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Bebop Spoken There

Sullivan Fortner: ''I always judge it by the bass player: If the bass player is happy, it's going to be a good night". (DownBeat, February 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

17777 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 98 of them this year alone and, so far, 23 this month (Feb.8).

From This Moment On ...

February 2025

Tue 11: Steve Summers Quintet @ Newcastle House Hotel, Rothbury. 7:30pm.

Wed 12: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 12: Jam session @ The Tannery, Gilesgate, Hexham. 7:00-9:00pm. Free.
Wed 12: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 12: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 13: Student Performances @ King’s Hall, Newcastle University. 4:00pm. Free. Inc. Olly Styles (tenor sax).
Thu 13: MOBO Awards Fringe 2025: Artist Showcase @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 7:00pm. Free (ticketed). Line-up inc. Hannabiell & Midnight Blue.
Thu 13: Indigo Jazz Voices @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:45pm. £5.00.

Fri 14: John Rowland Trio @ Jesmond Library, Newcastle. 12:30-1:30pm. £5.00. at the door. New second Friday in the month concert series.
Fri 14: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 14: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 14: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 14: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 4:00-6:00pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Fri 14: Archipelago + Anna Tempest @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm. £12.00., £10.00., £8.00.
Fri 14: Paul Jones & Dave Kelly @ Alnwick Playhouse. 7:30pm. Rhythm & blues.
Fri 14: Alexia Gardner Quintet @ The White Room, Stanley. 7:45pm.
Fri 14: Jazz Sabbath @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm.

Sat 15: Joseph Carville Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 15: James Birkett & Emma Fisk @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 7:30pm. £15.00. at the door; £14.35. (inc £0.35 bf) online, in advance.
Sat 15: Elkie Brooks @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 7:30pm. ‘The Long Farewell Tour’.
Sat 15: Milne Glendinning Band @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 16: Jason Isaacs @ STACK, Exchange Sq., Middlesbrough. 1:00-2:45pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sun 16: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 16: MOBO Awards Fringe 2025: BBC Introducing NE X MOBO Showcase @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 6:00pm. Free (ticketed). Line-up inc. Jambone, Knats, Rivkala, SwanNek.
Sun 16: The Shayo Experience @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 16: Gerry Richardson Quartet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Sun 16: Jazz Jam @ Fabio’s, Saddler St., Durham. 8:00pm. Free. A Durham University Jazz Society promotion. All welcome.

Mon 17: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 17: Russ Morgan Quartet @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £10.00.

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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