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

Thu 08: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £5.00. Subject: Jazz Milestones of 1976.

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.

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

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Steve Fishwick Quartet @ Hoochie Coochie

Steve Fishwick (tpt); Ross Stanley (keys); Tim Thornton (bs); Matt Fishwick (dms).
This was a good gig make no mistake about it. A driving set that, if there was to be any criticism, it would be that it had just too much excitement!
Steve is one of the more forceful modern trumpet players and he eschews Chet and Miles in favour of Clifford, Lee and Freddie.
They blew bop - of course they did - but with Ross Stanley on keys (a regular visitor to the area) it was never going to be a nostalgia thing and at times it approached the edge with some avant garde playing that Charlie Parker would have struggled to accept even on his own Passport which drew the first set to a close.
A bottle or two of London Pride, chat with Paul Edis and Don Forbes, then it was back to 52nd St - 2011.
How Deep Is The Ocean? Lullaby, a Woody Shaw piece and Steve's own Howling brought things to a, wait for it, Howlin' close. The audience wanted more and they got it with a blues that had the room roaring its approval. Brother Matt, on drums, showed that there is more than one way to skin a kit with an extended drum solo that scored.
Hoochie Coochie is a good venue yet tonight there were few of the regular jazz audience in (if there is such a thing and I'm beginning to wonder...) Perhaps they took heed of the dammed with faint praise Steve Fishwick had been subjected to elsewhere. Fortunately, there were  enough people with open minds who just came to enjoy the music.
They were rewarded with an evening that may have changed their lives (well we do live in hope!)
Ross Stanley is back in the region at The Cluny on September 27.
Photos
Lance.

2 comments :

Anonymous said...

"How Deep Is The Ocean? Lullaby," is not a Woody Shaw tune.

Lance said...

I couldn't agree more! The sentence should have read - How Deep Is The Ocean?, Lullaby, a Woody Shaw piece - the title of which escaped me - and Steve's own composition, Howling, which brought things to a, wait for it, Howling close.
I shouldn't have had that extra bottle of London Pride!

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