Bebop Spoken There

John Donegan: ''What you take in through your ears can come out through your fingers.'' (Notes to Which Direction October, 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

19,030 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 18 years ago. 894 of them this year alone and, so far this month (Oct. 22) 73.

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

October.

Sat 24: Jo Harrop @ St Chad’s College, Durham. 2:00pm. Harrop w. Jamie McCredie, Paul Edis, Andy Champion & Peter Adam Hill. Durham Jazz Festival. SOLD OUT!
Sat 24: Sing Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. £27.50. Tutor: Alexia Gardner. Louis Armstrong. Enrol at: learning@jazz.coop.
Sat 24: Seb Rochford’s Finding Ways @ Sir Thomas Allen Assembly Rooms Theatre, Durham. 3:00pm. Tara Cunningham (guitar); Simon Tong (guitar); Anders Christensen (bass); Seb Rochford (drums). Durham Jazz Festival.
Sat 24: Vasilis Xenopoulos-Paul Edis Quartet @ St Chad’s College, Durham. 4:00pm. VX & PE w. Andy Champion (double bass) & Steve Hanley (drums). Durham Jazz Festival. SOLD OUT!
Sat 24: OUTRI @ Durham Fringe Academy, Durham. 4:00pm. Durham Jazz Festival.
Sat 24: Pete Roth Trio @ Sir Thomas Allen Assembly Rooms Theatre, Durham. 5:30pm. Durham Jazz Festival.
Sat 24: Durham University Jazz Society: An Evening of Standards @ Durham University Music School, Durham. 5:30pm. Durham Jazz Festival.
Sat 24: Rivkala @ Fabio’s Bar, Durham. 6:00pm. Durham Jazz Festival. SOLD OUT!
Sat 24:Eleonora Kouneni @ Claypath Deli, Durham. 7:00pm. Kouneni (vocals), Paul Edis (piano). Durham Jazz Festival. SOLD OUT!
Sat 24: Marvin Muoneké w. Strictly Smokin’ Big Band @ Gala Theatre, Durham. 7:30pm. Durham Jazz Festival.
Sat 24: Knats @ Fabio’s Bar, Durham. 9:00pm. Durham Jazz Festival. SOLD OUT!
Sat 24: Kind of Blu Jazz Jam @ Radisson Blue Hotel, Durham. 10:30pm. House rhythm section: Paul Edis, Ken Marley & Steve Hanley. Durham Jazz Festival.

