Bebop Spoken There

Melissa Aldana: ''Having to play a ballads album, which is something very revealing for a saxophone player, would help me to question some new aspects of how to go deeper into sound." (DownBeat May, 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

18621 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 18 years ago. 485 of them this year alone and, so far this month (June 14) 37

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

From This Moment On

June

Tue 23: Alan Law Trio @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 2:00pm. Free.
Tue 23: Jude Murphy & Dan Stanley @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Wed 24: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 24: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 24: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 25: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ The Millstone, Mill Rise, South Gosforth, Newcastle. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 25: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £5.00. Subject: Forgotten Ones & Any Quintets.
Thu 25: Edgar Ho Trio @ Newcastle Arts Centre. 7:30pm. Free. Brilliant alto sax, piano & double bass trio. Unmissable!
Thu 25: Paul Skerritt @ Angels' Share, St George's Terrace, Jesmond, Newcastle NE2 2SX. 8:00pm. Free. Booking advised (0191 200 1975). Skerritt w. backing tapes.

Fri 26: Finn-Keeble Group @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. £9:00.
Fri 26: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 26: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 26: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 26: Clark Tracey @ Live Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Newcastle Jazz Festival. £26.00. Day 1/2.

Sat 27: OUTRI @ Live Theatre, Newcastle. 1:00pm. £13.01. 1:00-1:45pm. Newcastle Jazz Festival. Day 2/2.
Sat 27: Tees Bay Swing Band @ Richardson & Westgarth Sport & Social Club, Hartlepool. 1:30pm. Free. Open rehearsal. Note change of venue.
Sat 27: House of the Black Gardenia + Magpies of Swing @ The Cumberland Arms, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sat 27: Mark Toomey Quartet @ Live Theatre, Newcastle. 2:15-3:15pm. £13.01. Newcastle Jazz Festival. Day 2/2.
Sat 27: Alexia Gardner Quintet @ Live Theatre, Newcastle. 3:45-4:45pm. £13.01. Newcastle Jazz Festival. Day 2/2.
Sat 27: Rory Ingham @ Live Theatre, Newcastle. 5:30-6:30pm. £19.51. Newcastle Jazz Festival. Day 2/2. Ingham w. Dean Stockdale, Ian Paterson, Dave McKeague.
Sat 27: Castillo Nuevo Trio @ Revoluçion de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30pm. Free.
Sat 27: Laura Jurd @ Live Theatre, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £26.00. Newcastle Jazz Festival. Day 2/2. Sat 27: Brass Fiesta @ Revoluçion de Cuba, Newcastle. 10:30pm. Free.

Sun 28: Musicians Unlimited: Big Band Blast @ West Hartlepool RFC. 1:00-3:00pm . Free.
Sun 28: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 28: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Table reservations (0191 261 8000). Skerritt w. backing tapes.
Sun 28: Tim Kliphuis Trio @ St Mary’s Church, Wooler. 3:00pm. £18.00., £6.00. A Wooler Arts Summer Concerts event. Tim Kliphuis (violin); Nigel Clark (guitar); Roy Percy (double bass).
Sun 28: Ruth Lambert Trio @ Juke Shed, North Shields. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 28: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 28: An Evening of Jazz @ St James’ Church, Copper Chare, Morpeth. 7:30pm. Tickets: £10.00 from 01670 788869 or 01670 519923. Mid Northumberland Chorus (MD Robin Forbes, Emma Straughan, piano) w. jazz trio featuring Edgar Ho, Oscar Ho & Dave McKeague & special guest Emily Masser. Performance inc. Bob Chilcott’s A Little Jazz Mass + George Shearing’s Songs & Sonnets.
Sun 28: Led Bib @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £15.00., £12.00. JNE.

Mon 29: Friends of Jazz @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Saturday, November 03, 2012

Tell us about the first time and how it was for you...

We review gigs and CDs. We list and preview gigs as well as announcing births, deaths and marriages. It's a good format and keeps our community informed.
However, I think it would be even better to have some more general pieces from within our readers' own area of jazz.
Examples; Some words about your favourite band, memories of venues past and present, a particular musician singer whose discs mean something to you - in fact anything to run alongside the reviews and previews which of course will remain our staple diet - in fact what I want are your opinions and your memories.
I would like you to recall hearing legends either before or after they became a legend. A memory of your first concert, your first record, your first jazz club, your first playing gig, your first... Anything jazz related. For example, when I received my first pay packet I immediately bought Glenn Miller's In The Mood on 78rpm.
I have moved on since then but it remains in my collection numbered 1A.
You've got the picture I guess so let's have these things recorded for posterity.
Lance.
PS: This invitation is worldwide!

3 comments :

Anonymous said...

I got into jazz via 1960s Brit R&B bands then American artists such as Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Muddy Waters. I got to like folk blues and boogie woogie piano from this source. Then a friend and colleague at the office where I had started work turned out to be a very good blues and boogie pianist. His name was Bob Hogg - he was married to local session guitarist Charlie Smith's daughter. Bob introduced me to Peterson's iconic 'Night Train' album. That was it - hooked! I just about wore out the album. Honey Dripper, Hymn to Freedom, Georgia on my mind etc. - all superb tracks with his great trio with Ray Brown and Ed Thigpen.
Roly

Anonymous said...

I was brought up in a house full of music...from Fats Waller to Stan Kenton. Stan Kenton got my attention!
...and Woody Herman.
Keen and Peachy and The Four Brothers on the other side of the wax 78.
I was about twelve years old and very impressionable. First I was going to be a trombone player then a drummer followed by trumpet. I ended up a saxophone player...The Four Brothers saw to that!
And about six years later Johnny Griffin at Ronnie Scott's led me to a lifelong battle with the tenor sax.
I've seen and heard a lot of great players over the years and it's impossible to pick out a favorite.
If you ever saw, and heard, Jazz At The Phil "live", you'd know what I mean!

Anonymous said...

The first jazz gig I remember was the Duke Ellington Band - I thought it was September 1972, but the online references to Ellington playing Hammersmith Odeon in the 1970s make it October 1971! I was 12 (or 11...).

My brother and I were taken by our father, a jazz fan. I don't rember much, aside from a clear image of Paul Gonsalves soloing in a bright spotlight.

In the interval, we were taken to a nearby pub, where all the band had gathered: my father introduced us to the musicians - but I have no idea who was there!

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