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

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.

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: Geordie Jazz Jam @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. Newcastle University jam session. All welcome.
Wed 25: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, 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.

Fri 27: Joe Steels Group @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. £8.00. SOLD OUT! A Blue Patch album tour.
Fri 27: Alan Barnes w. Mick Shoulder Trio @ Bishop Auckland Methodist Church. 1:00pm. £9.00. Trio: Rick Laughlin (piano); Mick Shoulder (double bass); Tim Johnston (drums).
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: Radio Hito + Eddie Prévost, Silvain Schmid & Tom Wheatley @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm (doors). £12.22., £10.10., £8.00.
Fri 27: Giacomo Smith w Strictly Smokin’ Big Band @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm.
Fri 27: Alan Barnes w. Mick Shoulder Trio @ The Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. £15.00. Trio: Rick Laughlin (piano); Mick Shoulder (double bass); Tim Johnston (drums).

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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