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

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.

Thu 15: Mark Toomey Quartet @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm. Free. Quartet + guest Paul Donnelly (guitar).

Fri 16: Giles Strong Quartet @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. £8.00. SOLD OUT!
Fri 16: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 16: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 16: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 16: Darlington Big Band @ The Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. Opus 4 Jazz Club.
Fri 16: Leeds City Stompers @ Billy Bootleggers, Newcastle. 9:00pm. Free.

Sat 17: Homer’s Lane + John Garner & John Pope @ St John’s Church, Riding Mill. 2:00-4:00pm. Free. Gabriele Heller’s audio play + Garner & Pope.
Sat 17: Martyn Roper @ Billy Bootleggers, Newcastle. 5:00pm. Free. Roper’s ‘One Man Blues Band’.
Sat 17: Ray Stubbs R&B All Stars @ Billy Bootleggers, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 17: Alexia Gardner Trio @ FIKA Art Gallery, Morpeth. 7:00pm (6:30pm doors). Gardner, Alan Law & Jude Murphy.

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

Tuesday, June 08, 2010

The Blaydon Aces - Roly Veitch (guitar & vocals) & James Birkett (guitar) @ Blaydon & District CIU. June 7

Blaydon Jazz Club's Roly Veitch took the opportunity in Blaydon Races Week (Twas on the ninth of June and all that) to invite his friend and fellow guitarist Jim Birkett to join him in playing some favourite Geordie dialect tunes. It just so happens that the Blaydon Aces latest CD Gan Canny is released tomorrow (Wednesday - Twas on the ninth of June and all that), now that's what I call good marketing!
Geordie tunesmiths from down the years were the focal point throughout three entertaining sets in the concert room. Joe Wilson's Keep Your Feet Still Geordie Hinny, The Lambton Worm from the pen of C.M. Leumane (of whom little is known), Tommy Armstrong's The Row Atween the Cages (a commentary on developments in the mining industry) and many other familiar tunes by the likes of Thomas Wilson (Thomas Wilson CIU Club in Low fell is worth a visit!), Jack Robson (Wherever Ye Gan You're Sure to Find a Geordie), Geordie Ridley (Blaydon Races) and Alan Hull (Fog on the Tyne). Highlights were many - two in particular for this listener were a beautiful ballad The Cliffs of Old Tynemouth by David Leitch (Roly described Leitch as a humanitarian - no bad thing to be, I'd say) and a Veitch original Gan Canny. The musicianship and vocals (!) were of the highest calibre and jazzers though they undoubtedly are, Veitch and Birkett, for the most part, kept in check their natural inclination to Play That Thing! All in all this way a most convivial evening in the always welcoming surroundings of Blaydon CIU Club.
Jazz takes centre stage at the same venue on Thursday night (June 10th) when the Blaydon Jazz Quartet (Roly and the boys) will be joined by reeds maestro John Hallam. Admission at the door £6.00. 8:30 pm start.
Russell.

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