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

18573 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 18 years ago. 437 of them this year alone and, so far this month (May 28) 91

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

May

Sat 30: Giles Strong Quartet @ Langley Tracks, Langley on Tyne NE47 5LA. 5:30pm (doors). £15.00 + £1.50 bf.

Sun 31: Musicians Unlimited: Big Band Blast @ West Hartlepool RFC. 1:00-3:00pm . Free.
Sun 31: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Table reservations (0191 261 8000). Skerritt w. backing tapes.
Sun 31: Sinfonia of London: Tea Dance @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 3:00pm. Free. John Wilson ensemble performing on the concourse. Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, George & Ira Gershwin & more.
Sun 31: Ruth Lambert Trio @ Juke Shed, North Shields. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 31: NUJO Jazz Jam @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm (doors). £3.76.
Sun 31: Joe Steels @ The Pele, Corbridge. 7:00pm. Free (donations direct to the musicians). Joe Steels & Friends.
Sun 31: Ben Haskins Quartet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £14.00., £12.00., £7.00.

June

Mon 01: Friends of Jazz @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 01: Saltburn Big Band @ Saltburn House Hotel. 7:00-9:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Mon 01: CW Stoneking @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). Blues, Americana.

Tue 02: Mark Williams Trio @ Newcastle House Hotel, Rothbury. 7:30pm. £11.00.
Tue 02: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Alan Law, Paul Grainger, John Hirst.
Tue 02: Customs House Big Band @ The Masonic Hall, Ferryhill. 7:30pm. Free.

Wed 03: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 03: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 03: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 04: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ The Millstone, Mill Rise, South Gosforth, Newcastle. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 04: Postmodern Jukebox @ Glasshouse, Gateshead. 7:30pm.
Thu 04: 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 04: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm.

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-Thu 11: FILM: Köln 75 @ Tyneside Cinema, Newcastle. Dir. Ido Fluk. Drama based on the true story of Keith Jarrett’s 1975 concert in Cologne. Screenings TBC.
Fri 05: Pete Tanton & Alan Law @ Jesmond Library, Newcastle. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 05: House of the Black Gardenia: Summer Tyne Swing Festival @ Northumbria University Students’ Union, Newcastle. 7:00pm. £130.00; £95.00; £70.00; £50.00. Note: all day dance event (classes & socials). House of the Black Gardenia evening performance. Day 1/3.
Fri 05: Strictly Smokin’ Big Band + IKS Big Band @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £24.00. Big band double bill. IKS Big Band (Germany).
Fri 05: Jeremy McMurray’s Pocket Jazz Orchestra @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm. £15.00

Monday, February 07, 2011

NEJC & Friends Beerdorado Tour - Saturday 5th Feb

Andy Champion (twin-bell trumpet) ; Matty Bell (band leader) ; Graham 'Deano' Patrick (5-chord guitar) ; Pete Bradshaw (limitless chord guitar) ; Richard Brown (various finger glasses) ; Adrian Tilbrook (shutter percussion) ; Mark Williams (pyrotechnic schplinger) ; Scott - 'Geordie Dad' - Gilby (rusty lager can) ; Michael Gilby (vocals) ; Robert Laing (sting bass) ; Mick Champion (jumbo fret bass) ; David 'Met' Maroniuk (vocals) ; George Milburn (pre-tensioned bows) ; Noel Dennis (flugelhorn). Andy Champion's best man Matty Bell should be congratulated for putting together this fantastic tour at such short notice - Beerdorados waiting for a train! This Saturday, 14 of the region's top musicians and vocalists played to packed houses in:Leeds, Dewsbury, Huddersfield, Stalybridge and York.
With a completely unrehearsed playlist, pulled out of the hat only by the constant attention of prestidigitator and bandleader Matty, this was so-called free improv jazz at its best.
With his early doors solo on the train to Leeds, Mark was already in fine form with his own composition, Where's the Beer Trolley?! with bursts of breathy brilliance into an empty Strongbow can - Schpling!!!! (for chord anoraks, that's the famous James Bond theme chord.) Taking up the can theme, like the sympathetic improviser that he is, Scott Gilby took the lead as his track, Geordie Dad, swayed off down the carriage aisle with that poignant lyric, "Y'aalreet pet!" getting the most out of a six-pack of rusty McEwan's Export cans - nice! Then, with brother Michael's cool rendering of He ain't Heavy, but He's Not MY Brother Either! the audience was already getting suitably agitated! Bass (not draught) backing from Robert Laing left us all amazed as his Sting Intro burst away from any constrictive mention of dots or staves - completely fretless in the Oddfellows Arms.
As the band reformed in a Leeds bar, it was an opportunity for the North Yorks contingent to blow their vapours into the ethereal fug. Graham/Deano set off with such an imaginative cocktail of chordal brilliance based on his now famous '5-chord' Method soon joined by Pete Bradshaw with the best deconstructed version of Pinball Wizard ever heard, also thanks to his very own 7sus4 Insistence - brilliant! Adrian's percussive Shutter Release was so subtly executed that he's already planning his own imminent lighter CAM'RA tour! Richard Brown's distinctive fingering (see photo) on half-full straight glass was the finest cameo roll on any drums I ever heard before. After Andy's brother's inspired bass solo on his Jumbo Frets, nobody was in any doubt of that strong family music gene - although Mick did seem to cast doubt on common fatherhood - read into that what you like! Meanwhile Dave Maronuik startled us all with his cool rendering of Bless Their Cotton Socks - Little Tinkers! and got us in the mood for the next stage - "You should all be on it!" they cried, and cried, and cried!! Ending up in York for an improv banquet fit for a lop, Andy led the band with his Da Vinci's Last Supper like a true messiah, reaching for various pre-tensioned bows from yours truly's bottomless quiver - or was it quivering bottom - we'll never know! That reminds me however of a Samurai Sword Tail , which is not a fish! Sadly Noel Dennis couldn't make it to this gig - lucky bugger! There's a saying in free-improv circles that nobody dares utter, in fear of being called repetitious/pretentious/predictable* (delete as appropriate) - I'll whisper it to you later! An 11 hour performance that beggars description - a prenuptial so restrained and yet charged with that Van der Graaf generational static which could spark anytime! We all wish that Z-A will find their continually blooming way in North Shields on Thursday.
Photos. George M

1 comment :

Lance said...

Thanks for that succinct report George - Hello and OK will be livid that we scooped them!

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