Jazz Time Aycliffe Radio - Sundays 6.30-8.00pm (repeated Tuesdays 8.00-9.30pm).

https://www.ayclifferadio.co.uk/listen.

Playlist 09/08/26 (repeated Tuesday 11/08/26)

Seasonal: Tommy Dorsey, Oscar Peterson.

Requests from Darlington New Orleans Jazz Club: Fats Domino, Gene Krupa, King Oliver/Louis Armstrong, Mose Allison, Ken Colyer.

RIP: Abdullah Ibrahim.

Memories: Django/Benny Carter, Duke Ellington, Pat Metheny, Jimmy Witherspoon & Wilbur de Paris.

New Release: Omar Sosa.

Requests: Dexter Gordon, Herbie Hancock.

What’s on in the NE: John Settle.

Peace: Tim Boniface. 

A classic performance

 

Featuring: Jonah Jones (tpt); Tyree Glenn (tmb); Ike Quebec (ten); Ram Ramirez (pno);Tiny Grimes (gtr); Oscar Pettiford (bass); J C Heard (dms). Fine jazz and swing on a 12 inch Blue Note 78 rpm record recorded in 1944. Lance

Misha Gray’s Prehistoric Jazz Quintet – The Reunion @ Frederiks, Liverpool - August 5

Misha Gray (piano); Kyran Matthews (tenor sax);  Nick Walters  (trumpet); Grant Russell  (double bass); Johnny Hunter (drums)

After seven long years this quintet reunited for a much awaited return to live performance. They had produced three fine albums all of which are available to stream. Origin of the Species (2016); Where the Wild Things Are (2017) , Seven Wonders of the Ancient World (2018)

The musicians involved with the three albums were the same as per the line-up for this concert save that Grant Russell replaced Hugo Harrison. All musicians are based in the North West save for Nick Walters who travelled from his base in London. It was my first time seeing Nick who is a bandleader and composer as well as a cracking trumpeter. All of the other musicians are well known to me. Grant is also a bandleader and composer. Johnny is one of the UK’s top drummers. It was the second time I have seen Kyran in concert in seven days and I see Misha at least once every couple of weeks if not more gigging on Merseyside, Manchester, North Wales and sometimes further afield.

Tony Bennett Night - tonite (Friday), BBC Four

Three years ago Tony Bennett died a couple of weeks shy of his 97th birthday. This week, Monday 3rd August to be exact, Anthony Dominick Benedetto would have turned 100. In recognition of this milestone, this evening the BBC is devoting five hours and thirty five minutes to one of the Big Apple's own. 

Eight programmes (all eight have been shown before), beginning at 9:45pm and running through to 3:20am, are well worth watching and/or recording:

Late Night Chicago Radio with Denny Farrell (Aug. 6 -12)

?: Love For Sale.

Sarah Vaughan: How Long Has This Been Going on?.

Bill Evans: Here's That Rainy Day.

Harry Edison: Mizz Kitty's Blues.

Stan Getz: Desafinado.

Namecheck re Ralph Hutchinson (37.58 mins in).

Joe Venuti/Zoot Sims: Someday Sweetheart. 

Chet Baker: Let's Get Lost.

Maxine Sullivan: Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams.

Maynard Ferguson: Autumn Leaves.

LISTEN 24/7.

Also Denny's Original Big Band Showcase.

Album Review: Antonio Adolfo – Balaios (AAM Music)

Antonio Adolfo (piano, composer/co-composer, producer, arranger); Lula Galvao (electric guitar, acoustic guitar (track2)); Jorge Helder (acoustic bass); Rafael Barata (drums. Percussion (all tracks, except tracks 6 & 7)); Jesse Sadoc (trumpet, flugelhorn (track2)); Danilo Sinna (alto sax); Marcelo Martins (tenor sax, alto flute (track 2), C flute (track 8)); Rafael Rocha (trombone); Andre Siqueira (percussion (except tracks 6 and 7))

Over a six-decade career, Brazilian pianist, composer and arranger, Antonio Adolfo has given the world a literal amazon of vibrant music bubbling up from his culture and tradition. His canon over two dozen recorded albums demonstrates his brilliant musical vision and the poignancy of the robust material he presents. With Balaios (pronounced bah-lie-ohs and described as a traditional Brazilian wicker basket which carried food and other things on one’s head) Adolfo dives into his vault and shares nine composed or co-composed selections – all superbly revived and recently recorded with his outstanding Brazilian sidekicks. The album provides an engaging retrospective and also an introspective dimension of this outstanding artist.   

