CD Review: Casey Golden Trio - Miniature

Casey Golden (pno); Bill Williams (bs); Ed Rodriguez (dms/perc)

(Review by Lance).

I enthused over the trio's last recording - Outliers - and I anticipated doing the same here. Well I do but, it doesn't quite grab me the way Outliers did. Don't get me wrong, consisting entirely of a single piece in 4 parts, Miniatures, an EP, is better than most contemporary piano albums I've listened to this year and, probably, if I'd heard this album first, I might be saying the same about Outliers!

NARC Festival @ Cluny 2 - July 2.

JNE's contribution to Jazz Stage at the Cluny on Saturday comprised (clockwise): Beck, Saw and Collins; Not Now Charlie; Taupe and Zoe Gilby.
(Photos courtesy of Ken Drew)

Brass: Durham International Festival

(Preview by Russell)

Brass: Durham International Festival or in common parlance Durham International Brass Festival. Whatever it chooses to call itself, the 2016 event is one week away. Beginning a week today - Monday 11 July - community centres, museums, parks, a bridge, a school, a brewery and a boathouse share a common purpose…to transform County Durham into an all-singing-all-dancing capital of brass!

Durham City’s tourist trap cobbled streets become ‘Streets of Brass’ over the weekend of Saturday 16th/Sunday 17th July with a brass band of one sort or another popping up outside a pub, on Framwellgate Bridge, the Market Place, and sundry other locations from eleven in the morning to late afternoon. During the week Murton, Newton Aycliffe, Spennymoor and Stanley are just four of several locations across County Durham to host a brass band. 

Mouth of the Tyne Festival This Coming Weekend (Thursday - Sunday)

Jazz Interest:

Sat 09 Jazz Stage 

12 noon Colin Aitchison & the CCC, 
1:35pm Vieux Carré Jazzmen,

3:10pm Ruth Lambert Trio, 4:45 Rendezvous Jazz.

    

Sun 10 Jazz Stage 

12 noon Big Red & the Grinners, 
1:35pm Levee Ramblers New Orleans Jazz Band, 
3:10pm Maine Street Jazzmen, 
4:45pm Miss Mary & the Mr Rights.

      

Sun 10 
Lulu, Lemar, Nick Pride & the Pimptones, Shields ao 
Tynemouth Priory, Pier Road, Tynemouth NE30 4BZ. Doors 11:45am Tickets from £17.00.  Nick Pride & the Pimptones on stage at 2:00pm. 

            

            Full Program. 

CD Review: Jasper Høiby – Fellow Creatures

Jasper Høiby (double bass), Mark Lockheart (saxophones), Laura Jurd (trumpet & flugelhorn), Will Barry (piano) & Corrie Dick (drums)

(Review by Russell)

Jasper Høiby has been dreaming of forming, and writing for, a larger ensemble. Known for his trio Phronesis with Ivo Neame and Anton Eger, Copenhagen-born Høiby finally presents to the listening public Fellow Creatures. Bassist, composer and arranger Høiby has recruited four familiar faces on the British contemporary jazz scene; reedsman Mark Lockheart, trumpeter Laura Jurd, pianist Will Barry and drummer Corrie Dick. Høiby is keen to explore the option of writing for two melody instruments and in working with an established name (Lockheart) and a rising star (Jurd) this new CD on Edition Records is likely to have wide appeal.

Steve Glendinning Quartet @ The Globe - July 2.

Steve Glendinning (gtr); Chris Jelly (vbs); Mike Clarke (bs gtr); Mark Robertson (dms)

(Review by Lance)

I've got mixed emotions about this gig. Thrilled and proud to have been there, sad for those who missed it, whilst, at the same time, greeting those absentees with a fully justified "na-na-na-na-na"!

You thought you'd heard good vibes earlier this week? Man, you ain't heard nuttin' yet! Chris Jelly is to vibes playing what Mark Cavendish is to sprinting!

John Martin’s Hidden Notes @ The Jazz Café. July 1

John Martin (tenor saxophone), Ralph Wyld (vibraphone), Rob Updegraff (guitar), Tim Fairhall (double bass) & Tim Giles (drums)

(Review by Russell/Photos courtesy of Mike Tilley)

From Wylam to Wales, for the most part the punters were elsewhere. Wylam Brewery’s new parkland palace of musical and bacchanalian delight was open for business and the Principality’s Welsh Wizards held the goggle-box fan of the beautiful game in its thrall.

Newcastle’s Jazz Café dismissed such alternative attractions in favour of pursuing John Martin’s Hidden Notes.

Tonight @ The Globe (July 2)

Tonight at the Globe Jazz Bar, HQ of the Jazz Coop, sees top north-east guitarist Steve Glendinning teaming up with ace vibraphonist Chris Jelly. Both are members of the area's top funk band King Bee but, for tonight, they are returning to their jazz roots, with reverberations of Lionel Hampton, Gary Burton, George Benson, Pat Metheny. The band will be performing repertoire from the guitar/vibes legends, interesting takes on some of the standard jazz repertoire, as well as original compositions and the odd funker to get those feet tapping. As well as Steve and Chris, Mike Clarke is on bass and Mark Robertson is on drums. This is a no-brainer, where else could you be but The Globe (11 Railway St., Newcastle NE4 7AD) tonight? 

Lance.

CD Review: Corey Kendrick Trio - Rootless

Corey Kendrick (pno); Joe Vasquez (bs); Nick Bracewell (dms).
(Review by Lance).

The CDs continue to pour through the mailbox - I know I could opt for downloads but downloads get overlooked and forgotten, unlike a CD where, as in this case, you have the artist staring at you from the artwork, daring you to comment. "Give it less than 5 stars, Bud, and you are 6 foot under!"

No such tactics needed with this one.

CD Review: Tori Freestone - El Barranco

(Press Release)

Reaching into the heart of improvised music has become second nature to British tenor saxophonist Tori Freestone and perennial colleagues Dave Manington (double bass) and Tim Giles (drums) on their latest Whirlwind release El Barranco. Following their warmly-received 2014 release In the Chop House and subsequent live appearances, the trio have relished the opportunity to reconvene in the studio to record this collection of intuitive explorations (often first takes) of predominantly original compositions, including a pair of London Jazz Festival commissions.