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Bebop Spoken There

Trevor Mires: ''My mum is a Dean Martin fan: I'm not, so I would grab my skateboard and get out of the house whenever I heard "Everybody Loves Somebody, Sometime." ". (Jazzwise, April 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

17957 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 278 of them this year alone and, so far, 34 this month (April 14).

From This Moment On ...

April 2025.

Fri 18: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 18: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 18: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 18: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 1:00-2:45pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Fri 18: Jason Isaacs @ STACK, Seaburn. 3:30-5:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.

Fri 18: Alexia Gardner @ Fika Gallery, Oldgate, Morpeth NE61 1LT. 7:00pm. Trio (Gardner, Alan Law, Jude Murphy).RESCHEDULED FOR JUNE 13

Fri 18: Sarah Jane Morris & Tony Remy: The Sisterhood @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. CANCELLED! 7:30pm (doors). £25.00.

Sat 19: Jason Isaacs @ STACK, Exchange Sq., Middlesbrough. 1:00-3:00pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 19: Joseph Carville Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 19: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 20: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 20: Salty Dog @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 20: Spilt Milk @ STACK, Exchange Sq., Middlesbrough. 7:00-9:00pm. Free. Nolan Brothers (vocal harmonies).
Sun 20: Tweed River Jazz Band @ The Barrels Ale House, Berwick-upon-Tweed. 7:00pm. Free.
Sun 20: C.A.L.I.E @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 21: Newcastle Record Fair @ Copthorne Hotel, Newcastle. 10:00am. Going in search of the Buddy Bolden cylinder…
Mon 21: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 22: Abbie Finn Trio @ Newcastle House Hotel, Rothbury. 7:30pm. Coquetdale Jazz.

Wed 23: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 23: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 23: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. CANCELLED!

Thu 24: Mary Coughlan @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm. £33.80. Blues, jazz etc.
Thu 24: Darlington Big Band @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm.

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

Thursday, January 21, 2010

John Escreet Project @ The Sage Gateshead - January 20th

John Escreet (piano), Matt Brewer (double bass), Nasheet Waits (drums), Ambrose Akinmusire (trumpet) & David Binney (alto sax & electronics). A couple of years ago Yorkshire lad John Escreet upped sticks and headed for the Big Apple. Would the pianist be able to cut it or even maybe slay some mighty dragons in the jazz hot house that is New York? A nine date European tour with some of America's finest jazz musicians, calling-in at the Sage last night, would, no doubt, provide some answers.
The Northern Rock Foundation Hall was well attended (many of those present being that strange beast - the 'non-jazz' Sage patron never to be seen at a jazz gig elsewhere in the region). Escreet's Project took to the stage to warm applause and played three tunes without pause; delicate, tentative, explorative pieces with new trumpet whizz Ambrose Akinmusire exhibiting a different approach to many of his contemporaries in showing no inclination to knock 'em dead with bedazzling bugling. His preference was to reveal a superlative tone with squeezed half-notes and long, measured intervals.
John Escreet wrote all of the material performed on this tour, some of the compositions so new they went untitled. The first set closed with 'Wayne's World' a number to be found on Escreet's debut CD.
Bass and drums - Matt Brewer and Nasheet Waits (Waits was with Jason Moran at the Sage eighteen months ago) - proved to top class. Still in their twenties, they have, as their fellow Americans would say, 'awesome' technique and then some. How do they assimilate so much at such an early stage in their careers?
Altoist David Binney had been relatively subdued until this the first set closer. He fired-up the Apple Mac to throw some electronics into the mix and then the reedsman showed why he is held in high regard by many musicians and listeners alike.
A good, at times challenging set. Escreet offered more of this difficult music for the second set. The band, sight-readers all, were committed to the task, the leader himself content to be part of the unit, in no way dominating proceedings. His style is his own; sparse and percussive with contemporary classical elements competing with Junior Mance-like bop phrasing. There seems little doubt he will survive in the Big Apple.
The final composition of the evening 'Magic Chemical' typified the performance as a whole - full of twisting, changing time signatures and swing-time passages. The concert is an early contender for Gig of the Year 2010. The new material heard during the tour will be recorded in New York next week for future release. Russell

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