Bebop Spoken There

Joe Alterman: ''All I wanted to do growing up was to sound like Erroll Garner playing "Poor Butterfly." I thought that was the coolest sound I'd ever heard.'' (DownBeat November, 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

19,061 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 18 years ago. 925 of them this year alone and, so far this month (Oct. 30) 104.

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

October.

Sat 31: Saltburn Big Band + Durham Alumni Big Band @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm.
Sat 31: East Coast Swing Band @ Cramlington Village Club, Park View, Cramlington NE23 6QJ. 7:30pm. £10.00. (from venue).

November

Sun 01: Smokin’ Spitfires @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:45pm. £10.00.
Sun 01: Ian Bosworth Quintet @ Chapel, Middlesbrough. 1:00pm. Free. Quintet w. special guest Donna Hewitt (tenor sax, clarinet)
Sun 01: Sax Choir @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 01: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 01: Sarah Heneghan Trio @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 02: Friends of Jazz @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 02: Saltburn Big Band @ Saltburn House Hotel. 7:00-9:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).

Tue 03: Alan Law @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 2:00pm. Free. Alan Law (piano) w. guest tba
Tue 03: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Stu Collingwood, Paul Grainger, Abbie Finn.
Tue 03: Customs House Big Band @ The Masonic Hall, Ferryhill. 7:30pm. Free.

Wed 04: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 04: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 04: An Evening of Erykah Badu @ Holy GrAle, Durham. 7:30pm. £3.00.; £2.50. A Durham University Jazz Society event.
Wed 04: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 05: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ The Millstone, Mill Rise, South Gosforth, Newcastle. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 05: Hejira - Celebrating Joni Mitchell @ Alnwick Playhouse. 7:30pm.
Thu 05: Cut Capers @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 7:00pm (doors).
Thu 05: Northern Reaches @ Newcastle Arts Centre. 7:30pm. Free (donations). Pete Tanton, Joe Steels, Laurence Blackadder, John Hirst.
Thu 05: Fergus McCreadie @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm.

Fri 06: Mike Durham’s International Classic Jazz Party @ Village Hotel, West Allotment. 12 noon. Day 1/3.
Fri 06: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 06: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 06: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 06: Jazz Night: Bridget Metcalfe @ Saltburn House Hotel. From 6:00pm. Tickets: £40.00 (inc. a two-course meal & glass of Prosecco). Tel: 01287 658977.

Monday, March 28, 2011

Splinter @ The Gateshead International Jazz Festival

The annual Splinter showcase (a Jazz Action initiative) in the Northen Rock Foundation Hall featured four of the region's most accomplished ensembles.
Saxophonics - Graeme Wilson (tenor), Niall Armstrong (baritone), Steve Summers (alto) & Keith Robinson (alto & sporano) - are the north east's answer to the 29th Street Saxophone Quartet. The quartet presented some new material including Niall Armstrong's Mice Heaven written in 14/8 recalling the work of Don Ellis and a Graeme Wilson piece in honour of the 29th Street band. Mike Mower's tune Hiatus was given an outing as was Wilson's Stranded at the Wine Bar. This was an excellent opening set to the afternoon.
The Zoe Gilby Quintet opened with Midnight Bell (a song about the Midnight Bell pub on Euston Road, London, which in turn took its name from Patrick Hamilton's novel of 1929). Charles Mingus' Dry Cleaner From Des Moines with lyrics by Joni Mitchell, Pink Floyd's Money (a duo performance by Gilby and bassist Andy Champion) and Centrepiece were but some of the winning tunes from yet another top-class set by Gilby's band (Mark Williams -guitar, Noel Dennis - trumpet/flugehorn, Richard Brown - drums and Champion).
Tenor saxophonist Claude Werner followed and had it all to do. Double bass player Lawrence Blackadder and guitarist Lloyd Wright provided a solid platform for Werner to cut loose and new recruit, drummer John Hirst, played magnificently from the off. Werner can blow and blow and he did just that. A torrent of ideas poured forth on original numbers including Sitting in the Sun and the ever playful Kids. Werner garners accolades each time he plays a gig and this performance was no different. A number of people in the hall heard the Chilean for the first time and were mucho impressed. Will he ever receive a bad review? Not on this form he won't!
Closing Splinter's afternoon of jazz was Nick Pride and the Pimptones.  This is a class outfit. Snappy tunes, snappy dressers, one of the band's tunes - Midnight Feast of Jazz - got it just about right...a feast sure enough although not quite the witching hour!
 Russell.
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