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Bebop Spoken There

John McLaughlin: '' A Love Supreme coincided with my search for meaning in life". (DownBeat, March 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

17873 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 194 of them this year alone and, so far, 41 this month (March 14).

From This Moment On ...

MARCH 2025.

Tue 18: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Laurence Harrison, Paul Grainger, Tim Johnston.
Tue 18: Phil Bancroft’s Beautiful Storm @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £13.20 & £11.00.. A JNE-Gem Arts co-promotion.

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: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: Nicknames.
Thu 20: Terri Green Experience @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £15.90.
Thu 20: Lindsay Hannon Trio @ The Harbour View, Roker, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Hannon’s ‘Tom Waits for No Man’ set.
Thu 20: Ray Stubbs R&B All Stars @ Mill Tavern, Hebburn. 8:30pm. Free.

Fri 21: Paul Skerritt @ 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: Giles Strong Quartet @ 1719, Hendon, Sunderland. 7:30pm. CANCELLED!
Fri 21: New Century Ragtime Orchestra @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Featuring special guest Martin Litton (piano).

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: Swamp Stomp String Band @ The White Room, Stanley. 7:45pm.
Sat 22: Rivkala @ 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: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 23: Mississippi MacDonald @ Georgian Theatre, Stockton. 3:00pm. Blues.
Sun 23: Tweed River Jazz Band @ Barrels Ale House, Berwick. 7:00pm. Free.
Sun 23: The Great Deceivers @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Tom Atkinson & co play King Crimson (1969-1974). Atkinson (guitar); Josh Bentham (alto sax); Stu Dawson (bass); Jeff Armstrong (drums).

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

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, February 26, 2025

Album review: Richard Baratta - Looking Back (Savant Records)

Richard Baratta (drums); Bill O'Connell (piano, arr.); Vincent Herring (alto sax, flute); Paul Bollenback (guitar); Michael Goetz (bass); Paul Rossman (percussion) + Caroll Scott (vocal on tk 5)

Looking back is a common approach amongst the mainstream core of jazz musicians. Of course  some look back further than others, often going as far back as the days when it all began. Others draw their repertoire from the 1930s, '40s and '50s - the years that spawned those GASbook classics that began life on Broadway or in Hollywood.

Although Richard Baratta has connections with the silver screen, like so many of his contemporaries in the jazz world of today, Baratta's retrovision only goes as far back as the pop and rock songs of the 1960s. That's okay, some good songs emerged as witness the ten tracks here.

James Brown's I Feel Good opens the album with a Latinish feel to it. Herring's alto soaring above the compulsive rhythm culminating with Baratta's break.

Mention Purple Haze and Jimi Hendrix springs to mind. Bill O'Connell's guitar solo points it in a different direction where Herring again excels over an uptempo swing.

Blowing in the Wind has appeared in many guises since Bob Dylan unleashed it on the world. Somewhere along the way Stan Getz brought it to the jazz table where Bill O'Connell picked it up and transformed it into the minor masterpiece it is here.

Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds, one of two Lennon and McCartney compositions, is another fine arrangement. It swings like a carnival in Brazil. The two Beatles may not have intended it to be played as such but it is to their credit that they provided O'Connell with the tools to sculpt a work of art.

Feeling Good, features Scott's deep throaty voice that sits well alongside the alto, guitar and piano solos.

California Dreamin', inspired by the flute solo on the original hit by the Mamaa and Papas, Herring does the fluting effectively and there's some fine west coast guitar and, of course, Baratta and Rossman taking it even further south.

Whole Lotta Love, from the Led Zep squad Page, Plant, Jones and Bonham, has a whole lot of drummin' with the others hovering in and out.

Hey Jude, the second Beatles tune, is surprisingly delightful. It's more subtle than the original. It also has a band vocal - you know the one lots of na na na nana nanas. The song, as we all know, began in Liverpool although more recently the Toon Army seem to have adopted it. As they are at Anfield tonight it will be interesting to hear if they are still singing after 90 minutes!

Otis Redding's Respect swings like crazy with Herring in full flight and the others breathing down his neck.

You Can't Always Get What You Want by those troubadours of rock and roll - Jagger and Richard - brings the album to a close. It's been one rollercoaster ride that proves that good songs didn't end with Rodgers and Hammerstein and nor did jazz die with John Coltrane. Check it out, you won't be disappointed. Lance

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