Sonny speaks

A few Sonny Rollins' quotes from the Bebop Spoken There archive...

 Sonny Rollins: “I don't feel I'm as great as they think I am.” – (DownBeat November 28, 1956)
-----

Sonny Rollins: "These guys who only play their own tunes, they can cover up a lot of things, but if you play the melody of Stardust, everybody can tell whether you're doing it right or not." - (DownBeat August 26, 1965).
----- 

Sonny Rollins: "I never actually drove a cab. A job was offered to me, but I never consummated the act, if I can put it that way" - Sonny Rollins. (DownBeat - August 26, 1965).

----- 

Sonny Rollins: "I work very hard. I wear out suits playing." - (DownBeat May 29, 1969.)

----- 
Sonny Rollins: "I know DownBeat's been pretty hard on me recently, which I suppose is a kind of honor. Maybe now that Miles is dead, they figure they have me to kick around." – (DownBeat December 1992).
----- 
Sonny Rollins: “This is my philosophy of playing. It could be 'Mary Had a Little Lamb.' The development of themes, this is the way that I play, I don't care what it is, it's what you do with it” – (DownBeat January 1995).
----- 
Sonny Rollins: "I'm fortunate and happy to say that Zoot Sims was an individual that I knew personally in my life" – (DownBeat July 1999).
----- 

Album review: Mali Sheard - Hayfever (ECN)

Mali Sheard (alto/soprano sax, compositions); Keira Chakraborty (flute); Kyle Osborne (piano 1, 2 ,4); Luke McCarthy (drums); George Balmont (elec. bass); + Huw Warren (piano 3, 5, 6, 7); Rob Luft (guitar 1, 2, 4)

A debut album from London-based saxist, composer Sheard who grasps the moment with both hands. Seven original compositions that reflects the landscapes and experiences that have shaped her musical voice - don't they all? However, Sheard's Hayfever does it better than most.

Recorded with a group of musicians she'd performed alongside at both the Royal Academy of Music and as a part of Tomorrow's Warriors, plus guest appearances by Huw Warren and Rob Luft, the end result is well worth the effort.

Album review: PRIME Play Standards (Laundry Room Music)

Kevin MacKenzie (guitar); Peter Johnstone (organ); Doug Hough (drums)

Back in the 1950s/1960s there seemed to be a wealth of organ trios - Jimmy Smith, Brother Jack McDuff, Jimmy McGriff, Billy Preston and a million more. In America you got the impression that every corner bar and juke joint had one. In the UK it began with a trickle, the late Mike Carr, Brian Auger Trinity, Alan Haven and today, in Newcastle, Gerry Richardson.

Over the border in Scotland, PRIME, led by guitarist Kevin MacKenzie, continue the tradition doing what it says on the tin and playing standards. Unlike their forebears the emphasis is on the standards. More melodic and less blues/funk/soul orientated although none of those elements are totally missing - how could they be with a tried and trusty Hammond B3 in the mix?

Kyran Matthews Quintet @ Swan and Chequers, Sandbach - August 2

© Richard Morris

Kyran Matthews (tenor sax); Jamie Taylor (guitar); David Austin Grey (piano); Josh Cavanagh-Brierley (double bass); Luke Flowers (drums)

My first visit to the Swan and Chequers, Sandbach a modern, recently refurbished bar in the historic market town of Sandbach, Cheshire. Housed in a late nineteenth century corn exchange, it features an open plan interior, a large outdoor courtyard beer garden with a dog friendly policy. It hosts regular events such as live music including jazz and community gatherings.

This free concert featured five of the UK’s very best jazz musicians. Led by stellar sax player and composer Kyran Matthews who I have seen play on previous occasions as indeed I had with all the other musicians save for David Austin Grey the renowned pianist from Birmingham who I was seeing for the first time. I have seen Jamie play in various ensembles to include with Dean Stockdale and Trio JDM. Luke Flowers is a longstanding member of the Cinematic Orchestra since 2000 and has worked with artists such as Corinne Bailey Rae, Roots Manuva and Matthew Halsall. I rarely go more than a few weeks without seeing Josh Cavanagh-Brierley so busy is he mainly on the North West Jazz scene and elsewhere. He is a composer too with a new album out on August 7 titled The  Mild Mannered and the Mortal.