Bebop Spoken There

Melissa Aldana: ''Having to play a ballads album, which is something very revealing for a saxophone player, would help me to question some new aspects of how to go deeper into sound." (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

18656 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 18 years ago. 520 of them this year alone and, so far this month (June 25) 72

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

June

Mon 29: Friends of Jazz @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 30: Alan Law Trio @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 2:00pm. Free.
Tue 30: Eva Fox & the Sound Hounds @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

July

Wed 01: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 01: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 01: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 02: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ The Millstone, Mill Rise, South Gosforth, Newcastle. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 02: Paul Skerritt @ Angels' Share, St George's Terrace, Jesmond, Newcastle NE2 2SX. 8:00pm. Free. Booking advised (0191 200 1975). Skerritt w. backing tapes.
Thu 02: De’Sean Jones & Blaque Dynamite feat. Urban Art Orchestra @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). De’Sean Jones (MD, tenor sax); Blaque Dynamite (Mike Mitchell, drums); Jamie Murray (drums) with UAO horns & strings.
Thu 02: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm.
Thu 02: Howlin’ Mat @ Newcastle Arts centre. 7:30pm. Free. Acoustic

Fri 03: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 03: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 03: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 03: Paul Donnelly Quartet @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm.
Fri 03: Martin Taylor @ Arc, Stockton. 8:00pm. Taylor (solo guitar).

Sat 04: Spats Langham’s Hot Fingers @ St Augustine’s Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm. £10.00. Darlington New Orleans Jazz Club.
Sat 04: Michael Woods @ Cycle Hub, Quayside, Ouseburn. 1:30-2:30pm & 3:00-4:00pm. Free. Acoustic blues guitar. An Ouseburn Festival event.
Sat 04: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. £27.50. Tutor: Steve Glendinning. Take the ‘A’ Train to Summertime: From Melody to Masterclass. Enrol at: learning@jazz.coop.
Sat 04: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00.

Sun 05: Smokin’ Spitfires @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:45pm. £10.00.
Sun 05: Ian Bosworth Quintet @ Chapel, Middlesbrough. 1:00pm. Free. Feat. guest TBC.
Sun 05: Michael Woods @ Cycle Hub, Quayside, Ouseburn. 1:30-2:30pm & 3:15-4:00pm. Free. Acoustic blues guitar. An Ouseburn Festival event.
Sun 05: Lydia Rae Quintet @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00pm. £10.00. Rae (vocals); Sam Lightwing (alto sax, tenor sax); Ben Lawrence (piano); Andy Champion (double bass); John Bradford (drums).
Sun 05: Sax Choir @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 05: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Table reservations (0191 261 8000). Skerritt w. backing tapes.
Sun 05: Storytellers Street Band @ Ouseburn Woodland, Ouseburn. 5:00-6:00pm. Free. An Ouseburn Festival event.
Sun 05: Gerry Richardson’s Big Idea @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Sun 05: Jambone @ Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:15-9:45pm. Free but ticketed.

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.
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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

Thursday, May 13, 2010 3:08:00 pm
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

Thursday, May 13, 2010 11:56:00 pm
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.

Friday, May 14, 2010 12:02:00 am

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