Press release: Soulful sax and trumpet player wanted

We’re a newly-formed Soul band.

We have our first gig booked for 16th of March. We're a group of experienced and talented musicians 39 -70 who are desperately seeking a trumpeter and a sax player to provide tight horn parts in songs such as Superstition and I Wish, Soul Man, Uptown Funk, Rescue Me, Mustang Sally etc. 

We're intending to play 1-2 gigs per month once up and running (some of us are in other bands) and we rehearse at The Forum in Darlo, usually on a Wednesday 12.00-2.30pm.

We would love to hear from anyone interested. My phone number is 07704 507611.

Many thanks. Lin

R.I.P. Dave Murphy

Scott Adair has sent me the sad news that north east bass legend Dave Murphy passed away on January 29. The funeral will be on Tuesday February 27, 10:30am at Whitley Bay Crematorium. 

In the photo Dave is on bass, Scott is on drums and the great Eddie Thompson on  piano.  The photo was taken at what was then the  Opus 3 Club in Darlington.

Scott is preparing an obituary of Dave which will be posted later. Lance

Alan Barnes with the Dean Stockdale Trio @ Opus 4 Jazz Club - Feb. 2

Alan Barnes (alto sax, baritone sax, clarinet); Dean Stockdale (piano); Mick Shoulder (double bass); Abbie Finn (drums)

It's an annual occasion. When Alan Barnes is in town, up go the 'house full' signs. The Traveller's Rest is your typical roadhouse pub gig...an upstairs room, the publican content to leave it to the promoter to get on with an admission-at-the door arrangement. If Opus 4 Jazz Club had opted to sell tickets in advance they would have been snapped up weeks before Mr B renewed acquaintance with the Dean Stockdale Trio and his sizeable Darlington audience.

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

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

Aycliffe Radio is now available on DAB in County Durham & Darlington Area.

Playlist 04/02/24. (Repeated Tuesday 06/2/24)

Request: Jo Ann Kelly.

Requests from the Durham Gala gig with Nicola Farnon:  Nicola Farnon, Miles Davis, Thad Jones/Mel Lewis, Ella/Count Basie, Nicola Farnon.

Requests:: Herbie Hancock, MJQ.

(Suggestions from Francis Spufford’s latest novel) King Oliver/Louis Armstrong.

Birthday Memories:: Stan Getz, Sonny Stitt.

Tony Eales Bands we may never have heard of: High Brass.

Ramsey Lewis.

 

Album review: Abbie Finn Trio - Stotties for Three

Abbie Finn (drums); Harry Keeble (tenor sax); Paul Grainger (double bass)

Stotties for Three received a fanfare launch at Soho's Pizza Express. Southerners were present (many of them), a smattering of northerners, too. Stotties for three were on the menu (ie all eight tracks from the Abbie Finn Trio's new album). The album's compositions, all of which were recorded last year at Blank Studios in Newcastle, are by bandleader Finn.

Film review: Blue Giant @ The Tyneside Cinema, Newcastle - Feb. 1

Dai Miyamoto, a former high school basketball player, discovers jazz, saxophone in particular, and begins to practice day and night, determined to become an all-time great. Director Yuzuru Tachikawa's 2023 anime runs to two hours, the storyline simple, the animation stunning. Joining an aspiring trio, calling themselves 'Jass', Miyamoto is determined to play Tokyo's So Blue jazz club (think NYC's Blue Note or Ronnie Scott's). 

The opening scene sees Miyamoto practicing beneath a bridge (echoes of Sonny Rollins' sabbatical on Williamsburg Bridge), cue Impressions! Other than Sonny Stitt's Low Flame the soundtrack is Hiromi Uehara's.

The soundtrack's principal musicians are: Hiromi Uehara (piano), Tomoaki Baba (tenor sax), Shun Ishiwaka (drums). At 120 minutes, Blue Giant is one for the die-hard jazz fan and/or the film buff. Russell        

R.I.P. Gordon Marshall

In a week already saddened with personal grief comes the news that trumpet player Gordon Marshall passed away today.

Gordon, lead trumpet with the Strictly Smokin' Big Band, graced the presence of many local big bands. His presence in the brass section of any band ensured there was no lack of power.

I remember many evenings we spent with the late Brian Fisher when the three of us would sit, sup a glass of vino and listen to records by Ellington, Kenton, Basie and many others.

I'm sure that listening to Cat Anderson, Maynard Ferguson  and the brothers Candoli helped him on his way to becoming the in demand player he became.

REST IN PEACE. Lance

Miles and Miles (Radio 4 Extra)

This evening (Thursday) and again tomorrow night there is Miles and Miles on BBC Radio 4 Extra. The first of two programmes focusing on Miles Davis - Great Lives (first broadcast in April 2018) - can be heard at 9:00pm this evening. Musician Adrian Utley makes the case for a 'Great Life'. Tomorrow, at eight o'clock, it's Blue Canvas: The Artist Miles Davis (first broadcast in May 2016). New York artist Jo Gelbard, companion to Davis in his later years, encouraged the trumpeter to turn his hand to painting. Tune in to hear about Miles Davis, visual artist. Russell   

Challenging Jazz

As a long-term viewer of BBC2’s University Challenge, I’m amazed by the students’ ability to correctly answer highly obscure questions that I often find difficult to understand, let alone respond to.  That said, certain subjects seem to baffle many teams.  It’s dangerous to generalise, but questions on UK geography often result in surprising answers; for example, on a recent Christmas alumni show, guesses for the name of the town in the middle of a map of central Scotland were Edinburgh and Glasgow – obviously, none of the contestants knew much about Stirling.  

Another topic that invokes puzzled looks is ... jazz.

Trefor Owen Quartet @ the Railway, Stockport - Jan. 30

(© Jeff Pritchard)

Trefor Owen (guitar); Andy Hulme (guitar); Ed Harrison (bass); Paul Smith (drums).

I didn’t expect many jazz fans to turn up tonight on what was a very cold January evening but seeing as I skipped the Sunday show due to the usual transport problems plus not feeling all that well, I thought, on this occasion, I'd better make it down to Stockport to see Trefor. He often uses Liam Byrne on tenor sax but this time he bought along  Paul Smith, a fine drummer who has often appeared at this venue sometimes with guitarist Derrick Harris. I’ve seen Andy Hulme who often works with Trefor many times and they attract various members of the guitar-playing community wherever they play.