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Asked why he drank milk with his whisky, Eddie 'Lockjaw' Davis explained it was because he had an ulcer. This gem courtesy of Adrian Tilbrook.

McCoy Tyner Trio Plus Joe Lovano At The Sage - A Gig Of Two Halves

This was never going to be the kickass gig that last week's Jason Moran/Monk concert was and nobody thought that it would be. The trio, McCoy Tyner (pno), Gerald Cannon (bs) and Eric Gravatt (dms), augmented by Joe Lovano on tenor, performed ably but by comparision, the opener, Monk's "Ruby My Dear," was but a pale maiden.

Tyner's playing suffered, through no fault of his own. from a slight muddiness of sound and Lovano appeared to be going through the motions; albeit very good motions.

The general consensus in the bar at the end of the first set was 'good show but no cigar'.

The second set was a whole different ballgame. The pianist kicked off with an unaccompanied version of "I Should Care" that was worlds away from what had gone before. Dazzling runs à la Tatum interspersed with some of tomorrow's chords made this an item of contemporary beauty. At last, we knew the game was afoot; if the phrase hadn't been used so many times before I'd have said that this was 'The Real McCoy'.

Lovano, wearing a fedora hat, Gravatt and Cannon joined the fray and a storming set followed with Joe more than once nodding in the direction of his Coltranic ancestory. Eric Gravatt's drum solos were particularly dextrous whilst Gerald Cannon provided a solid root and his solos were characterised by a roundness of tone tempered with touches of rare humour. The evening concluded with "In A Mellotone" and a deserved standing ovation.

I guess they got the cigar after all.

Main Street Jazzmen at the Iona Club

Hebburn may not be the jazz capital of the north but currently, on Wednesday evenings at the Iona Club on Station Road, it is staking a small claim. In a club more used to the sounds of ceilidh (try spelling that after a Guinness or three) the Main Street Jazzmen's brand of dixieland is currently going down remarkably well. Nothing too demanding just good, solid swinging jazz that kept your feet tapping. Herbie Hudson blew fine trombone as well as soloing on harmonica and vocals. Alan Smith on trumpet and flugel played with a big fat sound whilst Derek Fleck's alto and clarinet danced delightfully above. On piano, Malcolm Armstrong was in barrelhouse mode, ably supported by Ollie on drums and Alan Rudd on bass. On vocals, Olive gave out with a few 'flapper' songs as well as nice versions of "Sentimental Journey' and 'June Night'.
All in all well worth the visit.

The drinks are cheap too!

Lance

PS: Didn't catch Ollie and Olive's surnames.

The Hipster Says ...

"I am a man of integrity. No room for compromise. Just like Johann Sebastian, whatshisname?" "Bach." "Woof, woof."

Stamps For Swinging Lovers

Received a letter from a friend of mine who lives in New Jersey. She enclosed some commerative stamps re the tenth anniversary of his death on 14 May 1998.

I'm not a stamp collector but I'll certainly keep these.

Ten years - tempus fugits faster than a Buddy Rich drum solo!

Great memories and what a legacy.

Lance

Nothing Like A Dame

I have to admit it took me a long time to fall in love with Dame Cleo; about 50 years to be precise. Maybe longer. I enjoyed hearing her with the Johnny Dankworth Seven back in the days of Sunday night concerts at Newcastle Odeon as well as at later gigs with the Dankworth big band. It was when Johnny became John (John conveniently forgetting that, as Johnny, he once played with Freddy Mirfield's Garbage Men) that Cleo suddenly became an upmarket personality and her voice took on all those irritating mannerisms. Sarah Vaughan too had a lot of mannerisms but somehow her's only irritated occasionally.

There were moments when I forgave her; her "Shakespeare And All That Jazz" recorded in 1964 was, probably still is, the defining mix of jazz and the written/spoken word. Something few would dare to deny. However, one swallow doesn't make a supper and I heard little else to enjoy.

As recently as this merry month of May, with a hey and a ho and a hey nonny no I opted to drive to Darlington to catch Scott Hamilton and Steve Fishwick rather than go up the road to the Sage and listen to Lord and Lady Dankworth of Wavendon.

Then I heard "Quality Time".

A good friend and contributor to this site raved about Cleo singing "Quality Time". I shrugged it off; I knew "Quality Time" as a clever Dave Frishberg song that Susannah McCorkle had recorded but couldn't quite equate it with the sentiments Liz was attributing to it so, as I had picked up Cleo's CD of same somewhere along the way, I decided to listen to it - don't ask me why I hadn't done so before; built in conceptions guess.

Let me tell you this is one helluva CD. Gone are the mannerisms to be replaced by a feeling of sensuality akin to a Julie London or a Jeri Southern. "Quality Time", the song, is not the Frishberg fol de rol but a beatutiful piece written by tenor saxist Duncan Lamont and drummer, the late Allan Ganley. Apart from the originals (Cleo and Sir John also penned some) there are several well chosen standards and, in particular, a goose pimpling version of "Wee Small Hours" that gets within sight of the Sinatra version.

It was recorded in 2002 which would make her 75 at the time...

Ruth Lambert Quintet at the Side Café

Duffy may have been duffing them at the 'Evolution Festival' but upstream, at The Side Café, the Ruth Lambert Quintet were laying down some quality time.

I can't recall ever hearing Frank Loesser's "Never Will I Marry", from the 1960 show, 'Greenwillow', sung at a jazz gig; it's not an easy song to sing straight let alone to stamp your authority on it the way Ruth did. Skilfully singing the opening chorus, accompanied only by the appropriately named Andy Champion on bass, it was pure magic.

"Black Coffee" was as smoky as it gets with an atmospheric solo from Graeme Wilson on tenor.

Space precludes listing all the other delights; Paul Donnelly's guitar work, Tim Johnston's explosive breaks and, of course, Andy Champion who rubber stamped Roly Veitch's comments on bass players in a previous post.

Oh yes, one other moment to remember; "A Nightingale Sang In Berkeley Square". The last time I heard this number live was by Mel Tormé and George Shearing 25 years ago. Ruth's version, despite some uncertainty in places, was nevertheless in the same ballpark.

The North East Jazz Collective is very lucky to have two of the country's best young jazz singers on their rota.

Jazz Legacy

Hi Lance,

I've just spent about 2 hours looking through your photos. Thank you for giving me the chance to wrap myself up in the atmosphere of your lifelong hunt for music and imagary; those photos leave quite a legacy for you. Decades of one off nights and an ever changing scene but still a continuous flow of jazz. My experience of talented jazz musicians often shows their offstage flaws but with a pursuit for purity in music that compensates for a lack of it in life.

Hope you continue to record many a great gig in the future.

Mark

RIP Brian Fisher

It was with great sadness that I read in the paper tonight of the death, on 12 May 2008, of Brian Fisher Hartness aged 86. Brian was respected in jazz circles as a bass player, pianist, critic and dedicated enthusiast. He played with many bands including the Joe Young band but was perhaps best known as bass player with the late piano legend, Peter Jacobson during their residency at the Five Bridges Hotel in Gateshead. Although he moved to Hampshire 14 years ago, he kept in contact by telephone with his many friends in the north-east and never stopped listening to jazz of all persuasions.

The funeral is at Southampton on 27 May 2008

Goodbye Brian we loved you.

Lance and Marlene

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"I've come to the conclusion that the bass player is the most important guy in the band! A good bass can make ordinary players play their best. A poor bass can make good players seem ordinary. " - Roly Veitch.