Bebop Spoken There

Dominick "Domo" Branch: ''Most people say drummers can't write, they're just time-keepers only beating on things. But I have a very musical brain.'' (DownBeat February, 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

18288 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 18 years ago. 142 of them this year alone and, so far this month (Feb. 14), 42

From This Moment On ...

February

Fri 20: Alex Clarke w. Dean Stockdale Trio @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT! Clarke w. Dean Stockdale, Mick Shoulder, Abbie Finn.
Fri 20: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 20: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 20: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 20: Squabble @ Warkworth Memorial Hall. 7:00pm. Steve Chambers (organ); Jude Murphy (double bass, vocals); Sid White (drums).
Fri 20: Jive Aces @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 7:00pm (6:30pm doors).
Fri 20: Alex Clarke w. Dean Stockdale Trio @ Sunderland Minster. 7:30pm. Clarke w. Dean Stockdale, Mick Shoulder, Abbie Finn.

Sat 21: ???

Sun 22: Musicians Unlimited: Big Band Blast @ West Hartlepool RFC. 1:00-3:00pm . Free.
Sun 22: Joe Steels Group @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm. A Blue Patch album tour.
Sun 22: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 22: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 22: Harben Kay Quartet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 23: Joe Steels Group @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 1:00pm. A Blue Patch album tour.
Mon 23: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 24: Finn-Keeble Group @ Newcastle House Hotel, Rothbury. 7:30pm. £11.00.
Tue 24: Liam Oliver & Shayo Oshodi @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Wed 25: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 25: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 25: Geordie Jazz Jam @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. Newcastle University jam session. All welcome.
Wed 25: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 26: Castillo Nuevo Orquesta @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £6.50.
Thu 26: Shalala @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £7.00 adv.
Thu 26: Mick Cantwell Band @ The Harbour View, Roker, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Blues.

Fri 27: Joe Steels Group @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. £8.00. SOLD OUT! A Blue Patch album tour.
Fri 27: Alan Barnes w. Mick Shoulder Trio @ Bishop Auckland Methodist Church. 1:00pm. £9.00. Trio: Rick Laughlin (piano); Mick Shoulder (double bass); Tim Johnston (drums).
Fri 27: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 27: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 27: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 27: Radio Hito + Eddie Prévost, Silvain Schmid & Tom Wheatley @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm (doors). £12.22., £10.10., £8.00.
Fri 27: Giacomo Smith w Strictly Smokin’ Big Band @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm.
Fri 27: Alan Barnes w. Mick Shoulder Trio @ The Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. £15.00. Trio: Rick Laughlin (piano); Mick Shoulder (double bass); Tim Johnston (drums).

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

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Fryer-Barnhart International Jazz Band w. Jimmy Mazzy @ The Saville Exchange, North Shields.

Jeff Barnhart (pno/vcl), Jim Fryer (tmb/tpt/vcl), Jimmy Mazzy (bjo/vcl), Gordon Whitworth (tpt/vcl), George Huxley (clt/sop/Grafton alto), Annie Hawkins (bs), Brian Mellor (bjo/gtr/vcl), Nick Ward (dms).
What can I say? This was fun - Good Time Jazz no less and often more.
Jeff Barnhart is not just larger than life but larger than just about anything! An amazing player and surely the spiritual son of Fats and James P.
Fellow American Jim Fryer blew nice, smooth, trombone a la Urbie Green/Teagarden/Cutty Cutshall. Jim also played trumpet as well as crooning like a true balladeer.
George Huxley, as well as blowing on Bechet's à bientot on soprano and clarinet also played a Grafton Alto Sax. Remember them? A plastic alto! Years ago, I had one that I bought for £25 and sold for £40 - today they sell for a lot of money. George got a good sound.
Gordon's Blue and Broken-hearted was a tribute to Wild Bill Davison - a vocal too. Gave us an idea of how Wild Bill may have sounded had he lived in Solihull
The banjos did the business and Mazzy also sang a few.
Nick Ward on traps was his usual laid back self which just leaves Annie Hawkins.
Always a darling I last heard Annie back in the 1980's in Breda she was a solid sender then - if you'll pardon my outdated jive talk - and still kicks things along.
Enjoyed chatting - her father was also called Lance so we bonded.
A good gig and what a piano player!
Lance.

3 comments :

Patti said...

Lance - first, thanks for all that you do via the blog to promote jazz across the region. Great writing and photos, and a wide range of jazz styles covered. How do you do it, we often wonder! Thanks again for this gig write up - just a pity that we didn't get a few more bums on seats to enjoy the music! Don't know how much longer we can can go on presenting music of this calibre, unless the fans start turning up again! Patti

Liz said...

yes Patti we don't know each other but your tribute to Lance's tireless work promoting & reporting on gigs locally & further afield is well deserved.
Liz

Lance said...

Thank you Liz and Patti but I should also mention, Liz, that Patti and her husband Mike themselves are deserved of many accolades in promoting Jazz at the Saville Exchange and, for the past 20 years, the Whitley Bay Jazz Festival.
Yourself too for supporting this blog the way you do way down south in York.

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