The Blaydon Aces @ St Mary’s Heritage Centre. September 13

Roly Veitch (vocals, guitar & banjo), James Birkett (guitar & banjo).

(Review by Russell).

Bebop Spoken Here covers the jazz waterfront and beyond including the north east’s legendary blues scene (jazz is blues, as someone once said) and initiatives such as Ruth Lambert’s thriving buskers’ night down at the Bell and Bucket. The Blaydon Aces are very much part of this cultural firmament. Local lad Roly Veitch plays jazz guitar, sings a song or two, runs a jazz club and does sundry other things yet somehow finds the time to research and rework the tunes of Geordie tunesmiths down the ages.

In the company of his friend (and virtuoso guitarist) James Birkett, Veitch lovingly presents songs of the Geordie dialect – the well known and in some cases the long lost. A Blaydon Aces’ concert is a musical treat and an education into the bargain. Veitch took time to talk about each song and its composer, developing the social and political context of the material. Keelmen, pitmen and regular Geordie folk featured in tales of workers’ lives, loves and life’s occasional absurdities. Cullercoats Bay (Jack Robson), The Row Between the Cages (Tommy Armstrong) and Fog on the Tyne (Alan Hull) were but three of many excellent tunes during two warm-hearted sets in St Mary’s Heritage Centre on the banks of the Tyne. The jazz content was, understandably, minimal. The musician’s craft was evident in bossa and calypso arrangements of a couple of tunes; Eric Boswell’s I’ve Got a Little Whippet and the traditional Wor Geordie’s Lost His Penker…typical jazzers! The guitar playing was first class, the banjo playing wasn’t to be sniffed at and all in all it was a canny night infused with gentle Geordie humour . The Blaydon Aces’ latest CD Gan Canny (check the blog to read Ann Alex’s review) is available at gigs and from www.rolyveitch.20m.com. The duo’s next concert is on Saturday (15 September) in Ponteland. It will be a grand night but save yourself a journey - unless you have a ticket - it has SOLD OUT!

Russell