KSTV: Adrian Cox Plays Irving Fazola - Feb. 5

Adrian Cox (clarinet/vocals); Dave Archer (guitar); Daisy George (bass); Jas Kayser (drums).

(Screenshots by Ken Drew)

Irving Fazola was the subject of tonight's musical dissertation and who better to deliver it than another clarinet wizard - Adrian Cox. Over the past few months Adrian has delved into the music of many clarinet legends such as Omer Simeon, Albert Nicholas and Jimmie Noone on his "Sunday Sermons" which are live streamed at 1:00pm every Sunday lunchtime. These are usually done solo or with one other musician so it was a real treat to hear him tonight with three other top players.

Rico Tomasso's No Strings (I'm Fancy Free) Popup Louis - Feb. 5

Rico Tomasso (trumpet, flugelhorn); Brian Kellock (piano)

Rico's guest this evening, Mr Brian Kellock, had his piano tuned especially for the occasion. A good start! Rico said Brian fancied making the session something of a tribute to Fred Astaire and Irving Berlin. Good! A couple of tunes recorded by Louis Armstrong to begin the set - You Can Depend on Me and Georgia on My Mind. And so to Messrs Astaire and Berlin. Top Hat, White Tie and Tails. Nothing better, although Rico didn't dance.

Preview: Wandering Monster - Live streaming from The Globe

(Press release)

This Sunday Jazz North East will be presenting the first in a series of co-promotions working with Jazz Coop at The Globe. We have two concerts to come this month with more to be announced very soon. All events will be live streamed with limited socially distanced tickets available wherever possible.

We hope that you can join us for the Leeds based Quintet Wandering Monster and later in the month our very own John Pope Quintet.

Wandering Monster

Sunday 7th February 2021 at 8:00pm

Live streaming from The Globe Newcastle

Preview: Ivy Benson's Music Matters (Feb. 6)

Tomorrow (Saturday) Radio 3's Music Matters (11:45am) looks at the legacy of Ivy Benson. Forming her all-girl band in 1939, Benson's outfit entertained the troops in WWII and went on to perform innumerable concerts for more than four decades. Down the years more than 300 women played in the band and three of them - singer Joyce Terry, saxophonist Carol Gasser and bassist Claudia Long-Colmer - join Benson biographer Janet Tennant and programme host Tom Service to discuss the career of the trail-blazing musician. Sax Appeal: Ivy Benson and Her All-Girl Band by Janet Tennant is published in hardback by Rowman & Littlefield (ISBN: 9781538133279). 

Russell

Omar live streaming from Ronnie's - Feb. 4

Omar (vocals, keyboards); Allan Simpson (guitar, vocals); Lennox Cameron (keyboards, flute, vocals); Gordon Mulraine (bass); Westley Joseph (drums)

Band MD Lennox Cameron introduced the man, Britain's no.1 neo-soul singer, Omar Lye-Fook. One number after another, few, if any, tunes announced, after two or three Omar saying simply: Warming up! By the time they got to playing Be Thankful and Everybody Loves the Sunshine the band really was warmed up! Alright, were gonna pick the pace up now. Get yer dancin' shoes on! said the man. And onto This is Not a Love Song. Omar said he couldn't believe he wrote There's Nothing Like This all of thirty one years ago. The band played it, tight, in the groove, neo-soul, soul, funk.

KSTV: Will Arnold-Forster Trio w. Jalen N'Gonda - Feb. 4

Will Arnold-Forster (guitar); Will Sach (bass); Jas Kayser (drums) + Jalen N'Gonda (vocals/piano).

(Screenshots by Ken Drew)

Another day, another trio at KSTV. This time with the addition of pianist/singer Jalen N'Gonda.

The trio opened up with Duke's Just A-Sittin' and A-Rockin'. A good solid start. It's one of those Ellington numbers that haven't been overworked. Likewise Paul Chambers' Ease It - a tune entirely new to me and one I'll look forward to hearing again. Written by a bass player, not unsurprisingly, it had a fine solo from Will the Bass with Will the Guitar not far behind but, in the end, it was Jas the Drum that got the cigar.

The excellent first set concluded with a rather delicious waltz - Bill Evans' Some Time Ago.

KSTV: Will Barry & Will Sach - Feb. 3

Will Barry (piano); Will Sach (bass). 

(Screenshots by Ken Drew)

This is the tops! All of the last few KS sessions have been great but this one tops the lot and there were only two playing. Less is more? - You betcha! and, let me tell you, when it's Will Barry and Will Sach the word only is totally out of context

Tadd Dameron book-ended the set, opening with On a Misty Night and wrapping it up with Lady Bird. Both absolutely superb takes. Dameron's compositions rate alongside the best and deserve to be heard more often.

Album review: Joe Lovano/Marilyn Crispell/ Carmen Castaldi - Trio Tapestry: Garden of Expression

Joe Lovano (tenor/soprano sax, tarogato, gongs), Marilyn Crispell (piano), Carmen Castaldi  (percussion)

   

If this album were a flower, it would surely be an orchid; fragile and with great beauty, but with great intensity of emotion and colour.  This is Lovano’s second ECM album of originals with this trio, the first was well received in 2019 (review in BSH here.

 

This format offers a different outlet for Lovano’s expression in a free, textural context rather than his more familiar straight-ahead work, such as with Enrico Rava in 2019 (reviewed here in BSH).  

Paris-based artist Benoît Delbecq releases multimedia-inspired solo piano album The Weight of Light.

I can't hope to match the rhetoric expressed below and in truth I struggled to grasp what it's all about so, apart from saying that it's an interesting concept and that Delbecq has a sensitive approach that at times is quite captivating, I'll let the press release and this short video do the work for me - Lance

(Press release)

Benoît Delbecq (piano)

Internationally acclaimed pianist and composer Benoît Delbecq issues The Weight of Light on Pyroclastic Records, his first solo release in more than a decade. Following intentional exploration and years of extended research, confronting the smooth and the striated within his playing, the Paris-based artist now offers open-eared listeners new, deeply personal connections to the music inspired by movement-centric perspectives on shadow and light.  

Big Band Bash - tonight (Feb. 3)

As Craig Wild prepares to lead his big band at Ronnie Scott's this weekend, it's an opportune time to remind big band fans that Steve Walker's Big Band Bash programme can be heard this evening on Coastal Sound. Steve runs his own big band so he'll know better than anyone the work Craig will be putting in for Sunday's prestigious live stream concert. Join Steve online at eight o'clock - www.coastalsound.co.uk. 

Russell