Alan Glen Trio/Take it to the Bridge @ The Chillingham. April 3, 2013

Alan Glen (keyboards), John Pope (double bass) & Paul Wight (drums)

(Review by Russell)

Pianist Alan Glen last played at the Chillingham in August of last year. It was good to have him back working once again with bassist John Pope and versatile drummer Paul Wight. Glen’s set list draws on the standards - It’s You or No One, How Deep Is the Ocean?, You Don’t Know What Love Is, Beautiful Love -  yet he finds something new to say every time. 

Early Bird Specials @ The Millstone 1pm. Today

Specials include: Cumberland Feast A full 8oz traditional Cumberland sausage curl, fried egg, chips and peas. Served with your own gravy boat  £5.65

Irish Stew & Dumpings  A wholesome and hearty dish of pieces of tender, slow-cooked mutton with carrots, swede, onion and pearl barley in a rich gravy with dumplings. All served in a giant Yorkshire pudding with mashed potato £6.00 

The Vieux Carré Jazzmen + Brian Chester, trombone (pictured) Tasty, well-seasoned performers served with a generous portion of classic jazz. Free.   

Brian Bennett.

Thursday 4 April @The Millstone, Haddricks Mill Road, South Gosforth NE3 1QL.

Peter Gilligan Trio @ The Star

Peter Gilligan (pno); Mike Clarke (bs); Mark Robertson (dms) + Ian Forbes (dms); John Rowland (ten).

(Review by Lance.)

Musically this was faultless. Gilligan, depping for guitarist Steve Glendinning, made sure there wasn't a note on the keyboard untouched. He plays 'em all!

ACV on Tour.

Andy Champion writes on LondonJazz about ACV's gig at London's The Vortex tomorrow night (April 4).

They're at Dempsey's in Cardiff tonight.

North East fans can catch them at The Sage, Gateshead on Saturday although tickets are going fast..

Lance..
Photo by Robert Laing.

A Lyric from Gordon Phillips

Gordon Phillips, who recently shared the stage with Gabrielle mit drie in a jazz/poetry lunchtime session at the Central Library, Newcastle, has kindly sent me this lyric. Gordon has also written the music which, he tells me, has been arranged in 12/8 time by pianist Paul Buck. Well we haven't got the music but the words read well - Lance.

LONDON TOWN, LONDON DREAMS

If you can be someone a way of being someone,

Well, there’s nowhere better than London town;

For this is where the chance is and you’ll get the glances

As you go out on the town.

-----

Jazz - Sounds of the 20th Century by James Birkett @ The Sage, Gateshead

(Review by Lance)

Jazz - Sounds of the 20th Century  sums up the 20th Century and the current one too! "But", I hear you cry, "Jazz is dead - it's a minority music - like Gregorian chants."

CD Review: Lianne Carroll - Ballads.

Lianne Carroll – vocal & piano; Mark Edwards – piano; Mark Jaimes – guitar; Roger Carey – bass; Kirk Whalum – saxophone; Gwilym Simcock – piano; James McMillan – trumpet; Prague Philharmonic Orchestra.

(Review by Debra Milne.)

Over recent years, Lianne Carroll has established herself as one of the leading British jazz vocalists, and in the latest album ‘Ballads’, she draws on her extensive experience as a singer, pianist and composer, to place a distinctive interpretation on a collection of beautiful songs. The arrangements, some by LA-based Chris Walden, are sparse and understated, enhancing the effect of Carroll’s vocal delivery. There are intimate duets with guitar and piano, small ensembles featuring different soloists, and the selective use of orchestration, and this variety sustains attention when all the songs are slow in tempo.

Preview Gateshead International Jazz Festival 2013 Sunday Evening

Sunday 7 April. Hall One. 7:30 pm

Ruby Turner and the Brand New Heavies

(Preview by Russell)

The Gateshead International Jazz Festival is nothing if not broad church. The Sage reaches out to all, beyond the hard-core jazz audience.

Preview Gateshead International Jazz Festival 2013. Jazz from the North

Sunday 7 April. Northern Rock Foundation Hall. 3:00 pm

Jazz from the North. 

(Preview by Russell)

Another helping of the very best of jazz from the north. One of these showcase sessions could be scheduled every day from now until next year’s festival and there would be so many great musicians still to be heard. 

Preview Gateshead International Jazz Festival 2013. Jazz Words

Sunday 7 April. Hall Two. 2:00 pm

Jazz Words: Larkin’s Jazz and Christine Tobin’s Sailing to Byzantium

(Preview by Russell)

Trumpeter Ian Smith was commissioned by BBC Radio 3’s The Verb to select texts from Philip Larkin’s poetry and essays on the subject of jazz and present them with music for a radio broadcast. Hall Two at the Sage, set out cabaret style (tables, hopefully candle-lit), will recreate the event with live jazz and readings. Smith has assembled a top-flight band - including Alyn Shipton (double bass), Colin Good (piano) and Dave Gelly (tenor saxophone and clarinet) - which just happens to have within its ranks one or two of the best broadcast voices you could wish to hear. This set is shot-through with class.