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Bebop Spoken There

Sullivan Fortner: ''I always judge it by the bass player: If the bass player is happy, it's going to be a good night". (DownBeat, February 2025).

The Things They Say!

This is a good opportunity to say thanks to BSH for their support of the jazz scene in the North East (and beyond) - it's no exaggeration to say that if it wasn't for them many, many fine musicians, bands and projects across a huge cross section of jazz wouldn't be getting reviewed at all, because we're in the "desolate"(!) North. (M & SSBB on F/book 23/12/24)

Postage

17822(and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 143 of them this year alone and, so far, 68 this month (Feb.25).

From This Moment On ...

February 2025

Thu 27: Jamie McCredie @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Fri 28: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free. THIS WEEK ONLY JAMES BIRKETT (guitar)!
Fri 28: Luis Verde Quartet @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. £8.00. SOLD OUT!
Fri 28: Spilt Milk @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 7:00-9:00pm. Free. Nolan Brothers (vocal harmonies).
Fri 28: Castillo Nuevo Orquesta @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £8.00.
Fri 28: Knats @ Lubber Fiend, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £11.50. (inc bf.). Album launch gig. Support act TBC.
Fri 28: Black is the Color of My Voice @ The Gala, Durham. 7:30pm. Apphia Campbell’s one-woman show inspired by the life of Nina Simone, performed by Florence Odumosu.
Fri 28: Great North Big Band Jazz Festival: Musicians Unlimited @ Park View Community Centre, Chester-le-Street. 8:00pm. £10.00. (Weekend ticket £20.00., available on the door). Day 1/3. Musicians Unlimited in concert.
Fri 28: Redwell @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

MARCH 2025

Sat 01: Great North Big Band Jazz Festival @ Park View Community Centre, Chester-le-Street. 11:00am. £15.00. Day 2/3.
Sat 01: TJ Johnson Band @ St Augustine’s Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm. £10.00.
Sat 01: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. £25.00. Tutor: Steve Glendinning. Get your funk on! Enrol at: learning@jazz.coop.
Sat 01: Shunyata Improvisation Group @ The Watch House, Cullercoats. 2:00-3:30pm. Free.
Sat 01: Ray Stubbs R&B All Stars @ Billy Bootleggers. Ouseburn, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free.
Sat 01: Lapwing Jazz Trio @ Three Sheets to the Wind, Alnwick. 5:15pm or 5:45pm (times tbc). Part of the Alnwick Story Festival's music fringe programme: Free.
Sat 01: Struggle Buggy @ The Peacock, Sunderland. 6:00pm. Blues band.
Sat 01: Edison Herbert Trio @ The Vault, Darlington 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 01: Joseph O’Brien: The Ultimate Tribute to Frank Sinatra @ Fire Station, Sunderland. 7:30pm. O’Brien & seven piece band (inc. Wendy Kirkland, Jim Corry & Pat Sprakes).
Sat 01: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00.
Sat 01: Jack & Jay’s Vintage Songbook @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 02: Great North Big Band Jazz Festival @ Park View Community Centre, Chester-le-Street. 11:00am. £10.00. Day 3/3.
Sun 02: Smokin’ Spitfires @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:45pm. £7.50.
Sun 02: Nauta @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00pm. £10.00.
Sun 02: Sax Choir @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free (donations).
Sun 02: Side Café Orkestar @ Café Under the Spire, Derwentwater Road, Gateshead. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 02: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 02: Milne Glendinning Band @ The White Room, Stanley. 6:30pm.
Sun 02: Bella by Barlight @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 02: Tweed River Jazz Band @ Spittal Bowling Club, Berwick. 7:00pm. Free.
Sun 02: Ali Watson Quartet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 03: Milne Glendinning Band @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 1:00pm. £9.00. at the door; £8.20. (inc £0.20 bf) online, in advance.
Mon 03: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 04: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ Victoria & Albert Inn, Seaton Delaval. Tel: 0191 237 3697. 12:30pm. £8.00. ‘Jazz ‘n’ Pancakes’.
Tue 04: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Stu Collingwood, Paul Grainger, Abbie Finn.
Tue 04: Customs House Big Band @ The Masonic Hall, North St., Ferryhill DL17 8HX. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 06: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, Holystone. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 06: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: The Jazz Music of Quincy Jones.
Thu 06: BBC Big Band @ The Hippodrome, Darlington. 7:30pm. £32.00., £25.00., £16.00. ‘The Sound of Cinema’ featuring Emer McPartland (vocals).
Thu 06: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 06: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm. Free. Guests: Dan Johnson (sax); Josh Bentham (sax); Gary Hadfield (keys); Adrian Beadnell (bass). A Tees Hot Club promotion. First Thursday in the month.

