Bebop Spoken There

Joe Alterman: ''All I wanted to do growing up was to sound like Erroll Garner playing "Poor Butterfly." I thought that was the coolest sound I'd ever heard.'' (DownBeat November, 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

19,061 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 18 years ago. 925 of them this year alone and, so far this month (Oct. 30) 104.

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

October.

Sat 31: Saltburn Big Band + Durham Alumni Big Band @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm.
Sat 31: East Coast Swing Band @ Cramlington Village Club, Park View, Cramlington NE23 6QJ. 7:30pm. £10.00. (from venue).

November

Sun 01: Smokin’ Spitfires @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:45pm. £10.00.
Sun 01: Ian Bosworth Quintet @ Chapel, Middlesbrough. 1:00pm. Free. Quintet w. special guest Donna Hewitt (tenor sax, clarinet)
Sun 01: Sax Choir @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 01: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 01: Sarah Heneghan Trio @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 02: Friends of Jazz @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 02: Saltburn Big Band @ Saltburn House Hotel. 7:00-9:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).

Tue 03: Alan Law @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 2:00pm. Free. Alan Law (piano) w. guest tba
Tue 03: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Stu Collingwood, Paul Grainger, Abbie Finn.
Tue 03: Customs House Big Band @ The Masonic Hall, Ferryhill. 7:30pm. Free.

Wed 04: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 04: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 04: An Evening of Erykah Badu @ Holy GrAle, Durham. 7:30pm. £3.00.; £2.50. A Durham University Jazz Society event.
Wed 04: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 05: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ The Millstone, Mill Rise, South Gosforth, Newcastle. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 05: Hejira - Celebrating Joni Mitchell @ Alnwick Playhouse. 7:30pm.
Thu 05: Cut Capers @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 7:00pm (doors).
Thu 05: Northern Reaches @ Newcastle Arts Centre. 7:30pm. Free (donations). Pete Tanton, Joe Steels, Laurence Blackadder, John Hirst.
Thu 05: Fergus McCreadie @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm.

Fri 06: Mike Durham’s International Classic Jazz Party @ Village Hotel, West Allotment. 12 noon. Day 1/3.
Fri 06: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 06: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 06: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 06: Jazz Night: Bridget Metcalfe @ Saltburn House Hotel. From 6:00pm. Tickets: £40.00 (inc. a two-course meal & glass of Prosecco). Tel: 01287 658977.

Tuesday, July 15, 2025

Album review: Allan Harris - the Poetry of Jazz (Blue Llama Records)

Allan Harris (vocals, guitar); John Di Martino (piano); Jay White (bass); Sylvia Guenca (drums); Alan Grubner (violin)

When it comes to interpreting a lyric, whether by speech or by song or by a combination of both, few can do it better than Brooklyn born, Harlem based singer, songwriter, storyteller and guitarist  Allan Harris.

This, his 17th album, is the second album Harris has recorded live at Blue Llama in Ann Arbor and, like the previous one*, it is an absolute gem!

It's an ambitious project incorporating, amongst others, Shakespeare Sonnets, poetry by Dylan Thomas, Langston Hughes, Maya Angelou and Mary Oliver plus standards by Johnny Mercer, Henry Mancini and  Antônio Carlos Jobim along with Harris' own compositions.

This is not a compilation for eggheads although, in less capable hands, it could be and there is much meaningful content. Particularly in the way that Harris, apart from the first two tracks seamlessly joins (and overlaps) historic poetry with his own originals and GASbook classics.

Harris captures the depth of the originals and, via his smooth, slightly 'King Cole-ish' voice, extracts the joy and the pain, the agony and the ecstasy of the wordsmith's intent.

It's all done over a super sensitive jazz combo with some fine fiddling from Grubner. 

Comparision-wise it's got the edge on a summer's day! Lance

 
Groovy People (tribute to Lou Rawls); Weary Blues (Langston Hughes); Midnight Sun (Hampton, Burke, Mercer)/Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? (Shakespeare - Sonnet 18); Autumn (Harris)/Wild Geese (Mary Oliver); Charade (Mancini, Mercer)/When in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes (Shakespeare - Sonnet 29); Shallow Man (Harris)/ Do not go Gentle into That Good Night (Dylan Thomas); Desafinado (Jobim)/Let me not to the marriage of two minds admit impediments ( Shakespeare - Sonnet 116); When I'm Born Again (Harris)/She Walks in Beauty (Lord Byron); Sea Line Woman (trad.)/Still I Rise (Angelou); Secret Moments (Harris)/How do I Love Thee? (Elizabeth Barrett Browning); Time Just Slips Away (Harris)/The Road Not Taken (Robert Frost)
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