Bebop Spoken There

Art Blakey (to Terence Blanchard): ''You ain't Miles find your own shit to do!'' (DownBeat May, 2026)

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

18532 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 18 years ago. 396 of them this year alone and, so far this month (May 15) 50

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

From This Moment On

May

Tue 19: GoGo Penguin + Daudi Matsiko @ Wylam Brewery, Newcastle. 7:00pm (doors). £22.00 + £4.40 bf.
Tue 19: Danny Lowndes’ Hot Club @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £15.00 + £5.00 bf.
Tue 19: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Michael Young (piano); Paul Grainger (double bass); Mark Robertson (drums).

Wed 20: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 20: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 20: Jordan Jackson @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £19.80 (inc. bf); £15.40 (inc. bf).
Wed 20: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 21: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ The Millstone, Mill Rise, South Gosforth, Newcastle. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 21: Jazz Classics with Rivkala @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. Rivkala (vocals); Alan Law (piano); Paul Grainger (double bass).
Thu 21: Paul Skerritt @ Angels' Share, St George's Terrace, Jesmond, Newcastle NE2 2SX. 8:00pm. Free. Booking advised (0191 200 1975). Skerritt w. backing tapes.

Fri 22: Paul Skerritt @ Market Place, Durham. From 12 noon. Free. Skerritt w. backing tapes.
Fri 22: Paul Edis Trio @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. £9.00. Edis, Andy Champion, Steve Hanley.
Fri 22: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 22: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 22: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 22: Castillo Nuevo Trio @ Hotel Gotham, Newcastle. 5:30pm. Free.
Fri 22: Paul Edis Trio @ St Cuthbert’s Centre, Crook. 7:30pm. £TBC. Edis, Andy Champion, Steve Hanley.

Sat 23: Tyne Valley Big Band @ Bywell Hall. 2:00pm. Northumberland County Show.
Sat 23: Paul Edis @ Core Music, Gilesgate, Hexham. 3:00pm. £12.00. A Core Music fundraiser, Hexham Jazz Weekender Day/Weekend ticket not applicable. Hexham Jazz Weekender.
Sat 23: Blyth Big Band @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 6:30pm. £9.00., £5.00.
Sat 23: Paul Edis & Friends @ Musicwonders, Church Chare, Chester-le-Street. 7:00pm (6:30pm doors). £15.00. www.musicwonders.org. BYOB. SOLD OUT!
Sat 23: Alexia Gardner Quintet @ Queen’s Hall Hexham. 7:00pm. £13.50 (inc. bf). Hexham Jazz Weekender.
Sat 23: TC & the Groove Family + Lagos to Longbenton @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm (doors). £17.51., £14.33., £11.16.
Sat 23: Davina & the Vagabonds @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £22.00. + £1.50 bf.
Sat 23: Celebrating Wes Montgomery @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 8:15pm. £14.00., £12.00. Hexham Jazz Weekender.
Sat 23: Chris Coull’s Porgy & Bess @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 9:30pm. £16.50 (inc. bf). Hexham Jazz Weekender.

Sun 24: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 24: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Table reservations (0191 261 8000). Skerritt w. backing tapes.
Sun 24: SwanNek @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm. £11.50 (inc. bf). Hexham Jazz Weekender.
Sun 24: Salty Dog @ The Globe, Newcastle. 3:00pm. Free. Donations.
Sun 24: Ben Crosland’s Threeway @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 7:00pm. £13.50 (inc. bf). Line-up inc. Steve Waterman. Hexham Jazz Weekender.
Sun 24: Society Quartet @ Hilton Garden Inn, Sunderland. 7:00pm. Free.
Sun 24: Street Brass Band Bonanza: The Fanfare + Storytellers + Tenth Avenue Band @ The Star & Shadow Cinema, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £10.00., £8.00.
Sun 24: Charlie Parr @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £17.50. Blues. Jumpin’ Hot Club.
Sun 24: Olly Styles Experience @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £12.00., £10.00., £7.00.
Sun 24: Finn-Keeble Group @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 8:15pm. £13.50 (inc. bf). Hexham Jazz Weekender. Feat. Jamil Sheriff.
Sun 24: Modern Vikings @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 9:30pm. £16.50 (inc. bf). Hexham Jazz Weekender.