Sun 25: Paul Edis workshop: Another Week, Another Composition - How I Compose @ Mark Hillery Arts Centre, Collingwood College, Durham. 10:30am. £16.00. Durham Jazz Festival. CANCELLED!
Sun 25: Jo Harrop workshop: From Chester-le-Street to LA: A Singer’s Journey @ Claypath Deli, Durham. 11:00am. £8.50. Durham Jazz Festival. CANCELLED!
Sun 25: Janette Mason workshop: The Art of Arranging @ Mark Hillery Arts Centre, Collingwood College, Durham. 12:30pm. £16.00. Durham Jazz Festival.
Sun 25: Dean Stockdale Quartet: Celebrating Oscar Peterson @ Durham University Music School. 1:00pm. Line-up: Dean Stockdale (piano); Jamie Taylor (guitar); Gavin Barras (double bass); Gaz Hughes (drums). Durham Jazz Festival. SOLD OUT!
Sun 25: Tom Atkinson’s Electric Miles: Celebrating Jack Johnson @ Sir Thomas Allen Assembly Rooms Theatre, Durham. 2:00-3:15pm. Durham Jazz Festival.
Sun 25: SULA @ St Chad’s College, Durham. 2:30pm. Kezia Abouma (piano), Aleks Dimitrova (bass), Miranda Radford (drums). Durham Jazz Festival. NOTE NEW TIME (2.30pm).
Sun 25: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 25: Swing into Sunday @ St Oswald’s Institute, Durham. 2:30pm. Lindy Jazz. Durham Jazz Festival.
Sun 25: Sara Oschlag w. Arnie Somogyi Trio @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm. Sara Oschlag (vocals); Richard Wetherall (keyboards); Arnie Somogyi (double bass); John Hirst (drums).
Sun 25: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 25: Ruth Lambert Trio @ The Juke Shed, North Shields. 3:00pm. Free. Ruth Lambert (vocals); Alan Law (keyboards); Paul Grainger (double bass). RESCHEDULED to NOV. 1
Sun 25: Marvin Muoneké Quartet @ St Chad’s College, Durham. 4:00pm. Line-up: Dean Stockdale (piano); TBC (double bass); Abbie Finn (drums). Durham Jazz Festival.
Sun 25: Janette Mason Rewired @ Sir Thomas Allen Assembly Rooms Theatre, Durham. 4:30pm. Line-up: Janette Mason (piano); Jakub Cywiński (double bass); Eric Ford (drums). Durham Jazz Festival.
Sun 25: Lindsay Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ Old Cinema Launderette, Durham. 5:00pm. Durham Jazz Festival. SOLD OUT!
Sun 25: Zoë Gilby & Andy Champion @ Redhills Durham Miners’ Hall, Durham. 6:00pm. Durham Jazz Festival.
Sun 25: NUJO Jazz Jam @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm. £3.00.
Sun 25: Sara Oschlag w. Arnie Somogyi Trio @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Sara Oschlag (vocals); Richard Wetherall (piano); Arnie Somogyi (double bass); John Hirst (drums).
Sun 25: Durham University Jazz Society - Jazz Jam @ Fabio’s Bar, Durham. 8:00pm. Durham Jazz Festival.
Sun 25: Olivia Cuttill Quintet + King Pleasure & the Biscuit Boys @ Redhills Durham Miners’ Hall, Durham. 8:00pm. Durham Jazz Festival.

Mon 26: Sue Ferris Quintet @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 1:00pm.
Mon 26: Friends of Jazz @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 27: Alan Law @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 2:00pm. Free. Alan Law (piano) w. guest Ruth Lambert.
Tue 27: Eva Fox & the Sound Hounds @ Newcastle Arts Centre. 7:30pm. Free (donations).

Wed 28: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 28: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 28: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 29: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ The Millstone, Mill Rise, South Gosforth, Newcastle. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 29: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £5.00.
Thu 29: Castillo Nuevo Orquesta @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. £6.50. 7:30pm (doors).
Thu 29: Simon Taylor Band @ Newcastle Arts Centre. 7:30pm. £8.00.
Thu 29: King Bees @ The Harbour View, Roker, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Superb Chicago blues band.

Fri 30: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 30: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 30: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.

Friday, May 07, 2010

Bobby Carr Info wanted.

A request for info on the late trumpet player Bobby Carr comes from Steve Grant and Bobby's son James.
Photos, memories anything that will be of interest.
Reply via this post or direct to myself.
Lance.
at

8 comments :

Lance said...

I'm surprised I haven't had a wadge of people replying to this post. Indeed I'm disappointed as Bobby Carr was a larger than life trumpet legend and a pivotal figure on the north-east jazz, dance band, club scene for many years.
My connection with Bobby Carr was when we were both part of the Newcastle Big Band's legendary Sunday morning sessions at Newcastle's then University Theatre.
With Mike Gilby and Alf Parker blowing alongside him they made a formidable brass team and his feature on 'I Remember Clifford' lingers still.
He also did a Working Men's Club act. Holding his trumpet up so the audience could see it he would say - "This is a trumpet. You'll be surprised to note that there are no wires attached and it doesn't plug into an amplifier. What you see is what you get."
Bobby would then recreate solos by some of the greats - Louis Armstrong, Harry James, Bunny Berigan etc.
He was, I believe, married into the Vaux brewing dynasty. I recall handing him a bottle of Newcastle Brown Ale which of course was brewed by Scottish and Newcastle .
"Do you want to get me divorced?" He asked.
There must be many more stories out there. Dig down into the Windmills of your mind.

