Bebop Spoken There

Dominick "Domo" Branch: ''Most people say drummers can't write, they're just time-keepers only beating on things. But I have a very musical brain.'' (DownBeat February, 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

18317 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 18 years ago. 171 of them this year alone and, so far this month (Feb. 23), 71

From This Moment On ...

February

Tue 24: Finn-Keeble Group @ Newcastle House Hotel, Rothbury. 7:30pm. £11.00.
Tue 24: Liam Oliver & Shayo Oshodi @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Wed 25: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 25: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 25: Geordie Jazz Jam @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. Newcastle University jam session. All welcome.
Wed 25: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 26: Castillo Nuevo Orquesta @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £6.50.
Thu 26: Shalala @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £7.00 adv.
Thu 26: Mick Cantwell Band @ The Harbour View, Roker, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Blues.

Fri 27: Joe Steels Group @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. £8.00. SOLD OUT! A Blue Patch album tour.
Fri 27: Alan Barnes w. Mick Shoulder Trio @ Bishop Auckland Methodist Church. 1:00pm. £9.00. Trio: Rick Laughlin (piano); Mick Shoulder (double bass); Tim Johnston (drums).
Fri 27: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 27: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 27: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 27: Radio Hito + Eddie Prévost, Silvain Schmid & Tom Wheatley @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm (doors). £12.22., £10.10., £8.00.
Fri 27: Giacomo Smith w Strictly Smokin’ Big Band @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm.
Fri 27: Alan Barnes w. Mick Shoulder Trio @ The Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. £15.00. Trio: Rick Laughlin (piano); Mick Shoulder (double bass); Tim Johnston (drums).

Sat 28: Boys of Brass @ STACK, Newcastle. 7:00-9:00pm. Free.
Sat 28: Ray Stubbs R&B Allstars @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. Free.

March

Sun 01: Smokin’ Spitfires @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:45pm. £10.00.
Sun 01: Ian Bosworth Quintet @ Chapel, Middlesbrough. 1:00pm. Free Quintet + guest Dan Johnson (tenor sax).
Sun 01: Pete Tanton’s Chet Set @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00pm. £10.00.
Sun 01: Sax Choir @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 01: Fergus McCreadie & Matt Carmichael @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 3:00-4:30pm.
Sun 01: Ruth Lambert Trio @ Juke Shed, North Shields. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 01: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 01: Littlewood Trio @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £10.00., £8.00. adv., £6.00. 25 & under. Marcus Dawe (piano); Ifedi Osiyemi (bass); Jack Littlewood (drums).

Mon 02: James Birkett & Emma Fisk @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 1:00pm.
Mon 02: Friends of Jazz @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 02: Saltburn Big Band @ Saltburn House Hotel. 7:00-9:00pm. Free.

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

Saturday, September 27, 2025

Album review: Vincent Peirani - Living Being IV: Time Reflections (ACT Music)

Vincent Peirani (accordion); Émile Parisien (soprano sax); Tony Paeleman (piano, keys, Rhodes); Julien Herné (bass); Yoann Serra (drums)

In 2011, a group of friends left Nice independently and ended up in Paris. They subsequently 'adopted' Émile who was also from the south of France. Come 2025 they'd  formed a group that already had three albums to their name using jazz as a medium to embrace a wide musical spectrum incorporating baroque music and teen pop with Africa and the sounds of the Balkans.

Described as "a visionary suite-based meditation on the passage of time shaped during the pandemic's first wave", Living Being IV: Time Reflections turns out to be a pan-genre journey that, as described above, transcends traditional boundaries. Well, to give it its due the recording certainly does all of that and, I hasten to add, not in a fearful way but, like the pandemic, it's contagious and again, not in a fearful way.

Le Cabinet des Énigmes, like all of the first seven tracks, was composed by Peirani. It's a leisurely stroll, thoughtful with the accordion and soprano blending inoffensively.

L.L. Much to my disappointment, despite the title, this wasn't inspired by myself but by guitarist Lionel Loueke. It's a fast workout with soprano sax wailing like a contemporary Bechet. There's lots of tempo changes and some heavy underground sounds before Peirani kills any preconceived ideas you may have on French accordion players.

Physical Attraction, Clessidra, Inner Pulse and Nach e Vlado all display the many differing emotions found in Peirani's compositions and the musicians' individual approaches to what at times must have been quite challenging.

The Bremain Suite doesn't contain any of Peirani's compositions. Instead the three movements are based around: a) Bowie and Queen's Under Pressure; b) Portishead's Glory Box and c) the Beatles' I Want You. Interesting. Parisien's blast on the Lennon & McCartney number is something else.

The closing Phantom Resonanz is dedicated to Céline Foucaut, an emotional piece to someone who died quite young.

All in all, an album that will probably outlive some of the ones that blow your socks off initially then get played into oblivion. Lance 

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