Goodbye Margaret Aitchison

Said goodbye to Margaret Aitchison today at the Crem in Tynemouth. I'd known Margaret ever since I began working in that music store in Newcastle alongside her late husband, trumpet player and Ellington authority, Hughie.

After her death on Sept. 29 I knew that, whatever government restrictions were in place, I'd be there. If I hadn't I'd have hung my head in shame out of respect for Hughie and his family.

Sadly, apart from myself, Irene McBriarty and the Vieux Carré Jazzmen I didn't recognise any other local jazzers. Of course, as we were all masked, there could have been some wondering why I wasn't there!

Bugger!

Newcastle's Prohibition Bar closes its doors (again) with a parting shot (see photo)! 

Russell

Film review: Billie - Nov. 3

Tonight Newcastle's Everyman Cinema screened an exclusive preview of James Erskine's documentary film Billie. Writer Linda Lipnack Kuehl taped some two hundred hours worth of interviews with characters who knew Billie Holiday, some knowing the legendary performer better than others. Erskine's portrait wasn't an easy watch, both emotionally and in terms of the relentless use of grainy images. 

National Youth Jazz Collective

Ferg Kilsby, who in the early days of the first lockdown brightened up our Thursday evenings with sessions on the patio of the family des res (dad on bass guitar and brother Dom on drums), played trumpet at a Summer School this year with the National Youth Jazz Collective, which normally runs physically in Derbyshire but, like so much else this year, was held online!

CD Review: Ada Bird Wolfe and Jamieson Trotter – He & Me

Ada Bird Wolfe (vocals, some lyrics); Jamieson Trotter (piano)

Apart from writing novels, poetry and newspaper articles, Ms Wolfe has always been a jazz enthusiast, singing at open mic nights, headlining her own gigs at jazz venues around Los Angeles before finally settling at the Gardenia, a Hollywood nightclub, where she first heard Trotter.

Trotter, a first-call accompanist for singers, studied with bassist Charlie Haden and has played on a number of film soundtracks. He has performed with the Temptations, and his piano work is featured on albums with vocalists Carol Bach Y Rita and Mark Winkler. His tastes are wide-ranging, from hardcore jazz to country music.

SaveLive - US live music venues to be acquired by a chain?

It seems that 90% of US music venues are set to close, due to the lockdown. In response, someone has raised money to buy up the failing concerns, creating an organisation called SaveLive, which will take a 51% stake in each.

This must be a big gamble, for any investor.

However, what seems likely, in practice, is common ownership may mean the venues all become part of a national chain. This may create a national US circuit for music acts - effectively, one chain controlling nearly all live music. On the one hand, this could mean some acts find it much easier to get a series of gigs; on the other hand, music could become a lot more controlled, restricted, filtered, commodified, making it much harder for anything new and different to be heard. Musicians may also have to deal with a monopoly. (Anyone remember TOBA? Pre-WWII, it forced down black musicians' wages - Tough On Black Acts.)

Leeds recording of Fergus McCreadie Trio concert

(Press release)

Fergus McCreadie played his first live gig since February with his trio in front of an enthusiastic and distanced audience at JazzLeeds on Thursday 29 October. 

The concert at Seven Arts was captured by Leeds photographer and musician Jon Chamberlain. It was a very special and emotional night, made even more poignant because of the latest national lockdown which has followed directly. The lockdown will sadly bring the JazzLeeds run of live concerts (36 since July!) to an end, at least for now. 

Michael Lamb Quintet @ The Globe - Live & Live Stream

Michael Lamb (trumpet); Sue Ferris (alto/tenor sax); Stu Collingwood (keys); Mick Shoulder (bass); Tom Chapman (drums).

(Colour photos by Russell/BW by Lance)

It wasn't perfect - thank goodness! If it had been perfect it wouldn't have been jazz it would have been a smoothie or a take on an album that had been welded together over x number of months/years!

This was take one and no time for a second chance - they didn't need it although the opening number did have a degree of uncertainty but hey! this was their first gig in recent times as a band - it was good. It couldn't get any better could it?

You're darn tootin' it could! (which B movie western did I pick that one up from?)

Adrian Cox's Sunday Service Bechet Special from Toulouse Lautrec, London - Nov. 1

Adrian Cox (clarinet, vocals); Joe Webb (piano) 

Hot! Hot! Hot! These guys are great live and this afternoon's live stream came a close second to the 'real thing'. Cox, recently returned from a trip to Scandinavia, once again made good use of Toulouse Lautrec's piano with Joe Webb rattling the 88s. From Milenburg Joys to Si Tu Vois, Ma Mère, Cox proved, if proof were needed, that he is one of the clarinet greats of his generation. 

We've been here before...

Music venues must now cease live performance at 10:00pm on Wednesday. Yes, it's lockdown time all over again...or is it? Not quite, schools, colleges and universities remain open, it's as if the virus gives a wide birth to such institutions. So, from Thursday you can burn an effigy of Guy Fawkes or AN Other (the choice is yours) but if you want to hear some jazz, it's back to the virtual world of the live stream.