Bebop Spoken There

Donovan Haffner ('Best Newcomer' 2025 Parliamentary Jazz Awards): ''I got into jazz the first time I picked up a saxophone!" - Jazzwise Dec 25/Jan 26

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

18146 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 24 of them this year alone and, so far this month (Jan. 7), 24

From This Moment On ...

JANUARY 2026

Thu 08: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £5.00. Subject: Jazz Milestones of 1976.

Fri 09: The House Trio @ Bishop Auckland Methodist Church. 1:00pm. £9.00.
Fri 09: Nauta @ Jesmond Library, Newcastle. 1:00pm. £5.00. Trio: Jacob Egglestone, Jamie Watkins, Bailey Rudd.
Fri 09: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 09: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 09: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 09: Warren James & the Lonesome Travellers @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm. £15.00.
Fri 09: The Blue Kings @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £10.00. (£8.00. adv.). All-star band.

Sat 10: Mark Toomey Quintet @ St Peter’s Church, Stockton-on-Tees. 7:30pm. £12.00. (inc. pie & peas). Tickets from: 07749 255038.

Sun 11: New ’58 Jazz Collective @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 11: Am Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 11: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 11: Eva Fox & the Sound Hounds @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 12: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 12: Saltburn Big Band @ Saltburn House Hotel. 7:00-9:00pm. Free.

Tue 13: Milne Glendinning Band @ Newcastle House Hotel, Rothbury. 7:30pm. £11.00. Coquetdale Jazz.
Tue 13: Jazz Jam Sandwich @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Wed 14: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 14: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 14: Jam Session @ The Tannery, Hexham. 7:00pm. Free.
Wed 14: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

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

Monday, December 24, 2012

Jazz in the Afternoon @ Cullercoats' Crescent Club. December 24


Iain MacAulay (trombone, trumpet & vocals), Derek Fleck (clarinet, soprano saxophone, tambourine & Santa hat), Roy Gibson (keyboards), John Carstairs Hallam (electric bass) & Ollie Rillands (drums) + Joan Armstrong (vocals), Brian Chester (trombone) & Barry Soulsby (vocals).
(Review by Russell).
Party time, Christmas apparently. Birthday time too. Keyboards' man Roy Gibson and bar worker Aynsley share the same birthday, albeit generations apart. Happy birthday to you and you. Iain MacAulay's laconic vocal style introduced My Blue Heaven and front line partner Derek Fleck introduced his soprano saxophone to the daylight for the first time in eons, on Summertime. 

Cullercoats Crescent Club could be in the running for Camra's Club of the Year with no fewer than three handpulls on the bar (Brains, Camerons and Skinners) and a fair number of regulars eschewed any notion of last minute end-of-the-world panic buying to sink a pint or three and listen to some good-time jazz. The raffle prizes bypassed this table (Lance, Ann and yours truly), multi instrumentalist John Hallam dropped by to say hello, talk all things dance band and give an update on his latest purchase (the mind boggles as to how many musical instruments reside at Chez JCH!). Joan Armstrong got up to sing a couple of numbers (You Don't Know Me and Jingle Bell Rock) and Barry Soulsby arrived in time to tell us about his Worried Man Blues. MacAulaintroduced Buona Sera or as he would have it Bonnie Sarah (not quite Dean Martin!). Sentimental Journey provided a two-trombone treat (the contrasting styles of MacAulay and Brian Chester) and Birthday Boy Gibson featured on St.Louis Blues. Next week's session is of course Hogmanay and Scot Macaulay promises (threatens?) one or two surprises!

Russell.

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