Bebop Spoken There

Ethan Hawke (starring as Lorenz Hart in Blue Moon): ''Larry [Lorenz] Hart would be so happy that his music and his words and his poetry are still alive.'' - The Northern Echo 27 November 2025

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

18000 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 964 of them this year alone and, so far, 73 this month (Nov. 24).

From This Moment On ...

DECEMBER 2025

Fri 05: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 05: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 05: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 05: Jazzy Xmas @ Redhills, Durham. 7:30-10:00pm. £10.00., £9.00., £8.00. Miners’ Hall, Flass St., Durham. Feat. Durham University Big Band & Durham University Jazz Orchestra.
Fri 05: Castillo Nuevo Trio @ Hotel Gotham, Newcastle. 5:30pm. Free.
Fri 05: Alligator Gumbo @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm. £16.96. Saltburn Jazz Xmas Party.

Sat 06: Sarah Spencer’s Transatlantic Band @ St Augustine’s Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm. £10.00.
Sat 06: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. £27.50. Tutor: Steve Glendinning. Minor Swing. Enrol at: learning@jazz.coop.
Sat 06: Jeff Hewer Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 06: NUJO Jazz Jam @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm (doors). £3.76 (inc. bf).
Sat 06: Kaberry Big Band @ The Seahorse, Whitley Bay. 7:30pm (7:00pm doors). £15.00. (inc. hot buffet). ‘Christmas 1945’. Kaberry Big Band, formerly Vermont Big Band.
Sat 06: Smokin’ Spitfires @ Platform 1, Bedlington. 7:30pm. £6.00. Rhythm & blues.
Sat 06: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00. Xmas Party with buffet.
Sat 06: The Jive Aces @ The Witham, Barnard Castle. 8:00pm. £22.00., £20.00.
Sat 06: Brass Fiesta @ Revoluçion de Cuba, Newcastle. 10:30pm. Free.

Sun 07: Ian Bosworth Quintet @ Chapel, Middlesbrough. 1:00pm. Free. Feat. special guest Donna Hewitt (sax, clarinet).
Sun 07: Finn-Keeble Group @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00pm. £10.00.
Sun 07: Sax Choir @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 07: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Skerritt w. backing tapes.
Sun 07: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 2:30pm. Free. Trio + Ruth Lambert.
Sun 07: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 07: Jason Isaacs Big Band @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 5:15pm (4:00pm doors). £21.50 (inc. bf).
Sun 07: Paul Skerritt @ 3 Stories, High St. West, Sunderland. 6:30pm. Skerritt w. backing tapes.
Sun 07: Lindsay Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Support set from Play More Jazz! course participants. Note earlier start.

Mon 08: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 09: Jazz Jam Sandwich @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm

Wed 10: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 10: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 10: Jam Session @ The Tannery, Hexham. 7:00pm. Free.
Wed 10: Mike Lindup Jazz Trio @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £26.50 (inc. bf). Lindup, Yolanda Charles (bass), John Sam (drums).
Wed 10: Bold Big Band @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £12.00.

Thu 11: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: West Coast (cool ) / Wordsearch (cool) Cool Jazz or ‘Cold’, ‘Cool’, ‘Hot’, ‘Warm’ in the title or lyrics.
Thu 11: George Robinson @ Prohibition Bar, Albert Road, Middlesbrough TS1 2RU. 7:00pm (doors). £5.42 (inc. bf). Vienna’s Voice charity evening featuring ’15 year old singing sensation the ‘Redcar Crooner’ George Robinson’. Over 35s only.
Thu 11: Paul Skerritt @ Chakh Dhoom, Jesmond, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Indian restaurant. Skerritt w. back tapes.
Thu 11: Ransom Van @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm.
Thu 11: Down for the Count Swing Orchestra @ Middlesbrough Town Hall. 7:30pm. £37.70 (inc. bf). ‘Swing into Xmas’.

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

Saturday, July 03, 2010

Havana Cultura Live @ The Sage, Gateshead.

Danay (vcl), Ogguere (Ulises & Edrey) (vcl), Roberto Fonseca's Band (Fonseca, piano, + alt/fl, tpt, bs, dms, congas. Gilles Peterson, Dhesi (DJs).
If I say I'm off to the travel agents in the morning to book a ticket on the first flight to Havana then you may get an idea of what an experience tonight was!
Of course I'm not going to Havana tomorrow but, after tonight's music, I certainly wish I was.
This was The Sage, Hall Two, in stripped down mode with diffused lighting patterns and smoke machines creating an ambience.
DJ Dhesi got the party under way with some Caribbean grooves that soon had the standing audience twitching in time to the beat. Close your eyes and you're on Havana's 23rd Street.
Gilles Peterson took over at the console and introduced Ogguere, Danay and Roberto Fonseca's Band. We were off.
For once words fail me - to say I was knocked out sounds like mere cliché - this was territory way beyond my comfort zone but it got my juices flowing.
Hadn't a clue what Danay or Ogguere were singing about but it was as hypnotic as the Cuban rhythms.
Danay is the most enigmatic singer I've ever heard. One moment it is almost a folksy ballad - next thing you know it is Rock 'n Roll Cuban style.
Ogguere comprises Edrey and Ulises who are a Cuban Hip-Hop version of the Blues Brothers. When they perform I defy anyone's heart to drop below a zillion beats a minute.
Down on the floor and up in the seated gallery there was a whole lot of shakin' going on
Fonseca played some jazzy Cuban sounds whilst the flautist whose name was lost in the musical maelstrom had a superb feature. Trumpet too blew in that fine old Cuban tradition.
Rhythm section cooked up a musical gumbo that melted your toenails.
Afterwards, the party spilled out on to the Concourse where the DJs were stoking up the Cuban Fire and the dancers gave out with the appropriate movements. How I wish I'd learn't to Cha-Cha!
It was all in all a rather beautiful night - I think my pulse is just about back to normal.
"Hello, is that Thomas Cook? I'd like a flight to Havana - that's right, the one in Cuba..."
Lance.
at

1 comment :

. said...

It's their rainy season now.
I hav-ana idea for a 'toon shimmying and zapateadoing to the rhythm à la lance del monte.

zapateado - Latin-American dance with rhythmic tapping of the feet.

Sunday, July 04, 2010 10:16:00 am

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