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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

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Sean Noonan’s Bavarian Trio @ The Bridge Hotel. March 19, 2013

Sean Noonan (drums, vocals & kitsch kilt), Norbert Burger (guitar) & Harry Saltzman (tenor saxophone)
(Review by Russell).
Jazz North East invited Brooklyn, NYC drummer Sean Noonan to make another visit to Newcastle, this time in the company of two lederhosen-clad improvisers, to regale us with more of his fantastical tales from the Weird World of Noonan.
The Hub first unleashed their power-trio punk-jazz on an unsuspecting Tyneside public a decade or so ago and Noonan has retained the band’s razor sharp thrash-jazz chops in his latest venture. Noonan went down to the (Bavarian) woods and found to his surprise two like-minded weirdos keen to make a noise, a big noise. And now they are on tour. Noonan is forever on the road, in part to escape the unwelcome advances of a drunkard of a landlady back home (that’s another story and Noonan will, no doubt, tell it again one day), writing and recording new material as he goes.
One senses it is the journey, not the getting there (wherever there is), that motivates Noonan. As Downtown Middleweight Champ, Noonan strode onto stage, head covered by a shimmering, hooded boxing cape, sporting a camouflage-patterned kilt. Is Noonan the Jeff Koons of NYC avant jazz? Kitsch comes easy to him – cape, boxer’s vest, kilt, bunny rabbit ears close at hand, a shrine to King Ludwig. Yes, welcome to the Weird World of Noonan. But can he play? You bet! And what of his new-found friends Burger and Saltzman?
Guitarist Norbert Burger looked positively normal (lederhosen aside!) - straight rather than cool. Being the former made him positively cool. Could he play? And some! Rockabilly, r’n’b, polka, waltz, louche lounge jazz swing, ska, Frisell, Wilko Johnson and more, so much more. Saltzman? He’s in the Weirdo Club…good on him! Big (imagine him chopping firewood in the back woods), bald with big, comedy stick-on beard (it was real!) and lederhosen. Big sound, sight-reading the newer material and as tight as could be. All three were the tightest of tight.
Noonan began with an old favourite – The Legend of John Henry – and followed it with more recent tunes (instant hits!) including The Reincarnation of Several Hammers, Forced Meatballs, Pocket Bones, Na Connery’s and the true story of King Ludwig. Noonan’s compositions allowed for improvised break-out sections incorporating innumerable time signatures, myriad stylistic references, all the while respecting the convention of returning to the head. Frequently hilarious, frequently brilliant, this was a roller-coaster of a show.
Jazz North East’s next concert is a co-promotion with Splinter at the Bridge on Sunday 24 March at the Bridge Hotel featuring Compassionate Dictatorship.
Russell.                                 

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