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Bebop Spoken There

Steve Coleman: ''If you don't keep learning, your mind slows down. Use it or lose it''. (DownBeat, January 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

17733 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 53 of them this year alone and, so far, 53 this month (Jan. 20).

From This Moment On ...

January 2025

Wed 22: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 22: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 22: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 22: Pasadena Roof Orchestra @ Fire Station, Sunderland. 7:30pm.

Thu 23: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, Holystone. 1:00pm. Free. Fortnightly.
Thu 23: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: Obituaries 2024.
Thu 23: Jason Isaacs @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 4:30-6:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Thu 23: Pedal Point Trio @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Fri 24: Zoë Gilby Quartet @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 24: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 24: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 24: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 24: Creakin’ Bones & the Sunday Dinners @ Lindisfarne Social Club, Wallsend. 9:00pm. Admission: TBC. Jazz, blues , jump jive, rock ‘n’ roll.

Sat 25: Boys of Brass @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 3:30-5:30pm. Free.
Sat 25: New '58 Jazz Collective @ Jackson's Wharf, Hartlepool. 6:30pm (doors). Free. A Burns' Night event. Jazz, swing, funk, soul, blues etc.
Sat 25: Edison Herbert Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 25: Red Kites Jazz @ Parish Hall, St Barnabas’ Church, Rowlands Gill. 7:30pm. £10.00. BYOB (tea & coffee available), raffle. Proceeds to St Barnabas’ Church. Performance feat. Shayo (vocals).
Sat 25: Jack & Jay’s Songbook @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 26: Musicians Unlimited @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 26: Graham Hardy Eclectic Quartet @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm.
Sun 26: Ruth Lambert Trio @ The Juke Shed, Union Quay, North Shields. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 26: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 26: Jazz Jam Sandwich! @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 26: Tweed River Jazz Band @ Barrels Ale House, Berwick-upon-Tweed. 7:30pm. Free.
Sun 26: Gratkowski, Tramontana, Beresford, Affifi @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £12.00. JNE.
Sun 26: Jazz Jam @ Fabio’s, Saddler St., Durham. 8:00pm. Free. A Durham University Jazz Society promotion. All welcome.

Mon 27: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 28: ???

Wed 29: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 29: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 29: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).

Thu 30: Matters Unknown (aka Jonathan Enser, Nubiyan Twist) + support TBA @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 8:00pm (7:00pm doors). £12.22 (gig & food); £9:04 (gig only).
Thu 30: Soznak @ The Mill Tavern, Hebburn. 8:00pm. Free.
Thu 30: Struggle Buggy @ Harbour View, Roker, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Rhythm & blues.

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, January 21, 2013

The Curse of the Banjo and Other Stories

This evening I was wearing my other musical head, at South Shields Folk Club, where there was an   entertaining, and true, banjo story and also many burger tales (or should it be tails!).
John, a banjo player, who is also a model railway enthusiast, was at a model railway exhibition some years ago.  He was playing his banjo to entertain himself when the stall was quiet.  Another stallholder complained to the exhibition manager, instead of approaching John first, and the manager told him to stop playing, which he did reluctantly.  John returned to the same exhibition last year – the other stallholder was nowhere to be seen and it turned out that the exhibition manager was dead!  John reckons this was the curse of the banjo!
Burger jokes:
Heard in Tesco ‘I’ll have a fiver each way on that burger’
A certain supermarket is selling a new line in burgers – My Lidl pony
My wife and I ate horseburgers from Tesco, they were good but we got the trots
I bought a bottle of Bacardi, a bottle of navy rum and some burgers – white rum, dark rum and Red Rum.
I showed the assistant in Tesco’s the barcode and she handed me a zebra.
Ann Alex
at

3 comments :

Anonymous said...

Apropos of nothing in particular and banjos in general, in Dublinese, the verb 'to banjo' means to commit a violent act against some usually innocent bystanders (This may apply to jazz audiences listening to banjo solos). For reference see Christy Moore's song 'The Crack was Ninety in the Isle of Man'. This may explain the curse of the banjo...but on the other hand, maybe not.

Wednesday, January 23, 2013 12:20:00 am
Ann Alexander said...

I'm surprised (or maybe not!) to find that there is a prejudice against banjos in the jazz world as well as in the folk music world. In folk, the bodhran drum is also joked about - it's a one-sided drum held in the hand, and it's more difficult to play than you'd suppose - I know as I've tried. Perhaps all musical instruments are good if played well, so I wonder how these prejudices get started?
Ann Alex

Friday, January 25, 2013 12:55:00 am
Lance said...

The problem with the Bodhran is that nobody knows the correct pronunciation unless they live in a hamlet situated close to a peat bog near Tipperary. However, the pronunciation is probably totally different in Kildare - it certainly is in Jarrow.
As regards the unmentionable - Bloody Awful Noise Jazz Oddity - Its failings are in melodic charm, harmonic depth, and the ability to sooth the savaged breast. In it's favour, it is lethal in a game of Conkers.

Friday, January 25, 2013 1:10:00 am

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