Bebop Spoken There

Donovan Haffner ('Best Newcomer' 2025 Parliamentary Jazz Awards): ''I got into jazz the first time I picked up a saxophone!" - Jazzwise Dec 25/Jan 26

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

18146 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 24 of them this year alone and, so far this month (Jan. 7), 24

From This Moment On ...

JANUARY 2026

Thu 08: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £5.00. Subject: Jazz Milestones of 1976.

Fri 09: The House Trio @ Bishop Auckland Methodist Church. 1:00pm. £9.00.
Fri 09: Nauta @ Jesmond Library, Newcastle. 1:00pm. £5.00. Trio: Jacob Egglestone, Jamie Watkins, Bailey Rudd.
Fri 09: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 09: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 09: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 09: Warren James & the Lonesome Travellers @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm. £15.00.
Fri 09: The Blue Kings @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £10.00. (£8.00. adv.). All-star band.

Sat 10: Mark Toomey Quintet @ St Peter’s Church, Stockton-on-Tees. 7:30pm. £12.00. (inc. pie & peas). Tickets from: 07749 255038.

Sun 11: New ’58 Jazz Collective @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 11: Am Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 11: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 11: Eva Fox & the Sound Hounds @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 12: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 12: Saltburn Big Band @ Saltburn House Hotel. 7:00-9:00pm. Free.

Tue 13: Milne Glendinning Band @ Newcastle House Hotel, Rothbury. 7:30pm. £11.00. Coquetdale Jazz.
Tue 13: Jazz Jam Sandwich @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Wed 14: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 14: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 14: Jam Session @ The Tannery, Hexham. 7:00pm. Free.
Wed 14: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

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, April 08, 2010

Age cannot wither nor custom stale thy infinite variety - The Alan Glen Trio and Take it to the Bridge @ The Chilli.

Alan Glen (pno), John Pope (bs), David Carnegie (dms).
-----
Dave Weisser (tpt/vcl), Doug Fielder (ten), Barry Ascroft (pno), James Kitchman (gtr), Stuart Davies (bs), Malcolm Dick (dms). + Rob Brockway (pno).

What a day this has been what a rare mood I'm in ... After this afternoon's visit to the Porthole the Alan Glen Trio kept the adrenalin flowing with a mix of standards and originals laying waste to the suggestion that he only interprets rather than creates.

The originals were, A Farewell To Muggleswick a piece which brought to mind perfectly that remote County Durham hamlet situated high above the Derwent.Reservoir. How I remember the days when I would cycle up the tortuous climb. Alan's picture was less tortuous and more pastoral.

Waltz For A.C. a delightful jazz waltz dedicated to no-one and everyone. One For The Road was bouncier and funkier and inspired by All Blues. The Trio got a great groove on this one.

Standard-wise, I'm Old Fashioned, You and the Night and the Music swung with John Pope as ever producing some brilliant bass lines that were not without a touch of humour. Everything Happens To Me saw Alan at his most lyrical - so lyrical in fact you felt that, although it was an instrumental, he was improvising from the words as well as the chords. David Carnegie rounded off a day of drum education with a belting solo on I'll Remember April.

Apart from jazz originals Alan is also a prolific classical composer and I propose to discuss some of his contemporary classics shortly.

Prior to the Trio set, the Take it to the Bridge gang had done things to, among others, Sugar, Blue Daniel and Just Friends (splendid vocal by Dave).

James Kitchman had a few extended solos - he really went for it tonight and didn't play Stella By Starlight until the very end.

A surprise visit by Rob Brockway saw him sitting in and doing some fine playing on, I think, Mr PC. 

When everything comes together as it did tonight you wonder why the room wasn't packed to capacity - all this for a £1? 
Lance.
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