Bebop Spoken There

Ludovic Beier (Django Festival Allstars): ''Manouche means 'free man,' and gypsies have been travelers since they migrated west from India to Europe.'' (DownBeat March, 2026)

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

18402 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 18 years ago. 266 of them this year alone and, so far this month (Mar. 31 ), 76

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

From This Moment On

April

Sun 05: Smokin’ Spitfires @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:45pm. £10.00.
Sun 05: Ian Bosworth Quintet @ Chapel, Middlesbrough. 1:00pm. Free Quintet + guest Neil Brodie (trumpet).
Sun 05: Mark Williams & Tom Remon @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00pm. £10.00.
Sun 05: Sax Choir @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 05: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 05: Jazzmain @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £14.00., £12.00., £7.00.

Mon 06: Friends of Jazz @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 06: Saltburn Big Band @ Saltburn House Hotel. 7:00-9:00pm. Free.

Tue 07: Customs House Big Band @ The Masonic Hall, Ferryhill. 7:30pm. Free.
Tue 07: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Ben Lawrence (piano); Paul Grainger (double bass); Abbie Finn (drums).

Wed 08: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 08: Jam session @ The Tannery, Hexham. 7:00pm. Free.
Wed 08: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 08: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 08: Zoë Gilby & Johnny Hunter @ Elder Beer, Heaton, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £12.00. JNE.

Thu 09: Tom Remon + Laurence Harrisson @ Newcastle Arts Centre. 7:30pm. Free.
Thu 09: Indigo Jazz Voices @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:45pm. £5.00.
Thu 09: Michael Littlefield @ The Harbour View, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Blues.
Thu 09: Jeremy McMurray’s Pocket Jazz Orchestra w. Dan Johnson @ Arc, Stockton. 8:00pm. £15.00. inc. bf.

Fri 10: John Rowland Trio @ Jesmond Library, Newcastle. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 10: Joe Steels: Celebrating Wes Montgomery @ Bishop Auckland Methodist Church. 1:00pm. £9.00. Joe Steels, Dean Stockdale, Mick Shoulder, Abbie Finn.
Fri 10: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 10: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 10: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 10: Gambling Janes @ Warkworth Memorial Hall. 7:30pm. £10.00.
Fri 10: Jake Leg Jug Band @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm.
Fri 10: Steve White Trio @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £20.00. + bf. Soul Drum (Acid Jazz Records) album tour.

Sat 11: Paul Skerritt Big Band @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm. £26.80.

Monday, April 28, 2025

Album review: Champian Fulton & Klas Lindquist - At Home (Turtle Bay Records)

Champian Fulton (piano, vocals); Klas Lindquist (clarinet, alto sax)

It all began at a dinner party thrown by Scott Asen, the founder of Turtle Bay Records after Fulton and Lindquist played a duo set. Asen was impressed and declared at one point that he wanted to record them.

He did, recording the album in the very room that the party took place in.

The resulting ten tracks are delightful.

After the intimacy of The Very Thought of You with Fulton's silky vocal and Lindquist's dextrous clarinet choruses comes an instrumental - an original by both participants titled Don't Do That to Me. Fulton plays piano as if she was born on the corner of 12th St. & Vine (if there ever had been such a junction in Kansas City!) and Lindquist wails on alto sounding more like a Blue Devil than a Scandinavian saxophonist.

You Can Depend on Me has more swinging alto underpinned by some juicy chords from Fulton who hits a Garner mode during her solo and rephrases the lyric beautifully.

Tea For Two complete with my favourite verse and a sensuality that bypassed Doris Day in her version back in 1948. Great alto solo, mighty fine piano, and a vocal to die for.

Serenade in Blue features Lindquist on clarinet. Always good to hear the 'gobbo' away from the trad format and closer, albeit not slavishly, to the Shaw/Goodman modus operandi.

Someday You'll be Sorry has vocal, piano and alto delivering the goods before Blossom Dearie's I Was Looking For You raises an already high bar even higher. Lindquist's alto again sustains the mood captured by Fulton. 

Bésame Mucho shines the spotlight on Lindquist's alto and despite the melancholy minor key it sparkles.

For My Monday Date he reverts to clarinet with Fulton pushing him to the limit ending up with an exchange of fours. How much more meaningful fours become when there's no drummer involved.

P.S. I Love You is one of those songs that send chills up and down my spine and Fulton's vocal enhances the feeling. That Johnny Mercer certainly knew how to write songs and Gordon Jenkins' melody gives both Fulton and Lindquist a seam to mine and hit paydirt. An absolute 40 carat gem! Available May 2. Lance

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