Saturday, May 08, 2010 8:39:00 pm
stevegrantleeuk said...

Lance,
Thank you for your reply and recollection of Bobby Carr. As I said I knew him through his son James who I went to school with. I also knew him as a friend of my Grandfather who was very active also on the working mens club scene. His name was Freddie Miller and as well as working as a singer and comedian he ran a club booking agency in North Shields called Wandafield. I am sure some of your readers will have worked with him either on the club scene or at the old Hofbrahaus in Newcastle where he was compere for some time.
He too sadly is no longer with us having passed away in 1982.
Ref the brewery connection with Bobby Carr, I am not sure why he would have objected to the Newcastle Brown as it was actually S and N that he was married into! His father in law was Colonel George Brown who was a leading light in S and N at the time.
Hopefully some more readers will pass some more comments. I am afraid I am too young to remember him on a musical level but can certainly remember him as the larger than life figure you mention.
Many thanks
Steve

Sunday, May 09, 2010 12:02:00 am
Lance said...

Whoops! I got the breweries the wrong way round! Substitute Double Maxim for Brown Ale
I remember him at the Hoffbrau House - think George Laing was in that band - come in George.
I seem to recall the band wearing Leiden-hose - now someone must have a photo of that!

Sunday, May 09, 2010 6:35:00 am
Steve Andrews said...

I knew and played, occasionally, with Bobby, who was a nice man, and a hell of a bebop trumpet player - streets ahead of anyone else around here at that time. Here's a story I got secondhand from the late Brian Fisher.
Bobby played pro, in his youth, for tenor player Johnny Gray's band in London. They were rehearsing a new number, and Johnny gave the trumpet solo to Bobby. Bobby gave it his all; pulled out all the stops. After the first run through, Johnny called it again, then stopped the band after the trumpet solo and said to Bobby: "Bobby, son, less of the ooblee!"
Happily Bobby ignored that advice, and kept ooblee -ing for years to come.

Sunday, May 09, 2010 9:51:00 pm
Roly said...

My memories of Bobby are from Peter Gascoigne's Vieux Carre sessions at The Golden Lion at Winlaton Mill in the late 70s.
They were very popular and the room would be packed. Sometimes he would come over and sit in. I particularly remember his 'Bunny Berrigan' styled version of 'I can't get started'. He had a magnificent tone, a natural lyricism and commanding stage presence too. Those cameo appearances of his are part of some really great memories from that time.
Roly

Sunday, May 09, 2010 11:08:00 pm
Anonymous said...

To Steve Grant

I do have more info re Bobby Carr. I knew him well in the mid 50s to 1962. Met him when he was touring with the Platters. Contact Lance for more info.
R

Wednesday, July 28, 2010 1:33:00 pm
Anonymous said...

Hi Lance,
What a wonderful trumpet player Bobby Carr was, once again, Bobby in the hayday of The Wheatsheaf, New york, was a regular, once I asked him what he uses on his valves to keep them going, he opened his case and handed me a can of FLIT (Some sort of fly spray) and of corse in his case always had a bottle or two of Newcastle Brown Ale, like you Lance, I do remember him in the Newcastle Big band playing I Remember Clifford, but also some wild nights at The Hoffbrau House, with a band led by Billy Young (Drums) and Grahame Shephard (Reeds) now living and playing in Spain, can not remember the rest of the band, but fun nights with Bobby and the guys.
Coin Aitchison
(Hong Kong)

Thursday, August 19, 2010 4:28:00 am
Tommy Henderson said...

Hi Lance, I knew Bobby Carr very well and did a few gigs with him. He occasionally brought his trumpet to Greys Club and sat in with my band playing beautiful muted trumpet in the Latin numbers and then he would do one of his special solo numbers while wandering around the customer's tables serenading the ladies.
Wherever he played, in the break, Bobby always ordered two pints for himself.
I also remember him in the Eric Delaney Big Band.
A great guy and a great trumpet player
Regards TOMMY HENDERSON (BASS PLAYER)

Saturday, August 21, 2010 4:42:00 pm

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