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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

Thu 19: Gareth John & the SOS Big Band @ The Forum Music Centre, Darlington. 7:00pm. £25.00. CANCELLED!

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: David Gray's Flextet @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 20: Strictly Smokin’ Big Band @ Alnwick Playhouse. 7:30pm. £21.50. ‘Time After Time’.
Fri 20: Alexia Gardner Quintet @ Sunderland Minster. 7:30pm.
Fri 20: King Bees @ Billy Bootleggers, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. Superb Chicago blues band.

Sat 21: Milne Glendinning Band @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 21: Red Kites Jazz @ Staithes Café, Dunston. 7:00-9:00pm. Free.
Sat 21: Papa G’s Troves @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 22: Phoenix 4 @ Wallington, Northumberland. 12 noon-1:00pm & 2:00-3:00pm. Tel: 01670 773606. National Trust admission prices apply. ‘Tunes in the Blooms’.
Sun 22: Lapwing Trio @ Wallington, Northumberland. 1:00-2:00pm. Tel: 01670 773606. National Trust admission prices apply. ‘Tunes in the Blooms’.
Sun 22: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 22: Jason Isaacs Trio @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 4:00pm. £18.00. + £1.08 bf.
Sun 22: JazzMain @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

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.

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

Saturday, October 27, 2012

"We'll Make Fun For You" - 2012 Whitley Bay Classic Jazz Party Day 2 Saturday Oct. 27.

Josh Duffee   (drums/leader). Rico Tomasso,     René Hagmann & AndySchumm (trumpets), Kris Kompen (trombone), Matthias Seuffert, Jean-François Bonnel, Michael McQuaid  & Gavin Lee (reeds), Keith Nichols (piano/vocal), Martin Wheatley (banjo) and Richard Pite (sousa).Mike Durham, Spats Langham (vcl).
(Review by Lance.)
I was on stewarding duty although, being the second day not much stewarding was required - it had all been done yesterday - most fans come for the weekend and shack up at the Village Inn which is a very shackable establishment. However, I was driving and night driving isn't my forté so I couldn't stay for all the sessions after my stewarding was done. Tomorrow I shall take the 309 bus from The Haymarket which I should have done today.
My biggest regret is missing the  Four's A-Plenty set by Rene Hagmann (cornet), Jean-Francoise Bonnell (sop/clt), Manu Hagmann (bass) and Roly Veitch (guitar). This was a tribute to the Bechet-Spanier Four whom many, myself included, see as the precurser to the Gerry Mulligan Quartet. Hopefully the man from Jazz Lives recorded it.
I did manage to catch the last number of a tribute to Graeme Bell and his Australian Jazz Band. They were excellent although I couldn't help but reflect and wonder who, back in the early nineteen-fifties, would have imagined such a tribute being paid all these years on? Then again, I doubt if McKinney's Cotton Pickers thought they would be remembered maybe 80 years later in a north east English coastal town!
But that was what this set was all about - a foot-tapping set recreating the music of McKinney's Cotton Pickers which was the only full set I was able to catch but it was most enjoyable with plenty good solos and vocals including one by festival Major-Domo Mike Durham - resplendent in a beige dinner jacket and boutonnière. Mike's vocals included Baby Won't You Please Come Home and I Want a Little Girl. Keith Nichols also sang and played piano and Spats Langham's numbers included There's a Rainbow Round My Shoulder and It's Tight Like That.
In the above photo on the left, Enrico Tomasso (l) and J.C. Hallam are wheeling and dealing mutes. On the right Matthias Seuffert is preparing a tribute to Roland Kirk (joking!) 
More from Jazz Lives. 
Lance

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