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Bebop Spoken There

George Colligan: ''I think to be a successful musician, you must be versatile to make a living — until you find your niche''. (DownBeat, July 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

17,612 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 576 of them this year alone and, so far, 54 this month (July 18).

From This Moment On ...

JULY 2025

Sat 19: Streets of Brass @ Durham City. From 10:00am. Free. Various street bands. A Durham Brass Festival event.
Sat 19: Mr Wilson’s Second Liners: BRASS Boat Cruise @ Elvet Bridge jetty (by the boat club & Tomahawk Steak), Durham City. 12 noon. £12.00.; £10.00.; £5.00. 60 mins cruise, 2 x sets. SOLD OUT! A Durham Brass Festival event.
Sat 19: Bollywood Brass Band @ Monument Metro Station & Haymarket Metro Station, Newcastle. 2:00pm & 3:00pm & 4:00pm (3 x 30 mins). Free. A Gem Arts Masala Festival event.
Sat 19: Diddy Sweg: BRASS Boat Cruise @ Elvet Bridge jetty (by the boat club & Tomahawk Steak), Durham City. 2:00pm. £12.00.; £10.00.; £5.00. 60 mins cruise, 2 x sets. A Durham Brass Festival event.
Sat 19: Brazen Brass Band: BRASS Boat Cruise @ Elvet Bridge jetty (by the boat club & Tomahawk Steak), Durham City. 12 noon. £12.00.; £10.00.; £5.00. 60 mins cruise, 2 x sets. A Durham Brass Festival event.
Sat 19: Party in the Park @ Wharton Park, Durham. 5:00-9:00pm. Free. Ten street brass bands. A Durham Brass Festival event.
Sat 19: Jeff Hewer Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 19: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sat 19: Tyne Valley Big Band @ Chopwell Community Centre. 8:00pm.

Sun 20: Streets of Brass @ Durham City. From 11:00am. Free. Various street bands. A Durham Brass Festival event.
Sun 20: Always Drinking Marching Band: BRASS Boat Cruise @ Elvet Bridge jetty (by the boat club & Tomahawk Steak), Durham City. 11:00am. £12.00.; £10.00.; £5.00. 60 mins cruise, 2 x sets. A Durham Brass Festival event.
Sun 20: New York Brass Band: BRASS Boat Cruise @ Elvet Bridge jetty (by the boat club & Tomahawk Steak), Durham City. 1:00pm. £12.00.; £10.00.; £5.00. 60 mins cruise, 2 x sets. A Durham Brass Festival event.
Sun 20: Das Brass: BRASS Boat Cruise @ Elvet Bridge jetty (by the boat club & Tomahawk Steak), Durham City. 3:00pm. £12.00.; £10.00.; £5.00. 60 mins cruise, 2 x sets. A Durham Brass Festival event.
Sun 20: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 20: Pope/Garner/Byrne/Alderson @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. JNE.

Mon 21: Gerry Richardson Quartet @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 1:00pm. £9.00. at the door; £8.20. (inc £0.20 bf) online, in advance.
Mon 21: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club (1:00pm). Free.
Mon 21: New Century Syncopated Seven @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £10.00.

Tue 22: Lewis Watson Quartet @ Newcastle House Hotel, Rothbury. 7:30pm.

Wed 23: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 23: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 23: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 23: Isobel Pearce Quartet @ Dept. of Music, Palace Green, Durham University. 8:15pm. £10.00. & £7.00. First night of two. A Durham Fringe Festival event.

Thu 24: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: Tony Roberts presents ‘Progressive Jazz’.
Thu 24: Soweto Kinch + Theo Croker + Joe Webb Trio + Rivkala @ The Fire Station, Sunderland. 8:00pm (doors 7:30pm). £23.00. A BBC Proms event.
Thu 24: Isobel Pearce Quartet @ Dept. of Music, Palace Green, Durham University. 8:15pm. £10.00. & £7.00. Second night of two. A Durham Fringe Festival event.

Fri 25: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 25: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 25: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 25: The Society Quartet @ Hilton Garden Inn, Sunderland. 6:00pm. Tel: 0191 500 9494. £26.00 (inc. two course meal).
Fri 25: Trio Grand @ Land of Oak & Iron, Winlaton Mill. 6:00pm. Free. Barbara Wilcox (keyboards, vocals); Paul Carter (bass); George Voros (drums, vocals).
Fri 25: Bold Big Band @ Old Coal Yard, Byker, Newcastle. 7:00pm. £18.00.; £12.00.; £6.00.; £4.00. A Newcastle Fringe Festival event.
Fri 25: Michael Woods @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Country blues guitar & vocals. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

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

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

The Budtones @The Jazz Cafe - Saturday 28th May

Stu Finden - tenor sax ; Fiona Littlewood - vocals, tenor sax ; Tim Knowles - guitar ; Jim Crinson - double & 5 string bass ; Omid Ramak - drums (standing in for Eric Stutt) A jazz rock solid debut for the reinvented Budvivar - Fiona launched her jazz vocal career tonight with such panache we'll all be queuing outside Zoe's new Low Fell door for singing lessons! Such a joyful mellow voice for jazz standards she danced confidently through the verbal prestidigitation of Love Me or Leave Me and Get it Straight (...no Chaser) occasionally recharging her vocal chords with a blast on the tenor in several instrumental numbers, including Stu's own Stoo's Blues - a lively piece with some great tenor solo work from both Stu and Fiona. In fact Stu Finden is the solid backbone to this band with his understated but well-crafted solos really drawing you in - the perfect side man for Fiona's lively vocals, which we expect to grow in strength and maybe, in a couple of numbers, in pitch, to keep the band in their place. This was the first time I'd stepped into the classic ambience of the Jazz Cafe, no, seriously! There's a nostalgic heady vapour like the leather and petrol of an old American car - the ones with the flying rear wings and huge rear lights. To give the band a chance to set up, we watched them and the enigmatic Keith Crombie - flashes of the film Cabaret still playing on his face - through the windows of The Forth opposite: reflections of a silent movie like two Edward Hopper paintings on opposite walls playing tricks in bar mirrors! And so with Keith's determined yet friendly pessimism still ringing in my ears - "Jazz is dead in Newcastle!" - Fiona launched into the second set with the acid nostalgic funk of Dexter Gordon's Psychedelic Sally as Omid jumped up to the plate with a passion and the place started to fill up with punters. An engaged couple danced an improv tango as Keith rearranged the furniture like a kindly uncle, so we could all join in. Jazz not dead then, just occasionally poorly! Some steady well-executed Wes Montgomery-esque guitar work from Tim as he dealt with the lively West Coast Blues. Then later, a friendly gesture to Mark Williams, who's admiration of Tim's lovely Ibanez 175 won him an impromptu place in the band while Tim took five in the still-expanding late shift in the audience pit. Mark really took off with the inspiration of the Ibanez seeming to forget that he was only passing through - no complaints! Although Omid was only standing in for Eric Stutt he made an impressive impact and paired up well rhythmically with the confident versatility of Jim Crinson on sometimes double, sometimes 5 string electric bass. Overall a great night, in for me, a fantastic venue. Other numbers we remembered: You Go to My Head and But Beautiful. If we're allowed to quote lyrics? Love is funny, or it's sad, Or it's quiet, Or it's mad. It's a good thing, Or it's bad, But beautiful... George M Photos Chiaroscuro - i.e. impossible to make out what's there! But Beautiful You Go To My Head
Stoo's Bloos - Orignal by Stu
Love Me or Leave me
Straight No Chaser
Well You Needn't

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