Bebop Spoken There

Donovan Haffner ('Best Newcomer' 2025 Parliamentary Jazz Awards): ''I got into jazz the first time I picked up a saxophone!" - Jazzwise Dec 25/Jan 26

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

18146 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 24 of them this year alone and, so far this month (Jan. 7), 24

From This Moment On ...

JANUARY 2026

Fri 09: The House Trio @ Bishop Auckland Methodist Church. 1:00pm. £9.00.
Fri 09: Nauta @ Jesmond Library, Newcastle. 1:00pm. £5.00. Trio: Jacob Egglestone, Jamie Watkins, Bailey Rudd.
Fri 09: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 09: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 09: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 09: Warren James & the Lonesome Travellers @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm. £15.00.
Fri 09: The Blue Kings @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £10.00. (£8.00. adv.). All-star band.

Sat 10: Mark Toomey Quintet @ St Peter’s Church, Stockton-on-Tees. 7:30pm. £12.00. (inc. pie & peas). Tickets from: 07749 255038.

Sun 11: New ’58 Jazz Collective @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 11: Am Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 11: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 11: Eva Fox & the Sound Hounds @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 12: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 12: Saltburn Big Band @ Saltburn House Hotel. 7:00-9:00pm. Free.

Tue 13: Milne Glendinning Band @ Newcastle House Hotel, Rothbury. 7:30pm. £11.00. Coquetdale Jazz.
Tue 13: Jazz Jam Sandwich @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Wed 14: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 14: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 14: Jam Session @ The Tannery, Hexham. 7:00pm. Free.
Wed 14: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 15: Mark Toomey Quartet @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm. Free. Quartet + guest Paul Donnelly (guitar).

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

Sunday, April 24, 2011

800 YEARS ON........A GOOD AFTERNOON WAS HAD BY ALL

I know this is a jazz blog, but I’m sure readers won’t mind a brief review to follow up Lance’s item, especially since Lance was there (yes, at a folk do!) for part of the time
The four Mummers were resplendently dressed as St George on his horse; a green dragon who also played the doctor; a rather sexy witch with a cobweb attached to the back of her hat; and a Friar Tuck. They did the play to an appreciative audience in the Alum house, then, I’m told, stopped the karaoke in Rosie’s with their play and played to a happy audience in the Stag’s Head. The witch then took ill (did she cast a spell on herself by mistake I wonder?) and had to go home.
Meanwhile, we singers and musicians stayed in the Alum house and had a great time playing, with performers dropping by throughout the afternoon. There were 3 fiddles, small pipes, and a hurdy-gurdy, besides the usual flutes, whistles, mandolins and guitars. Four of us sang chorus songs (ie songs with a chorus, not chorus as in jazz songs). Folkies had come from Jarrow, Hebburn, North Tyneside and Sunderland, as well as local South Shields people. One singer had even dropped by from Worcester, via Newcastle. He was colourfully dressed in green and white, with a striped tie. I thought at first that he must surely be a supporter of Celtic football team. There was even a clog dance. There’s nothing quite like the hard, sharp rhythm of clogs on a wooden floor.
So now you know what folkies do on a bank holiday. The South Shields folk club is closed for the next 2 Sundays, so it’s jazz time for me again. It’s all music! I ain’t never heard a horse sing it. (probably a misquotation)
Ann Alex.

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