Bebop Spoken There
Ron Carter quoting Sonny Rollins: ''What we call jazz - that's keeping the world in equilibrium. I don't care what kind of music you like out here today. It all comes from jazz.'' (DownBeat August, 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
18818 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 18 years ago. 682 of them this year alone and, so far this month (Aug. 20) 51.
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
August
Sun 23: Tyne Valley Big Band @ Royal Quays Marina, North Shields. 2:00-4:00pm. Free.
Sun 23: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free..
Sun 23: Blue Note Quintet @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm. £12.00., £10.00..
Sun 23: Timmy Allan Quartet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Mon 24: Friends of Jazz @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Tue 25: Michael Young Trio @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 26: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 26: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 26: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Thu 27: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ The Millstone, Mill Rise, South Gosforth, Newcastle. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 27: Castillo Nuevo Orquesta @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. £6.50. 7:30pm (doors).
Thu 27: Paul Skerritt @ Angels' Share, St George's Terrace, Jesmond, Newcastle NE2 2SX.
8:00pm. Free. Booking advised (0191 200 1975). Skerritt w. backing tapes.
Thu 27: 58 Jazz Collective @ The Blacksmith’s Arms, Stranton, Hartlepool. 8:00pm. Free.
Thu 27: Shalala @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £7.00.
Fri 28: Graham Hardy Quartet @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. £8.00.
Fri 28: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 28: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 28: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Sat 29: Brian Jackson @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 8:30pm (doors). £32.00.
12 comments :
Rest in peace, Keith. You did so much to make swing dancers welcome, and keep Jazz alive.
Your sense of humour and kindness will be greatly missed.
Lou
Swing Dancer
x
Shocking news. Keith Crombie was a gruff but absolutely lovable character who struggled on for years and years keeping his beloved Jazz Cafe going, trailing the streets with flyers, etc.
He provided a totally unique venue, a great place for jazz musicians to play and hang out.
He and his Jazz Cafe are already Tyneside jazz legend. The anecdotes would make a very good book!
Very sad.
Roly
The Jazz Café is possibly the last real life personification of all the fictional jazz venues. At first, all that was missing was the smoke - now it's Keith...
Jake.
For as long as I've been playing jazz in Newcastle I have played it at the Jazz Cafe on Pink Lane. It's a dingy, cluttered, tiny space, the absolute archetype of the term 'Jazz Club'. It has been the site of much learning, listening, hard work, laughter, frustration and joy, all for the love of music and those who make it. It's importance in my development - not to mention that of the scores of other musicians who performed there regularly - cannot be overstated. None of that could have happened without Keith Crombie and his insurmountable dedication to keeping the place alive, to give the people of this city a place to see the music he cared about be played. Tonight we honoured his memory with that music. I feel humbled and grateful to have been a part of it. He will be sorely missed.
RIP Keith Crombie.
Wouldn't the best memorial be for someone to keep it going?
RIP
I think it was 1993 when I first met Keith. It was my first time at the Jazz Cafe on a mid-week night and I was being inquisitive about the set-up of the Jazz Cafe. All of a sudden he turned in his likeable abrupt character and said "You ask a lot of F*%$ing questions dont you, are you a copper?" Since then we have been great friends and myself and others have had some very memorable nights there. Keith you will be sadly missed and I sincerely hope that one of your family or colleagues continue to run the Jazz Cafe in the way that we all like it....
R.I.P.
Nick
I first met Keith in the 70's when he used to frequent Julie's nightclub. He was often gruff but always likeable and over the years I got used to seeing him around the town (usually in the vicinity of the universities) handing out his flyers for the Cafe. Keith was an absolute legend and one of the last of the great Nort-East characters. He was a bugger for who he would allow through the door (depending on his mood haha) altho if you had a student union card you were generally ok. Heaven has a new guard on the door today. Rest in Peace, Keith, you were truly one of a kind x
Keith could certainly do mood swings. I recall his apparent fury with me when we were both trying to use the same pub wall to publicise our gigs, and then one minute later, once I had convinced him that no clash was meant, he was enthusiastically sharing his love of the film 'Bullshot'. His love of jazz was clear to all: it was the simple explanation for the Jazz Cafe - a characterful individual venue that was loved perhaps at least as much for its faults as its virtues. Long may it survive. It surprised and pleased me over the years that the many students of the Newcastle Swing Dance Society all seemed to see through his grumpiness quickly and liked him.
Well said.
As long as they dont change a thing. Leave all dvds and books in there (and his tv). and dont paint the place. it is absolutely perfect as it is. Bless ya Keith, I will miss you terribly. James
i met keith when i moved to newcastle in the early 90's, on my first visit to the jazz cafe i asked for a job and worked there throughout my 20's-what a job! I turned up soon after i begun working there at 10 in the morning, distraught after seeing my then boyfriend off on a long train to china (literally). Keith gave me two shots of whiskey and then got me in the kitchen washing the grease off the walls as i cried myself to normality. He was a big softie...a big heart. the end of an era. the cafe without keith...i just can't imagine it.
RIP, Keith
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