Mon 25: Friends of Jazz @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Friday, March 26, 2010

DAMMING JERRY - and THE SPATIAL AKA ORCHESTRA



The evening started with the best of intentions. Rather than go to see the Stan Tracey Octet with all the serious jazz fans I know, I took my family to see Jerry Dammers and the Spatial AKA Orchestra. The  five star review in The Guardian had promised an accessible mixture of jazz, ska and reggae, ideal for the jazz resistant men in my life. 
Well the concert started with ‘After The End of the World’ and went down from there. Too many songs were based on repetitive, monotonous grooves, with the undoubtedly talented musicians occasionally released for solos, with their attempts to releave the tedium occasionally resulting in ear splitting self-indulgence. Quite often, this was followed by the rest of the band joining in to create a cacophonous conclusion, which I quite liked the first time round, but then it got predictable. 
There was no subtlety, even Ghost Town was too slow, and the Batman Theme was ponderous. So many talented jazz musicians grossly underused.  After a long evening, it was quite a relief to hear we’d got to the last number Space Is The Place. Maybe we’ll get some interesting lyrics, I vainly hoped. Actually those were the entire lyrics, continually repeated for around 15 minutes, when the musicians eventually left the stage and carried on playing in the concourse. By the time we left, most of them were lying on the floor still grooving  with ‘Space Is The Place’ around the Sun Ra-like Denys Baptiste. 
They really should have made the effort to develop the song into something more meaningful. I managed it in a few seconds in the car on the way home. 
Space is the place. It’s in your face. What  a ...
Debra.
Pictures above are by official Sage photographer Mark Savage and are not for use in events unrelated to The Sage.
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4 comments :

Lance said...

I missed this one Debra - look forward to hearing from others.

Saturday, March 27, 2010 11:28:00 AM
Russell said...

Debra, I too missed the Stan Tracey concert (I had a ticket) in favour of the Jerry Dammers' gig. I'm as a big a fan of Stan Tracey as anyone (I've heard him live on many occasions) but after much thought chose to go to the Dammers' gig. Why? Well, it was likely to be a one-off never to be repeated experience or as Lance said, a happening. It was a band full of top flight British players, the Sun Ra legend was another factor and it promised to be good fun. The Guardian's promise that it would be accessible, should, I suggest, have been read with caution - after all the words Sun Ra and accessibe are rarely written in the same sentence other than this one and maybe in the The Guardian! I agree that their was much repetition.To an extent this is what Sun Ra was all about - the trance inducing music (Space Is the Place) of the self-appointed alien mystic. All nonesense of course but good fun. Ghost Town is Dammers' own tune so I guess he can take it at the tempo of his choosing! If I hadn't gone to the gig I could never have imagined the stage set and costumes. You are right that the musicians weren't particularly stretched but they were more than willing participants. I bet the money was good! See you at the next Stan Tracey concert.
Russell

Monday, March 29, 2010 4:53:00 PM
George Milburn said...

Shame Debra & Russell seem to have regretted going to this gig - I love Stan the man too, but I was charged with the fun of it all the way through and dancing to the chant in the main concourse to the end - with many others who appreciated this joyous tribute to Sun Ra. Having experienced Sun Ra's Solar-Myth Arkestra live over 20 years ago I wondered if Dammers could pull it off - for me he did. By the way, Herman Poole Blount may have been an American but just consider the achievement of a black jazz pianist & composer born in Birmingham, Alabama in 1914, who manages to maintain a fantastic Saturnian mythology around him and gain the respect of some of the best jazz musicians of our time - he died in 1993 and probably went to Saturn where he continues to run rings 'round the more pedestrian planets! There WAS more to those lyrics by the way Debra : "Space is the place WHERE space is the place" Poetry n'est-ce pas!

Sunday, April 04, 2010 3:35:00 PM
Anonymous said...

I can't agree - I loved this gig! Dammers has brought together a lot of serious jazz musicians, and he let them get on with it. Sure, they set up a groove - but what a groove! Too bass heavy for me, perhaps, but it sounded great. The soloing was excellent.

Saturday, April 24, 2010 4:49:00 PM

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