Lindisfarne Social Club, Wallsend. 9:00pm. Admission: TBC. Jazz, blues , jump jive, rock ‘n’ roll.

Sat 25: Boys of Brass @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 3:30-5:30pm. Free.
Sat 25: New '58 Jazz Collective @ Jackson's Wharf, Hartlepool. 6:30pm (doors). Free. A Burns' Night event. Jazz, swing, funk, soul, blues etc.
Sat 25: Edison Herbert Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 25: Red Kites Jazz @ Parish Hall, St Barnabas’ Church, Rowlands Gill. 7:30pm. £10.00. BYOB (tea & coffee available), raffle. Proceeds to St Barnabas’ Church. Performance feat. Shayo (vocals).
Sat 25: Jack & Jay’s Songbook @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 26: Musicians Unlimited @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 26: Graham Hardy Eclectic Quartet @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm.
Sun 26: Ruth Lambert Trio @ The Juke Shed, Union Quay, North Shields. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 26: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 26: Jazz Jam Sandwich! @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 26: Tweed River Jazz Band @ Barrels Ale House, Berwick-upon-Tweed. 7:30pm. Free.
Sun 26: Gratkowski, Tramontana, Beresford, Affifi @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £12.00. JNE.
Sun 26: Jazz Jam @ Fabio’s, Saddler St., Durham. 8:00pm. Free. A Durham University Jazz Society promotion. All welcome.

Mon 27: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 28: ???

Wed 29: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 29: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 29: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).

Thu 30: Matters Unknown (aka Jonathan Enser, Nubiyan Twist) + support TBA @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 8:00pm (7:00pm doors). £12.22 (gig & food); £9:04 (gig only).
Thu 30: Soznak @ The Mill Tavern, Hebburn. 8:00pm. Free.
Thu 30: Struggle Buggy @ Harbour View, Roker, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Rhythm & blues.

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

Wednesday, November 06, 2024

Guy Davis @ the Witham, Barnard Castle, - Nov. 2

I've often said there's no such thing as a crap gig by a black American blues artist and this was no exception, however...

In West Yorkshire in a previous life I would regularly cross the border to Colne and Burnley for their annual blues festivals and - time and time again - there'd be a buzz around the latest bar-room rocker and his guitar skills, only to have any recollection of them obliterated within seconds of the headline act taking to the stage. 

Guy Davis is one of those journeyman bluesmen who straddles country blues from the beginning of the last century through to Chicago's electric blues of the fifties. This meant he could turn up with a small band or a selection of string instruments and accessories. I'd have preferred a band of course, but the latter was fine also: two acoustic guitars (a six string and a twelve string), plus a harmonica and some heavy foot-tapping providing rhythm. And crucially no banjo, which features prolifically - though tastefully - on most of his albums.

The majority of the two sets were Davis originals, mostly from the album he was selling, but with a number of covers by Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf, Blind Lemon Jefferson and Leadbelly and his obvious reverence for Leadbelly would prove significant. In his excellent book History of the Blues, Francis Davis (no relation) claims 'I know of no definition that answers, once and for all, whether Leadbelly was a folk singer or a bluesman.' Leadbelly was enormously influential on Woody Guthrie and some readers will have guessed where I'm going with this and herein lies the 'however.'

While I've no doubt much of the Barnard Castle audience will have relished the inclusion of a Bob Dylan cover, my own inclination is always how many black American blues artists did he not feature to include a song by one of the real darlings of the white, middle-class, middle-aged, square, straight media? I quite like Bob Dylan, (and I've never met a Bob Dylan fan who's bought as many soul albums as I've bought by their man), but that's never enough for his hordes of worshippers for whom such a statement is blasphemous and may well cancel you because of it, but he needs neither the money nor the exposure thank you very much. 

I've no doubt Davis is a huge admirer of Bob Dylan but, if the first cover version was disappointing, the second was annoying and a third would have - regrettably - forced a speedy exit in protest, something he's claimed to do throughout his career. For the second consecutive Saturday night, I found myself at a concert ostensibly of black American music only to find the artist deliberately usurped by white media (what Zappa called radio music) icons.   

He did a heavy number for Palestine following a lengthy apology to anybody who may take offence by it. He probably should have left it alone. Covid clearly also had - and continues to have - a big impact on him and he played a song for those who didn't make it. By way of lightening things up, somebody behind me asked for Kokomo Man and we were fortunate he was able to recall all the hilarious and risque lyrics.

So something of a rollercoaster ride. These artists are never boring, they always have great stories to share, they're naturally funny in amongst their life-weary wisdom, and they're fundamentally honest and decent. They're generally also extremely competent musicians, fine songwriters and soulful singers. Sadly, they're also becoming increasingly less frequent visitors to our shores and our area. Steve T           

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