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Bebop Spoken There

Van Morrison: ''Basically, I'm coming from jazz. Not pop, not rock, not what's commercial. That's where I started, and that's still where I am. I feel the same as I did when I was listening to Louis Armstrong, Lead Belly, Jelly Roll Morton''. (The Northern Echo, 12 June 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

1803759 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 480 of them this year alone and, so far, 58 this month (June 18).

From This Moment On ...

JUNE 2025

Mon 23: MSK Trio @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 1:00pm. £9.00. at the door; £8.20. (inc £0.20 bf) online, in advance.
Mon 23: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club (1:00pm). Free.

Tues 24: ???

Wed 25: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 25: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 25: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 25: The Magpies of Swing @ The Roxy, Leadgate, Co. Durham. 7:30pm. A Ginger Jitterbugs swing dance event, all welcome.

Thu 26: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: Brass Instruments & the use of mutes.

Fri 27: Lewis Watson Quartet @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm.
Fri 27: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 27: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 27: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 27: Strictly Smokin’ Big Band @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 8:00pm. ‘Time After Time’.

Sat 28: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Linskill Centre, North Shields. 4:00-10:30pm. Free, but ticketed (over 18s only). A multi-bill, multi-genre ‘Canny Shiels - North Shields 800’ event. Three Kings Brewery on site.
Sat 28: Joseph Carville Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 28: Jude Murphy & Dan Stanley @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 29: Jude Murphy & Dan Stanley @ Wallington, Northumberland. 12 noon-1:00pm & 2:00-3:00pm. Tel: 01670 773606. National Trust admission prices apply. ‘Tunes in the Blooms’.
Sun 29: Glenn Miller Orchestra UK @ The Fire Station, Sunderland. 3:00pm. Ray McVay & co.
Sun 29: Ruth Lambert Trio @ Juke Shed, North Shields. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 29: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 29: Zoë Gilby w. Ryton Choral Society @ Corbridge Middle School NE45 5HX. 5:30pm. £15.00. Gilby w jazz trio & choir. ‘An evening of jazz song for choir’.
Sun 29: Jazz Jam Sandwich! @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 29: John Wilson & the Sinfonia of London @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 7:30pm. ‘Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Greatest Hits’.
Sun 29: Out Front @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. JNE.

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

Monday, September 03, 2012

Sassafrazz @ The Cherry Tree.

Siobhan Stanley (vcl); Mark Deeks (pno); Peter Morris (bs); John Forster (dms).
(Review by Lance.)
Sassafrazz, I suspect is a new band although no doubt they are all seasoned professionals - perhaps as seasoned as my Warm Salad of Confit Duck and Chorizo Sausage with which I started the evening.
I missed the first number just as Siobhan "Missed the Saturday Dance"  which she struck up with as I arrived. Well, just as they "Crowded the floor" in the song so did the diners crowd the tables both upstairs and down. It was a very good turn out although it has to be said that this was in part due to pianist Mark Deeks who, in a parallel    universe, is involved with the Inspirational Choir at The Sage and several of his choristers had come along in support - I don't think they would have been disappointed.
This was the first time I'd heard Ms. Stanley who has a great voice that can seemingly turn from jazz to soul to blues and back again - barely dropping a beat in the process. Peggy Lee's He's A Tramp, You're So Vain, I Heard it on the Grapevine, Lilac Wine, Feelin' Good just some of the outstanding numbers in the first set.
My only criticism being the lady's need to hold the lead sheet as she sang - I don't imagine that the chef had Delia Smith sitting on his knee as he prepared my Grilled Barnsley Lamb Chop, Squash Gatin and Salas Verde. Still, if it's a new band I suppose it takes time to learn the words and she did sing them very well. Bass and drums were effective without being obtrusive,
The second set got under way with a round of happy birthdays and wedding anniversaries before the serious stuff which kicked off with, I quote, Eva Cassidy's It Don't Mean a Thing if it Ain't Got That Swing!
Deeks was featured on Summertime before he segued into Fever with some dramatic keyboard flourishes behind the vocal. Paloma Faith's Upside Down, You've Got a Friend, an agonisingly (yet quite beautiful) slow version of The House of the Rising Sun, Learning The Blues, more instrumental fireworks from the grand piano in the form of I Get a Kick Out of You whilst I was getting a kick out of Whisky and Apple Creme Brulee - Biscoti. Autumn Leaves brought us up to 33A bus time so it was with some reluctance that I left missing an original by Deeks entitled Bjork.
This was an enjoyable session and I look forward to catching Sassafrazz again - if only to learn the background to their name!
Next week - Djangologie.
Lance.

1 comment :

Mark Deeks said...

Thanks for the kind words. Whilst I'd love to take credit for writing the Bjork song, it is in fact a Bjork song! It's called Joga.

Really appreciate the comments though. If you are interested, we are supporting the new choir Echo at their Motown show at Gosforth Trinity Church on Friday December 7th at 7.30pm.

https://www.facebook.com/MarkDeeksMusic#!/events/497221353637561/

http://soundcloud.com/sassafrazz

Thanks again, Mark

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