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Bebop Spoken There

Steve Coleman: ''If you don't keep learning, your mind slows down. Use it or lose it''. (DownBeat, January 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

17733 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 53 of them this year alone and, so far, 53 this month (Jan. 20).

From This Moment On ...

January 2025

Wed 22: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 22: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 22: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 22: Pasadena Roof Orchestra @ Fire Station, Sunderland. 7:30pm.

Thu 23: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, Holystone. 1:00pm. Free. Fortnightly.
Thu 23: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: Obituaries 2024.
Thu 23: Jason Isaacs @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 4:30-6:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Thu 23: Pedal Point Trio @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Fri 24: Zoë Gilby Quartet @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 24: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 24: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 24: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 24: Creakin’ Bones & the Sunday Dinners @ Lindisfarne Social Club, Wallsend. 9:00pm. Admission: TBC. Jazz, blues , jump jive, rock ‘n’ roll.

Sat 25: Boys of Brass @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 3:30-5:30pm. Free.
Sat 25: New '58 Jazz Collective @ Jackson's Wharf, Hartlepool. 6:30pm (doors). Free. A Burns' Night event. Jazz, swing, funk, soul, blues etc.
Sat 25: Edison Herbert Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 25: Red Kites Jazz @ Parish Hall, St Barnabas’ Church, Rowlands Gill. 7:30pm. £10.00. BYOB (tea & coffee available), raffle. Proceeds to St Barnabas’ Church. Performance feat. Shayo (vocals).
Sat 25: Jack & Jay’s Songbook @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 26: Musicians Unlimited @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 26: Graham Hardy Eclectic Quartet @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm.
Sun 26: Ruth Lambert Trio @ The Juke Shed, Union Quay, North Shields. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 26: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 26: Jazz Jam Sandwich! @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 26: Tweed River Jazz Band @ Barrels Ale House, Berwick-upon-Tweed. 7:30pm. Free.
Sun 26: Gratkowski, Tramontana, Beresford, Affifi @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £12.00. JNE.
Sun 26: Jazz Jam @ Fabio’s, Saddler St., Durham. 8:00pm. Free. A Durham University Jazz Society promotion. All welcome.

Mon 27: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 28: ???

Wed 29: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 29: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 29: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).

Thu 30: Matters Unknown (aka Jonathan Enser, Nubiyan Twist) + support TBA @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 8:00pm (7:00pm doors). £12.22 (gig & food); £9:04 (gig only).
Thu 30: Soznak @ The Mill Tavern, Hebburn. 8:00pm. Free.
Thu 30: Struggle Buggy @ Harbour View, Roker, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Rhythm & blues.

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, December 20, 2011

Stan Tracey Quartet @ The Sage. Dec.19.

Stan Tracey (piano), Simon Allen (alto & tenor saxophones), Andy Cleyndert (double bass) & Clark Tracey (drums) + Ben Tracey (narration)
Reviewing Sunday's storming session at the Bridge Hotel, Bebop Spoken Here's Main Man - LL - suggested that Stan Tracey would have to play like he's never played before at The Sage the following night to win the accolade of 'Gig of the Year'. LL said all bets were off. Well, he should have put his money on Stan the Man. This was gig of the year!
A good turn-out in Hall Two greeted the Great Man and his Merry Men. Tracey introduced the band and in so doing said he would leave the stage temporarily during the first number not because of his bladder rather his memory - he had left his sheet music back stage! The first tune - Triple Celebration - most recently recorded on the apposite CD Senior Moment was but one of many gems mined from the Tracey back catalogue during the first set. Rocky Mount followed, then Duffy's Circus. The quartet's standard of musicianship could not be bettered. The tunes swung mightily, Simon Allen played great tenor then even better alto. Hearing Andy Cleyndert again served as a reminder of just how good a player he is.
Clark Tracey and Cleyndert have been the rhythm section for years and years and it showed; smiles, a nod of approval, the appreciation mutual. Tracey Snr played more piano on this gig than in a long time. He was in Monk mode, right foot tapping out the rhythm at a rate of knots. What a first set!
Stan's grandson Ben Tracey joined the quartet for the second set as narrator of Dylan Thomas' A Child's Christmas. This jazz suite, the first music Tracey had written in years, recalled Under Milk Wood. Comparisons were inevitable and perhaps against expectation any such comparisons were most favourable. Ben Tracey, at twenty two years of age, is a star in the making. He cut a figure right out of PG Wodehouse or perhaps that of a young Stephen Fry. One could imagine him as an intern working under the tutelage of Ian Hislop in the office of Private Eye. His delivery of Thomas' words was simply immaculate. Words and music integrated wonderfully; Allen opted to play alto throughout the piece, Cleyndert laid down one of the great solos of all time (not for the first time) and Tracey Jnr (that's drummer Clark) played like he knows he's good (and he is).
The year has brought us many fantastic gigs here in the north east. Stan Tracey at The Sage topped the lot. Stan Tracey celebrates his birthday next week - Friday 30th - in concert in Umbria, Italy. How good is that?
Russell 

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