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, March 01, 2012

Frith Street @ Hoochie Coochie.

Zita Frith (vcl); Lloyd Wright (gtr); Phil Richardson (keys); Ian Paterson (bs); David Francis (dms).
Perilously perched on a bar stool, Frith opened with a fast shuffling Well Alright, Ok, You Win. The sound was good and Wright showed he didn't need time to warm up as he took the old Basie classic to Mars and back on a blistering work out. Georgia on my Mind kept the pulse ticking as did The Candyman. There Will Never Be Another You swung nicely then an anomaly. Frith described her next number as "A corny song". I think Mr. Sinatra, Mr Astaire and the composer, Cole Porter, may have disagreed with this description of Let's Face The Music and Dance! To her credit, faced with such 'corny' material she sang it well.
Back to the non-corny material -   wanna hold you wanna hold you tight, Get teenage kicks right through the night!, L-O-V-E and The Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy From Company B.
A superb set from an equally superb band and singer.
The bottles of London Pride were going down well and Warren was frequently called to provide more chairs for the rapidly filling room. This really is a good venue and well worth checking out.
Back on stage, a lady in the audience was heard to remark favourably on Frith's asymmetric angled hairstyle which was as cool as her Sway.
Wright steamed into Choo Choo 'Ch Boogie taken at a laid back bluesy tempo and Frith sang it so well they named a street in London after her and planted a jazz club there!
Let's Do It, Loverman, Lullaby of Birdland and the encore The Way You Look Tonight took us to the end of one of the best Hoochie Thursdays to date.
Come back soon.
Lance.

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