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

18263 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 18 years ago. 117 of them this year alone and, so far this month (Feb. 6), 17

From This Moment On ...

February

Thu 12: Indigo Jazz Voices @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:45pm. £5.00. CANCELLED!

Fri 13: Noel Dennis Quartet @ Bishop Auckland Methodist Church. 1:00pm . £9.00. Dennis (trumpet, flugelhorn); Rick Laughlin (piano); Mick Shoulder (double bass); Tim Johnston (drums).
Fri 13: Joe Steels @ Jesmond Library, Newcastle. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 13: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 13: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 13: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 13: Castillo Nuevo Trio @ Hotel Gotham, Newcastle. 5:30pm. Free.
Fri 13: Tom Remon & John Moriarty @ The Ship Isis, Silksworth Row, Sunderland SR1 3QJ. 7:00pm. £10.00 + £1.00 bf.
Fri 13: Lindsay Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ Arc, Stockton. 8:00pm.

Sat 14: Castillo Nuevo Trio @ Revoluçion de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30pm. Free.
Sat 14: Big Joe Louis + Michael Littlefield @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £16.00. Jumpin’ Hot Club.
Sat 14: Brass Fiesta @ Revoluçion de Cuba, Newcastle. 10:30pm. Free.

Sun 15: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 2:30pm. Trio + Jason Holcomb. Free.
Sun 15: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 15: Wild Women of Wylam @ Ye Olde Cross, Ryton. 7:30pm. Free.
Sun 15: Yorkshire Gypsy Swing Collective @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 16: Friends of Jazz @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 16: Jasper Lo + Daniel Chandler Trio @ Little Buildings, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 7:00pm. £7.00. + bf.
Mon 16: Joe Steels Group @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £10.00. A Blue Patch album tour.

Tue 17: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ Victoria & Albert Inn, Seaton Delaval. 12:30pm. £9.50. Tickets: 0191 237 3697. ‘Jazz ‘n’ Pancakes’.
Tue 17: John Pope & John Garner @ The Great Hall, Sutherland Building, Northumbria University. 1:15pm. Free. Double bass & violin.
Tue 17: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Stu Collingwood (piano); Paul Grainger (double bass); John Hirst (drums).

Wed 18: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 18: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 18: 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

Tuesday, November 08, 2011

Brass Jaw @ The Lit and Phil, Thursday Nov. 3 - take 2.

Paul Towndrow (alto sax), Konrad Wiszniewski (tenor), Allon Beauvoisin (baritone) ; Ryan Quigley (trumpet)
Strange wriggles from the ghosts of book worms,
In a flickering gaslight shadow play,
The theatrical Mr Bream pounds his gavel 
And the curtain rises with a bluesy
Comin' Home Baby feel
Like a Chinese lantern, casting shadows
On the bookcases, seen through the windows 
Of a murder mystery mansion,
Here you'll find FICTION, M-P
And here, FACT, Aardvark-Brass Jaw.

Like voyeurs of this illicit performance, we watch

As they search between the all-hallowed shelves,
Choosing books of alchemy - formulae to transpose
Brass into gold - the trumpet of Ryan Quigley
Hits a high trill with screaming panache,
Trick or treat? Yikes!

This is the first date of their UK tour,
I scribble down notes as fast as they play them,
They're fast alright, such high energy arrangements,
Like Neutrinos defying Einstein's theory of relativity,
Yet much more entertaining than the laws of physics,
As Paul's composition String Theory suggests,This quartet cannot be defied!

They arrange and re-arrange the standards furniture
With a firey Bruce Lee form of Feng Shui:
It Aint Necessarily So, Drive My Car,
Jo Zawinul's Walk Tall and the challenging Zappa composition
Peaches En Regalia, a tough fruit to eat without a juicy squirt!

Their own compositions are also well inspired, arranged
With such wit and wisdom as should be expected in
The library of the Literary & Philosophical Society:
I Like You - Ryan's warm embracing composition
Chimes convincingly like four part bells - he really means it!

Siddhartha - Konrad's only composition on the new album
- is a great philosophical opener Two words in Sanskrit, siddha (achieved) + artha (meaning)

Which together mean
"He who has found the meaning of existence"
Yes, caught dipping into Wikipedia,
But I did read the Hermann Hesse novel once
And this piece really is the journey of a generous spirit

Set 2 defies the laws of Jazz North East raffles
The tickets are in Wes's hat but hark, what haunting
Sound from yonder trumpet balcony breaks?!
Spectral saxes wail a lament from the depths
Of the literary maze - two players stand before us 
While the others, their plaintive calls lost 
In the Geography section!

Allon's Flat Pack Frog hops confidently across a busy road
Dodging the traffic - it's a game of chance,
Can't bear to look, shut your eyes - but it's too late - splat!
The Well Dented Clavicle - no apologies to JSB - gives
Paul the floor with his story of Rugby woe,
The piece plays like adrenalin chasing pain down the nervous
System of a Fly Half with a broken collarbone - or was he a winger!

We all enjoyed Allon's Rochester Rumble which had us late,
Chasing across town to a NY Jazz Festival gig in
A Cathedral - a lilting Latin rhythm gives us an added sense of
Urgency! Get out the way asshole! You're twisting my baritone man!

Of course there had to be an encore - well deserved -
A Brass Jaw arrangement of Georgie Fame's Sunny
To light our way home.

I bought the new album, Branded - I'm listening to it now,
A reminder of another good-humoured, genuinely entertaining
Jazz event at The Lit & Phil, where the crinkled pages
Of a hundred thousand books
Straightened up and flew right!

Photo Link.
George M.

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