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Bebop Spoken There

Van Morrison: ''Basically, I'm coming from jazz. Not pop, not rock, not what's commercial. That's where I started, and that's still where I am. I feel the same as I did when I was listening to Louis Armstrong, Lead Belly, Jelly Roll Morton''. (The Northern Echo, 12 June 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

1803759 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 480 of them this year alone and, so far, 58 this month (June 18).

From This Moment On ...

JUNE 2025

Sat 21: Jason Holcomb Jazz Ensemble @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 5:30-7:30pm. Free. A 'Sunderland Year of Music' event.
Sat 21: Milne Glendinning Band @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 21: Red Kites Jazz @ Staithes Café, Dunston. 7:00-9:00pm. Free.
Sat 21: Papa G’s Troves @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 22: Phoenix 4 @ Wallington, Northumberland. 12 noon-1:00pm & 2:00-3:00pm. Tel: 01670 773606. National Trust admission prices apply. ‘Tunes in the Blooms’.
Sun 22: Lapwing Trio @ Wallington, Northumberland. 1:00-2:00pm. Tel: 01670 773606. National Trust admission prices apply. ‘Tunes in the Blooms’.
Sun 22: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 22: Jason Isaacs Trio @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 4:00pm. £18.00. + £1.08 bf.
Sun 22: JazzMain @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 23: MSK Trio @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 1:00pm. £9.00. at the door; £8.20. (inc £0.20 bf) online, in advance.
Mon 23: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club (1:00pm). Free.

Tues 24: ???

Wed 25: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 25: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 25: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 25: The Magpies of Swing @ The Roxy, Leadgate, Co. Durham. 7:30pm. A Ginger Jitterbugs swing dance event, all welcome.

Thu 26: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: Brass Instruments & the use of mutes.

Fri 27: Lewis Watson Quartet @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm.
Fri 27: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 27: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 27: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 27: Strictly Smokin’ Big Band @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 8:00pm. ‘Time After Time’.

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

Sunday, May 05, 2013

Tim Kliphuis Trio - The Gypsy Seasons @ The Sage. May 4, 2013

Tim Kliphuis (violin), Nigel Clark (guitar) & Roy Percy (double bass)
(Review by Russell)
The Sage Gateshead’s Fiddles on Fire publicity stated the whole building comes alive with fiddle music representing a huge variety of styles and traditions. The festival’s opening concert featured the north east’s own world class orchestra - the Northern Sinfonia led by fiddler Bradley Creswick - followed by a whistle stop weekend circumnavigation of the fiddler’s globe. Performances and workshops claimed every available space throughout the Sage leaving little room for the exercising of a fiddler’s elbow! Musical postcards arrived from Asia, the Americas, Scandinavia, Europe and the Celtic nations.
Violinist Tim Kliphuis arrived in Gateshead minus his luggage. The Dutchman believed his suitcase was stuck on a ceilidh carousel at Schiphol Airport going round and round and round (waltz time?) longing to be partnered by a frantic fiddler. With a number of festival commitments to fulfill - concerts and workshops - Kliphuis went shopping for a shirt. Tyneside is a shopper’s paradise (the Sage knows you Shop Til You Bop) and the violin virtuoso looked half-way presentable when he took to the stage in the Northern Rock Foundation Hall for a late night gig with regular British buddies Nigel Clark (guitar) and double bassist Roy Percy.
In forty five minutes (plus encore) the trio’s musical passports were stamped many times in far-off lands. The three of them stood together in close proximity (covering little more than a postage stamp) creating an intimacy illuminated by a single spotlight. Amplification was minimal (Clark and Percy), the objective being to achieve clarity of sound (New Orleans’ clarinetist Evan Christopher performed similarly in Hall Two a few years ago).
Dazzling string playing from Kliphuis (the acoustic Kliphuis) and Clark on Fats Waller’s Honeysuckle Rose set the jazz bar at world record heights. The great jazz violinists (Kliphuis, Djangologie’s Emma Fisk, Stephane Grappelli) share one thing in common - they do it with élan. It must be a visual thing. The Nearness of You maintained the American jazz groove until Vivaldi intervened and then we were off to South America to interpret Astor’s Dream (comp.Kliphuis). Nordic lands beckoned (Grieg’s Peer Gynt), the irresistible sweep of Aaron Copland’s North American canvas had the late-night audience stompin’ at a hoe down (Percy’s darn-good slap-bass) then, to catch our collective breath, the European classical cannon imposed a welcome stillness close to midnight.                               
Russell.

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