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Bebop Spoken There

George Porter Jr.: ''To me, syncopation is like jazz. It wasn't meant for the masses. It was meant just for a hip few". (DownBeat, May 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

18018 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 339 of them this year alone and, so far, 17 this month (May 7).

From This Moment On ...

MAY 2025

Mon 12: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 12: Gregory Porter + Jo Harrop @ Newcastle City Hall. 7:30pm. Support act: Jo Harrop!

Tue 13: ???

Wed 14: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 14: Recital (stage 2): Leah Kirk (voice) @ The Band Room, Music Studios, Assembly Lane, Newcastle University. 3:00pm. Free.
Wed 14: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 14: Tannery jam session @ The Tannery, Hexham. 7:00pm.
Wed 14: Jerron Paxton @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £24.20. Excellent country blues multi-instrumentalist.
Wed 14: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. BACK IN BUSINESS, all welcome!

Thu 15: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: The Greatest in Jazz - Guitarists.
Thu 15: Pete Tanton & the Cuban Heels @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 15: New Ways of Moving in the Counterworlds @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 8:00pm (7:00pm doors). John Garner & John Pope.

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: Sophie Speed with the Dean Stockdale Trio @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 16: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 1:00-2:45pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Fri 16: Jason Isaacs @ STACK, Exchange Sq., Middlesbrough. 4:00-6:00pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Fri 16: Giles Strong Quartet @ Longframlington Memorial Hall. 7:00pm (doors). Tickets: £12.00. from 01665 570984.
Fri 16: Hot Club du Nord @ St Cuthbert’s Centre, Crook. 7:30pm. £10.00.
Fri 16: Peter Donegan & Anthony Donegan @ The Witham, Barnard Castle. 7:30pm. ‘Lonnie Donegan - The Stories’.

Sat 17: Teresa Watson Band @ Billy Bootleggers, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. Blues.
Sat 17: The Society Quartet @ Hilton Garden Inn, Sunderland. 6:00pm. Tel: 0191 500 9494. £26.00 (inc. two course meal). Line-up: Jason Holcomb, Hannah Taylor, Alix Shepherd & Abbie Finn.
Sat 17: Milne Glendinning Band @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 17: Archie Brown & the Young Bucks @ Billy Bootleggers, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. Rhythm & blues, Americana etc.
Sat 17: Rockin’ Turner Brothers @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Rockabilly, Western swing etc.

Sun 18: Jason Isaacs @ STACK, Seaburn. 12 noon-2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sun 18: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 18: Ruth Lambert & Giles Strong @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 18: Steve Summers Quintet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

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.

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.

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