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

18288 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 18 years ago. 142 of them this year alone and, so far this month (Feb. 14), 42

From This Moment On ...

February

Thu 19: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £5.00. Subject: George Shearing Jazz Moments.

Fri 20: Alex Clarke w. Dean Stockdale Trio @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT! Clarke w. Dean Stockdale, Mick Shoulder, Abbie Finn.
Fri 20: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 20: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 20: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 20: Squabble @ Warkworth Memorial Hall. 7:00pm. Steve Chambers (organ); Jude Murphy (double bass, vocals); Sid White (drums).
Fri 20: Jive Aces @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 7:00pm (6:30pm doors).
Fri 20: Alex Clarke w. Dean Stockdale Trio @ Sunderland Minster. 7:30pm. Clarke w. Dean Stockdale, Mick Shoulder, Abbie Finn.

Sat 21: ???

Sun 22: Musicians Unlimited: Big Band Blast @ West Hartlepool RFC. 1:00-3:00pm . Free.
Sun 22: Joe Steels Group @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm. A Blue Patch album tour.
Sun 22: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 22: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 22: Harben Kay Quartet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 23: Joe Steels Group @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 1:00pm. A Blue Patch album tour.
Mon 23: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 24: Finn-Keeble Group @ Newcastle House Hotel, Rothbury. 7:30pm. £11.00.
Tue 24: Liam Oliver & Shayo Oshodi @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 26: Castillo Nuevo Orquesta @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £6.50.
Thu 26: Shalala @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £7.00 adv.
Thu 26: Mick Cantwell Band @ The Harbour View, Roker, Sunderland. 8:00pm. 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

Wednesday, May 02, 2012

The Stu Brown Sextet - Twisted Toons: the music of Raymond Scott

The Stu Brown Sextet animates village halls in Wark, Corbridge and Whittingham with an evening exploring the weird and wonderful music of ‘the man who made the cartoons swing’. Raymond Scott was a little known band leader, composer and inventor, whose wacky, hyper-animated, eyeball-popping ‘cartoon jazz’ is most widely recognisable for it’s use in the Looney Tunes cartoons from the 1940’s onwards and, more recently, in Ren and Stimpy, and The Simpsons. The evening will feature offbeat compositions, performed by Stu’s brilliantly orchestrated sextet - Brian Molley -Tenor Sax; Martin Kershaw – Clarinet; Tom MacNiven – trumpet; Tom Gibbs – piano, Ray Percy – double bass and Stu Brown on drums.

The show opens with a specially commissioned eight minute documentary film about Raymond Scott, made by his son, Stan Warnow. The sextet then take over with tunes such as ‘Dinner Music for a Pack of Hungry Cannibals’ and Square Dance for ‘Eight Egyptian Mummies’ which lent themselves perfectly to the antics of Bugs, Daffy and Road Runner.
The group has proved immensely popular with audiences of all ages and backgrounds, from jazz fans, to general music lovers, to film and animations fans, and families with young children. They have played to crowds at many of the UK’s leading jazz festivals, including Manchester, Cheltenham, Edinburgh & Gateshead.
“Wittily daft, exotic and swinging…his band bounce through the hilariously detailed charts with immense relish and skill. Brilliant resurrection of 1930’s crackpot jazz” Chris Ingham, Mojo Magazine
Thursday 10th May 7.30pm. Whittingham Village Hall, Whittingham, NE66 4UP.£7 / £4.50 concession
01665 574 964.
Friday 11th May 7.30pm. Wark Town Hall & Mechanics Institute, Wark NE48 3LH £7 / £6 concession 01434 230 250.
Sunday 13th May 7.30pm. Corbridge Parish Hall, St Helens Street, NE45 5BE.
£7.50/ £4 child/ £20 family ticket. 07500 822 784.

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