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Bebop Spoken There

Trevor Mires: ''My mum is a Dean Martin fan: I'm not, so I would grab my skateboard and get out of the house whenever I heard "Everybody Loves Somebody, Sometime." ". (Jazzwise, 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

17972 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 293 of them this year alone and, so far, 49 this month (April 22).

From This Moment On ...

April 2025.

Fri 25: Vasilis Xenopoulos & Paul Edis @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT! Duo performance.
Fri 25: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 25: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 25: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 25: Andrea Vicari Trio @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. £8.00. Vicari (piano); Andy Champion (double bass); Russ Morgan (drums).
Fri 25: Jason Isaacs @ STACK, Exchange Sq., Middlesbrough. 4:00-6:00pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Fri 25: Red Kites Jazz @ Land of Oak & Iron, Winlaton Mill. 6:00-9:00pm. Free.
Fri 25: Vasilis Xenopoulos & Paul Edis @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 7:30pm. £15.00. at the door; £14.35. (inc £0.35 bf) online, in advance.
Fri 25: Struggle Buggy @ The White Room, Stanley. 7:45pm. Rhythm & blues.
Fri 25: Paul Skerritt Big Band @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm. £20.30., £18.00. All-star big band.
Fri 25: Andrea Vicari Trio @ Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. Vicari (piano); Andy Champion (double bass); Russ Morgan (drums). An Opus 4 Jazz Club event.

Sat 26: Durham Alumni Big Band @ Number One Bar, Darlington. 12 noon. Free (donations).
Sat 26: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 26: Vasilis Xenopoulos & Paul Edis @ Elvet Methodist Church, Durham. 7:30pm. Tickets: £12.00. + bf. Duo performance.
Sat 26: Neil Cowley Trio @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm. £22.50.
Sat 26: Pete Tanton & the Cuban Heels @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 27: Musicians Unlimited @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 27: Andrea Vicari Trio @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00pm. Vicari (piano); Andy Champion (double bass); John Bradford (drums).
Sun 27: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 27: Vasilis Xenopoulos-Paul Edis Quartet @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm. Xenopoulos, Edis, Paul Susans, Russ Morgan.
Sun 27: Ruth Lambert Trio @ Juke Shed, North Shields. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 27: JustKing Jones @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. 7:00pm (doors). £17.50. JustKing Jones (alto sax, soprano sax); Jordan Williams (piano); Jason Clotter (bass); Malcolm Charles (drums). Ace NYC outfit!
Sun 27: Jazz Jam Sandwich! @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 27: Swing Manouche @ Warkworth Memorial Hall. 7:30pm. £15.00. Tickets from 01665 711388.
Sun 27: Vasilis Xenopoulos-Paul Edis Quartet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Xenopoulos, Edis, Ken Marley, Russ Morgan.

Mon 28: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 29: ???

Wed 30: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 30: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 30: International Jazz Day @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £16.00.; £14.00. adv.. Feat. Guido Spannocchi, John Pope & Steve Hanley + Take it to the Bridge participants + Open Mic Night participants.

MAY 2025

Thu 01: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: Member’s Contribution.
Thu 01: Alabaster de Plume @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm.
Thu 01: Living in Shadows + OUTRI @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Thu 01: The Shayo Experiment @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Shayo Oshodi & Liam Oliver.
Thu 01: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm. 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

Thursday, April 11, 2013

GIJF: Day 1 - Stonephace Stabbins featuring Zoe Rahman.

"Stonephace" Stabbins, (saxes and flute), Zoe Rahman (piano), Pat Illingworth (drums), Crispin"Spry" Robinson (percussion), Karl Rasheed Abel (bass).
(Review by JC.)
Although I like to think I keep in touch with what's happening in music, sometimes a name or a group are mentioned that I have to admit I've never heard of.  Larry "Stonephace" Stabbins was one of these names and the group that was mentioned in connection with him, Working Week, was another. However, in my defence, looking up the internet, it seems they came to prominence in the 1980s when I was in rural seclusion living in a tiny village in deepest Northumberland. So access to music was quite limited and although it was rumoured that there were brilliant Northumbrian pipers, fiddle and harmonica playing shepherds somewhere about, I never heard any of them and the only gig I went to in 8 years was the Ray Stubbs One Man Band in a pub in the next village. However, I would have thought the name 'Stonephace' might have stood out in the cultural ether, as even among the hard biitten characters living in tiny  snow bound cottages in the Northumberland hills, it was not that common a title.
So although I'd never heard of him, the previews on BSH were insistant, saying 'Whatever you do, don't miss Stonephace Stabbins' and as I saw that Zoe Rahman was playing as well that was good enough for me. As it happened circumstances meant that I couldn't get to any of the earlier shows so having a gig that didn't start until 10.30pm was perfect. The gig was in the Northern Rock Hall, which is not my favourite performance space as the ceiling is too high and it's hard to get an intimate atmosphere. But none of that mattered, as from the first couple of notes of Coltrane's Africa, I was hooked. 
The band started on a high and carried on upwards. The music was from their latest album Transcendence and channels the intense emotional feel of Coltrane's spiritual jazz. I knew none of the tunes but that didn't matter, Stabbins and the band were terrific. Zoe Rahman had the piano under her complete control with spiky chords and rippling solos. If my piano teacher had told me, as she tried to get me to practice Greensleeves, that it was okay to give the keyboard an ecstatic forearm smash every so often (as Zoe did) I'd still be playing. The rest of the band were equally great, laying down a consistently innovative groove for the sax and piano to sweep over and featuring individually at numerous points. 
It was a great set of exciting, high energy music which got an attentive response but not quite the lively enthusiasm it absolutely deserved.  Stonephace himself was very affable, telling stories about buying Coltrane's album when he was 13 and getting chucked out of a mainstream band he was playing in at the time because he tried out one of JC's solos, much to the chagrin of the bandleader. I, of course, bought the CD after the gig and it's great, if not quite as exciting as the gig. But then the gig's not on every night.
I may not have known about Stonephace Stabbins last week - but I do now!
Addendum - the Raquel Welch phenomenon
Checking out Stonephace Stabbins web site when I got home, I was delighted to find that there was a great video of the Africa track, with excellent sound and quite psychedelic visuals. However, although not wanting to sound like a movie 'anorak' as in 'Why is Raquel Welch wearing a watch with her sabre-toothed tiger bikini in that scene from 3000 years BC', I couldn't help noticing that Zoe seems to change her top at least once, if not twice, over the course of the track and that at some points, when she seems to be playing Tyner like chords on the piano, there are rippling runs coming over the sound track. Maybe that's transcendence for you.
JC

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