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Bebop Spoken There

George Porter Jr.: ''To me, syncopation is like jazz. It wasn't meant for the masses. It was meant just for a hip few". (DownBeat, May 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

18043 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 364 of them this year alone and, so far, 42 this month (May 15).

From This Moment On ...

MAY 2025

Fri 16: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 16: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 16: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 16: Sophie Speed with the Dean Stockdale Trio @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 16: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 1:00-2:45pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Fri 16: Jason Isaacs @ STACK, Exchange Sq., Middlesbrough. 4:00-6:00pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Fri 16: Giles Strong Quartet @ Longframlington Memorial Hall. 7:00pm (doors). Tickets: £12.00. from 01665 570984.
Fri 16: Hot Club du Nord @ St Cuthbert’s Centre, Crook. 7:30pm. £10.00.
Fri 16: Peter Donegan & Anthony Donegan @ The Witham, Barnard Castle. 7:30pm. ‘Lonnie Donegan - The Stories’.

Sat 17: Teresa Watson Band @ Billy Bootleggers, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. Blues.
Sat 17: The Society Quartet @ Hilton Garden Inn, Sunderland. 6:00pm. Tel: 0191 500 9494. £26.00 (inc. two course meal). Line-up: Jason Holcomb, Hannah Taylor, Alix Shepherd & Abbie Finn.
Sat 17: Milne Glendinning Band @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 17: Archie Brown & the Young Bucks @ Billy Bootleggers, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. Rhythm & blues, Americana etc.
Sat 17: Bellavana @ Newcastle Arts Centre. 7:30-10:00pm. Free. A Late Shows event.
Sat 17: Rockin’ Turner Brothers @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Rockabilly, Western swing etc.

Sun 18: Jason Isaacs @ STACK, Seaburn. 12 noon-2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sun 18: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 18: Ruth Lambert & Giles Strong @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 18: Steve Summers Quintet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 19: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 19: Lewis Watson Quartet @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £10.00.

Tue 20: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Stu Collingwood, Paul Grainger, Bailey Rudd.
Tue 20: Alexia Gardner Quintet @ Pleased to Meet You, Bridge St., Morpeth NE61 1ND. 8:00pm.

Wed 21: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 21: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public). b Wed 21: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 22: Nuevo Castillo Orquesta @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £5.00.
Thu 22: Anna Reay & Deon Krishnan @ STACK, Exchange Sq., Middlesbrough. 7:30-9:15pm. Free.
Thu 22: Pedal Point Trio @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

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, November 21, 2012

Gateshead International Jazz Festival 2013 Announced

Gateshead International Jazz Festival, the largest UK festival held under one roof, has today [21 November] announced its headline acts and themes for 2013 including The Brand New Heavies,  Lighthouse, Phronesis, National Youth Jazz Orchestra, Christine Tobin and Ruby Turner. The festival will take place in the spectacular surroundings of The Sage Gateshead on Friday 5th - Sunday 7th April 2013 and tickets go on sale on Friday 7th December.
The festival kicks off in Hall One with the first ever visit to the venue from the National Youth Jazz Orchestra (NYJO) – now enjoying a new and higher profile - with some special jazz guests, plus an opening set from the The Sage Gateshead’s own youth jazz ensemble, Jambone. In Hall Two that evening the genre-busting Soweto Kinch presents material from his new double album ‘The Legend of Mike Smith’ with his new trio.
The North is a key theme for the festival, interpreted in various ways. Saturday night’s Hall One concert presents two jazz suites inspired by the North East of England – ‘Northumbrian Sketches’, written in the 1980’s by Newcastle jazz musician/composer Ian Carr in its first ever North East performance, and ‘Songs to the North Sky’, written in 2012 by Tim Garland, resident in the region. Both will be performed by Northern Sinfonia, orchestra of The Sage Gateshead, with jazz soloists Tim Whitehead and Henry Lowther plus award winning trio Lighthouse,featuring the award-winning pianist Gwilym Simcock. The venue’s intimate Jazz Lounge, created for the festival, will host two afternoons of ‘Jazz from the North’ on the Saturday and the Sunday, with bands from the North of England, Scotland and also from the far North with theVerneri Pohjola Trio and Oddarrang, both from Finland and who have recently received a warm reception at the London Jazz Festival.
The connection with Nordic jazz goes further welcoming back Danish bass player Jasper Høiby and his band Phronesis on the Sunday who, since their 2010 appearance at the festival as part of a Loop Collective showcase, have taken Europe by storm. They are supported by the unique duo Little Radio (Iain Ballamy and Norwegian Stian Carstensen).
A sideways North East connection comes with the unique concert ‘Speed of Grace – a tribute to AC/DC’ by German jazz singer Jens Thomas with Verneri Pohjola whereby the music of AC/DC becomes late night chamber jazz.
The festival is always delighted to work with broadcaster/musician Alyn Shipton and this year he will work with us to develop Jazz Words - an exploration of the relationship between jazz and poetry, notably the work of Philip Larkin and W.B.Yeats; ‘Larkin’s Jazz’ involves both jazz settings of his poems but also readings of Larkin’s writing about jazz and the playing of the works he describes. The event also includes Irish singer Christine Tobin’s highly regarded ‘Sailing to Byzantium’ - her band’s settings of Yeats poems. Alyn Shipton will also present a live edition of Radio 3’s Jazz Record Requests from the festival.
Guitarists will be thrilled to hear that seminal French guitarist Bireli Lagrene makes a rare appearance outside London; whilst still a master of the Reinhardt legacy, his current band is a free-wheeling quartet reminiscent of 1960’s Blue Note, with saxophonist Franck Wolf, drummer Jean Marc Robin and Hammond organist Jean-Yves Jung providing the texture and groove. 
Soul and funk lovers will be up on their feet for a sensational double bill in Hall One on the last night of the festival with Jools Holland regular Ruby Turner and 90’s superstars The Brand New Heavies, who are now celebrating a new album release.
The Sunday afternoon will also see and hear the Concourse of The Sage Gateshead filled to its iconic roof with the sounds of over 100 saxophone players in the culmination of the North East’s own version of Saxophone Massive, the now well established mass participation project for sax players of all ages and abilities playing under the guidance of the project’s originator and Gateshead International Jazz Festival’s regular Andy Sheppard and guitarist Chris Sharkey.
Ros Rigby, Performance Programme Director at The Sage Gateshead said: “I am really looking forward to welcoming some new artists to our festival such as the Finnish artists as well as some of the quirkier events like the AC/DC tribute which I'm sure Gateshead's own Brian Johnson would enjoy!”
Gateshead International Jazz Festival is produced by The Sage Gateshead in collaboration with SERIOUS.
Tickets can be booked either by calling 0191 443 4661, online at www.thesagegateshead.org/gijf13 or in person from The Sage Gateshead’s Ticket Office from the 7th December (pre-sale on the 6th December to Sage Supporters. For more information about joining Sage Supporters visit www.thesagegateshead.org/support-us )

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