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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

Friday, November 22, 2024

Press release: Xhosa Cole announces "On A Modern Genius" out Jan 10th and single "Trinkle Tinkle"

Today, Xhosa Cole, winner of BBC Young Musician Jazz Musician Of The Year, Parliamentary Jazz Award, Jazz FM’s Breakthrough Act, and the Peter Whittingham Jazz Award shares details of his third album On A Modern Genius (Vol. 1) a live tribute to the works of Thelonious Monk. 

Along with this announcement Xhosa also shares the first single of the album "Trinkle-Tinkle" ahead of a headline set at the London Jazz Festival at Kings Place this Sunday.

Following his much-admired debut K(no)w Them, K(no)w Us (2021), and intriguing concept recording Ibeji (2022) - featuring Cole in duets with seven percussionists from across the African diaspora, this new release captures Cole with his quartet during an extensive spring tour of the UK in 2023 playing the music of Monk. “We made the record off the back of a 38-date UK tour,” Cole explains. “It’s a snapshot from back-to-back dates in the middle of the tour playing this music - we were in a van trekking up and down the UK – St. Ives to Devon to Wales to Morecambe to Newcastle to Louth to Sheffield…!”

Thelonious Monk has always had a special place in Xhosa’s heart, who first connected with his music through saxophonist Sonny Rollins. “My route to connecting to him was through Rollins, both geniuses of modern music in their own rights. Masters of melodies, riffing and spontaneity, they are kings in a dynasty of improvised music. Monk has a strong legacy of being an influential mentor and teacher to countless young aspiring jazz musicians - Coltrane, Jackie McLean, Billy Higgins, Barry Harris and Johnny Griffin. This legacy lived on through his compositions. Through his recordings and study of his writing, I've learnt so much about the infrastructure that holds melody and groove together, and through his improvising, I'm learning about the intersection of authenticity, identity and expression.”

Xhosa’s affinity with Monk also partly stems from the Caribbean influence on his music - Monk grew up in San Juan Hill in New York with a big Caribbean population. His 1959 track, "Played Twice" (featured on K(no)w Them, K(no)w Us) was Cole’s first exploration in interpreting Monk, which inspired the tour and recording. “Monk’s writing and playing has been interpreted in so many ways - this is our first documentation of a long and ongoing dive into his compositional world. We pushed and stretched and found new ways into and through this intricate music. I love discovering the wild and varied versions of these classics that have been recorded, and am proud to add our stamp to this ever-expanding celebration.”

Opening with the iconic melody Trinkle-Tinkle, the album also features American tap dancer Liberty Styles on four tracks. “My early roots are in African dance and so when tap dancer Liberty Styles and I saw that she was dancing what I was hearing (and they saw that I was playing what they were feeling) we knew this was a musical connection to life. This album is a celebration of friendship, joy and improvisation - it's a snapshot into the love that you can only find on the road with friends.”

Listen to "Trinkle-Trinkle" HERE

The seven tracks of On A Modern Genuis (Vol.1) weave together nine Monk tunes, with the album closing with Duke Ellington’s Come Sunday, featuring celebrated vocalist Heidi Vogel singing on a piece she and Cole played together at the BBC Proms. “Ellington has such a strong musical resonance with Monk,” notes Cole. “I wanted to honour these tunes that have given so much to this vast family tree that is music, and to celebrate their composer, a person who epitomised grace.”

Xhosa has developed his unique mixed-heritage, black British, queer voice in the jazz tradition. His musical roots are in collaboration and improvisation - the origins traced back to his beginning playing Tenor Saxophone at the community music school run by Andy Hamilton in Ladywood, Birmingham - which has opened the doors to work alongside an expansive pool of creative forces from different traditions, cultures, backgrounds and practices

In the three years since the release of his debut album K(no)w Them, K(no)w Us on Stoney Lane Records, Cole’s career has launched into the contemporary classical and free jazz communities of Europe and beyond, earning widespread praise on both sides of the Atlantic, working with internationally acclaimed artists including Hamid Drake, Elaine Mitchener, Jason Yarde, Majid Bekkas, Pat Thomas and Mark Sanders. He has numerous headline appearances from Ronnie Scott's to London Jazz Fest, also supporting jazz legend Cécile McLorin Salvant at Cadogan Hall for the London Jazz Festival. As a composer, he has been commissioned by the BBC, Aldeburgh Festival, Flatpack Film Festival and Symphony Hall Birmingham, and also appeared twice at the BBC Proms.

On A Modern Genius (Vol.1) will be released on 10th January 2025 on CD and all digital platforms with Stoney Lane Records.

Pre-order On A Modern Genius (Vol. 1) HERE

Connect with Xhosa Cole: Facebook

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