Bebop Spoken There

Dominick "Domo" Branch: ''Most people say drummers can't write, they're just time-keepers only beating on things. But I have a very musical brain.'' (DownBeat February, 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

18288 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 18 years ago. 142 of them this year alone and, so far this month (Feb. 14), 42

From This Moment On ...

February

Thu 19: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £5.00. Subject: George Shearing Jazz Moments.

Fri 20: Alex Clarke w. Dean Stockdale Trio @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT! Clarke w. Dean Stockdale, Mick Shoulder, Abbie Finn.
Fri 20: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 20: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 20: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 20: Squabble @ Warkworth Memorial Hall. 7:00pm. Steve Chambers (organ); Jude Murphy (double bass, vocals); Sid White (drums).
Fri 20: Jive Aces @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 7:00pm (6:30pm doors).
Fri 20: Alex Clarke w. Dean Stockdale Trio @ Sunderland Minster. 7:30pm. Clarke w. Dean Stockdale, Mick Shoulder, Abbie Finn.

Sat 21: ???

Sun 22: Musicians Unlimited: Big Band Blast @ West Hartlepool RFC. 1:00-3:00pm . Free.
Sun 22: Joe Steels Group @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm. A Blue Patch album tour.
Sun 22: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 22: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 22: Harben Kay Quartet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 23: Joe Steels Group @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 1:00pm. A Blue Patch album tour.
Mon 23: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 24: Finn-Keeble Group @ Newcastle House Hotel, Rothbury. 7:30pm. £11.00.
Tue 24: Liam Oliver & Shayo Oshodi @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 26: Castillo Nuevo Orquesta @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £6.50.
Thu 26: Shalala @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £7.00 adv.
Thu 26: Mick Cantwell Band @ The Harbour View, Roker, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Blues.

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

Monday, February 21, 2011

Paul Edis Sextet @ The Bridge. Sunday 20th February

Paul Edis (keyboards), Mick Shoulder (double bass), Adam Sinclair (drums), Graeme Wilson (tenor saxophone), Graham Hardy (trumpet & flugelhorn) & Chris Hibbard (trombone). The opening bars of Put a Lid On It were pure TS Monk.
This was going to be one of those nights.
Softly, As In a Morning Sunrise (arr.M.Shoulder) featured mature solos from Graeme Wilson and bassist (and arranger) Mick Shoulder. Folk Tune and Sharp 9/8 highlighted the front line's beautiful harmonic interplay (of brass band standard and that's a compliment). A Paul Edis composition - Administrate This - had a shuffle quality similar to R.Veitch's Job Shufflebottom with trumpeter Graham Hardy blowing the roof off leaving 'bone man Chris Hibbard to repair the damage.
Band leader Edis took the honours on Dorian Gray and was that possibly a fleeting reference in the coda to A Love Supreme? A favourite composer of Edis is Donald Brown so Being With You was given an outing as was Bud Powell's Un Poco Loco (arr.G.Wilson). An ambitious suite, nominally titled Three Piece Suite, from the pen of Edis, was given its premiere at Splinter @ The Bridge last year. A year on and we heard part three of the work now known as Elegy. Edis said it has an elegiac quality. Quite so, with excellent flugel from Hardy.
The last number of the night was another Edis tune - Blues For Dad - full of bop phrases, solos from Edis, Wilson, a round of fours with the highly inventive Adam Sinclair and Hardy on trumpet seeing it home. Cue vociferous applause Encore won, we got Graham Wilson's Up Late. This was a great jazz gig; great writing, great playing, great band.

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