Bebop Spoken There

Jools Holland (on his 2026 spring/summer tour): ''With the mighty [R&B] Orchestra, our wonderful boogie woogie singers, and the brilliant Joe Webb opening the shows [including Darlington Hippodrome, June 19], we're in for some very special evenings of music.'' The Northern Echo February 5, 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

18263 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 18 years ago. 117 of them this year alone and, so far this month (Feb. 6), 17

From This Moment On ...

February

Sat 07: The Big Easy @ St Augustine’s Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm. £10.00. Darlington New Orleans Jazz Club.
Sat 07: Tees Bay Swing Band @ The Blacksmith’s Arms, Hartlepool. 1:30-3:30pm. Free. Open rehearsal.
Sat 07: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. £27.50. Tutor: Steve Glendinning. St Thomas & Bésame Mucho. Enrol at: learning@jazz.coop.
Sat 07: Side Cafe Oᴙkestar @ Café Under the Spire, Gateshead. 6:30pm. Table reservations: 0191 477 3970.
Sat 07: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00.

Sun 08: Swing Tyne @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12 noon (doors). Donations. Swing dance taster class (12:30pm) + Hot Club de Heaton (live performance). Non dancers welcome.
Sun 08: Am Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 08: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 08: Gerry Richardson’s Big Idea @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 09: Mark Williams Trio @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 1:00pm.
Mon 09: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 10: Jazz Jam Sandwich @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Wed 11: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 11: Jam Session @ The Tannery, Hexham. 7:00pm. Free.
Wed 11: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington.. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 11: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 12: Indigo Jazz Voices @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:45pm. £5.00.

Fri 13: Noel Dennis Quartet @ Bishop Auckland Methodist Church. 1:00pm . £9.00. Dennis (trumpet, flugelhorn); Rick Laughlin (piano); Mick Shoulder (double bass); Tim Johnston (drums).
Fri 13: Joe Steels @ Jesmond Library, Newcastle. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 13: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 13: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 13: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 13: Castillo Nuevo Trio @ Hotel Gotham, Newcastle. 5:30pm. Free.
Fri 13: Lindsay Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ Arc, Stockton. 8:00pm.
Fri 13: Tom Remon & John Moriarty @ The Ship Isis, Silksworth Row, Sunderland SR1 3QJ. 7:00pm. £10.00 + £1.00 bf.

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

Friday, May 31, 2013

Pete Gilligan and Friends/Zoe Gilby @ Hoochie Coochie, May 30.

Pete Gilligan (pno); Paul Grainger (bs); Steve Glendinning (gtr); Rob Walker (dms). Zoe Gilby (vcl) + Eric Stutt(dms).
(Review by Lance.)
The quartet opened the batting with C Jam Blues and it was immediately apparent that they were on fire for this, the final Thursday night jazz session at Hoochie.. Unfair to single out any one person as they all went for it each one managing to say something just a little different on the old warhorse. Even the fours seemed to have meaning.
Horace Silver features heavily in the Gilligan repertoire and tonight it included Opus de Funk and the delightful Summer in Central Park.
The crowd built up and by the second set the room was near full. One wondered where were these people every week?
The special guest tonight was Zoe Gilby - looking like a million dollars in a black sequined mini dress.
Zoe may have looked like a million dollars but the voice was priceless - maybe the national debt would just about meet the valuation.
Away from her regular band, she delved into her back catalogue choosing many numbers I first heard her sing back in the old days at the Side Café but my how the voice, the stage presence, the confidence has grown since then almost as if they were two different people and she was good back then.
All or Nothing at All, Comes Love, You Turned the Tables on Me (Eric Stutt on drums for this one), How Insensitive, a version of My Secret Love that trumped all other versions, You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To, God Bless the Child and Forget About Living. The latter number is, I think, one of Dave Frischberg's and an absolute hoot. Tonight, after the final line, - "Forget about living, you might as well be dead" - Zoe then went into the opening strains of the Dead March which brought the place down.
Zoe hosted the first Thursday back in August 2011 and it was perhaps appropriate that she should sound the death knell on what has been a rollercoaster ride for almost 2 years. Our girl has gigs in China and Ukraine - on this performance they'll want to keep her!
Jazz hasn't entirely disappeared from the menu - Azymuth are at Hoochie on June 16..
Lance.

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