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Bebop Spoken There

Stan Woodward: ''We're part of the British jazz scene, but we don't play London jazz. We play Newcastle jazz. The Knats album represents many things, but most importantly that Newcastle isn't overlooked". (DownBeat, April 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

17904 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 225 of them this year alone and, so far, 72 this month (March 24).

From This Moment On ...

MARCH 2025.

Wed 26: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ 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: Hannabiell & Midnight Blue @ King’s Hall, Newcastle University. 1:15pm. Free.
Thu 27: Michael Littlefield & Scott Taylor @ The Harbour View, Roker, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Superb blues duo.

Fri 28: Giles Strong Quartet @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. £8.00 SOLD OUT!.
Fri 28: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 28: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 28: Spilt Milk @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 7:00-9:00pm. Free. Nolan Brothers (vocal harmonies).
Fri 28: Castillo Nuevo Orquesta @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £8.00.
Fri 28: Pete Tanton’s Chet Set @ Old Cinema Laundrette, Durham. 7:45pm.
Fri 28: Sue Ferris Quintet @ Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. £10.00. Opus 4 Jazz Club.
Fri 28: Mostly Moonlight @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Fri 28: Juliana Day & Manon McCoy @ Cumberland Arms, Byker, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £12.00.; £10.00. advance. JNE.

Sat 29: Edison Herbert Trio @ The Vault, Darlington 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 29: Doris Day Story @ Phoenix Theatre, Blyth. 7:30pm.
Sat 29: Squabble! @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 30: Jan Spencelayh & Dave Archbold @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 30: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 30: Jamil Sheriff Trio w. Nadim Teimoori @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm.
Sun 30: Ruth Lambert Trio @ The Juke Shed, Union Quay, North Shields. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 30: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 30: Jazz Jam Sandwich! @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 30: Jamil Sheriff Trio w. Nadim Teimoori @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 31: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

APRIL 2025

Tue 01: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Joe Steels, Paul Grainger, Mark Robertson.
Tue 01: Customs House Big Band @ The Masonic Hall, North St., Ferryhill DL17 8HX. 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

Saturday, January 12, 2013

R.I.P. George Gruntz.

One of the outstanding concerts of the 1983 North Sea Jazz Festival held in Den Haag was the session by the George Gruntz Concert Jazz Band. It was a star studded line-up that included Tom Harrell, Palle Mikkelborg, Howard Johnson, Julian Priester, Bob Moses, Charlie Mariano (pictured soloing) and of course Gruntz leading from the piano. Oh yes, they also had a vocalist - Sheila Jordan. It was a memorable mix of many nationalities but the music spoke with one tongue - modern jazz.
Therefore it is with much sadness that I received the news that George Gruntz had died, age 80, on January 10.
Lance.
Obituary.
George Gruntz was born on the 24th june 1932 in Basel. He worked as pianist, organist, keyboardist, composer and as big band leader (George Gruntz Concert Big Band). He worked with many artists such as Phil Woods, Roland Kirk, Don Cherry, Chet Baker, Art Farmer, Dexter Gordon, Johnny Griffin and Mel Lewis.
During the 60tis he toured in Europe and accompanied as pianist stars like Dexter Gordon, Roland Kirk, Donald Byrd, Lee Konitz, Chet Baker, Johnny Griffin, Gerry Mulligan and Art Farmer. In 1965 he joined Flavio Ambrosetti and led his own trios. He also produced two early ethno-jazz-albumss, once with drummers from Basel, but also with the music of Bedouines (Noon in Tunesia, 1967). He created on the cembalo also his own Baroque-version. In 1968 and 1968 he toured with phil Woods's Europeam Rhythm Machine. 
1971 he founded with Flavio and Franco Ambrosetti the Concert Jazz Band, where stars like Alan Skidmore, Sheila Jordan, Dave Bargeron, Dave Liebman, Lew Soloff or Ray Anderson performed his arrangements and which travelled all around the world (except for Australia). It was the only european big band, which ranked ten times in a row in the Downbeat-Poll.
Already in the 60tis he started a cooperation with known composers as Rolf Liebermann, Earle Brown and Hans Werner Henze. Gruntz composed several plays and oratorias. In 1973 the opera of Paris ordered from him a World Jazz Opera, which finally premiered at the LaMama-theater in New York. With the poet Allen Ginsberg he composed the jazz-opera "Cosmopolitan Greetings", directed by Robert Wilson (Hamburg, 1988). An other jazzopera was 2003 "The Magic of the Flute" (Libretto: Peter O. Chotjewitz). Gruntz also wrote several scores for movies.
George Gruntz often worked as guest-director with radio-big-bands (WDR, NDR) and symphonie-orchestras all over Europe. Between 1970 and 1984 he was musical director of the Schauspielhaus in Zürich. From 1972 to 1994 he was artistic director of the Jazzfestival Berlin.
Ralph Gluch.

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