Reviewers wanted

Whilst BSH attempts to cover as many gigs, festivals and albums as possible, to make the site even more comprehensive we need more 'boots on the ground' to cover the albums seeking review - a large percentage of which never get heard - report on gigs or just to air your views on anything jazz related. Interested? then please get in touch. Contact details are on the blog. Look forward to hearing from you. Lance

Saturday, August 22, 2009

Noise Abatement

I just wonder if folk out there have similar views to mine or whether I'm now in the 'grumpy old man' category. My gripe is with the sheer extent of music saturation - most of it irritating pap. It seems you can't go into a shop or a store without music blasting out - our local B&Q has music so loud you can't hear yourself think. I complain to the checkout folk but they look at you as if you're crazy.
A lot of TV (especially sport) has loud (louder than the conversation) rock music phased in behind any interviews or stats. Everywhere you go radios seem to be blasting out -- in folk's cars (doof, doof), over gardens, etc. Jobbing builders play radios you can hear streets away. On our local minibus service the drivers have radios going. Recently I experienced that plus a youngster playing an MP3 in the rear of the bus. Unwanted bitonal noise in stereo!!
Most of it is pop/rock with irritating DJs who love the sound of their own drivelling voices. I hate it and moan on about it a lot (which annoys my wife!). I just don't want any noise inflicted upon me that is not of my choosing.
It seems that the perpetrators (shops, TV) conclude this is actually what their customers want and maybe it is. It seems that folk these days just have to have 'noise' around them. But what damage is all this music saturation doing to live music promotion? I mean if you were a store employee who has just done an 8 hour shift with endless background music droning on, would you want to go to a music concert that evening? I don't know the answer and wonder what other music/jazz lovers think about it.
Roly

6 comments :

Lance said...

I remember a Bunny Berigan story. Bunny would go into a bar and, if there was a juke box, he would stuff the coin slot with chewing gum - Wrigley's doublemint - making the machine inoperable.
He said, "There's no reason in the world why some son-of-a-bitch with a nickel should impose his tastes on a roomful of people."
Unfortunately, you can't do that in B and Q!

Steve Andrews said...

Agreed! Extraneous "muzak" played too loud has ruined what little enjoyment remained in watching tele. The worst thing to me is muzak in Pubs. I can't abide it. I go to the pub for (i) a drink (or three) (ii) conversation (hopefully intelligent) without having to bawl into someone's cupped ear (iii) time to sit quietly away from family etc.. If I don't want to talk, I take a book or a 'paper.
Another major problem for most musicians that I know is that if the musical wallpaper is too quiet to hear properly you spend your time trying to identify what's going on, while your partner/wife/acquaintance gets progressively more irritated at your inability to maintain a conversation.
I expect it will spread even further, though - look out for Radio 2-style soft rock behind the sermon (played just too loud) the next time you go to church!

Liz said...

I totally agree Roly. When we go into a café/shop/bar and this dreadful stuff is churning out, I don't mess about, I just go right up to the manager & ask for it to be turned right down. I know I get black looks , but who cares? someone has to make a stand. I used to ask for extractors to be switched on in the smoking days too. I am not a person who "puts up & shuts up" it goes against all I stand for.
Liz

Hil said...

I vote with my feet. Was in a shop in Whitley Bay last week when I realized I just couldn't stand another minute of the awful music. Put the basket down and retreated fast.

Anonymous said...

During the wonderful "Ashes" test matches, whenever Sky Sports showed re-runs of some great batting/bowling moments they had to play beat music in the background!
Also, has anyone noticed that in a TV series like "Lewis" or other 'tec series, whenever the detective takes a surreptitious photograph with a modern camera, the resulting photograph is always in black and white? Also, whenever the cast switches on their 50" flat screen TV the sound comes across like my original transistor radio, circa 1955.
V. Meldrew.

Keith said...

Johnathon Meades in 'Off Kilter' described silence as a modern day luxury and bemoaned constant exposure to 'Drivelling pop noise and burger stench'
Keith, Dunfermline

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