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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

17957 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 278 of them this year alone and, so far, 34 this month (April 14).

From This Moment On ...

April 2025.

Tue 22: Abbie Finn Trio @ Newcastle House Hotel, Rothbury. 7:30pm. Coquetdale Jazz.

Wed 23: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 23: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 23: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. CANCELLED!

Thu 24: Mary Coughlan @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm. £33.80. Blues, jazz etc.
Thu 24: Darlington Big Band @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm.

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: 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: ???

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

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Matt Roberts Quintet @ The Forum, Darlington. June 9, 2013

Matt Roberts (trumpet), Matt Anderson (tenor saxophone), Declan Forde (keyboards), Sam Vicary (double bass) & Sam Gardner (drums)
(Review by Russell)
Matt Roberts Quintet pay tribute to the great…Lee Morgan. So said the flyer around the Forum Music Centre. The bar was packed, the main hall would soon be similarly crowded to welcome home trumpeter Matt Roberts. A Darlington lad made good, Roberts served his apprenticeship in the ranks of the County Durham schools’ big bands, moved on to further his studies in Leeds, then London and here on home turf he was to be given a hero’s welcome. His quintet boasted some familiar names and faces from the Leeds scene - Matt’s frontline partner and namesake tenor saxophonist Matt Anderson, the two Sams - Vicary (double bass) and Gardner (drums) - and recent Leeds College of Music graduate, pianist Declan Forde.
Roberts chose numbers from classic Lee Morgan sides and one or two from the American’s work as a sideman. The sound - balance and levels - couldn’t have been better and the quintet’s collective cool admirable. Secure in technique, the pad worked on in the woodshed, these guys were Johnny Cool (x5). The Cooker, Tom Cat, Expoobident and The Sidewinder were just some of Morgan’s celebrated recordings dipped into during two fantastic sets.
The Johnny Cool feel, a blues undercurrent and a cookin’ rhythm section - the two Sams swinging it all night long - set it up for Matt and Matt. They took full advantage and traded superb solos one after another. If you believe in a jazz heaven then this was surely it. Lover Man stood out in a stand out first set (Roberts’ teased-notes intro hitching a ride on Vicary’s walking bass line) with considered solo piano from the prodigiously talented Forde. Moment’s Notice from Coltrane’s Blue Train registered as another highlight. Heaven, paradise, call it what you will, the first set alone made the gig a runaway contender for this week’s Gig of the Year!
An interval pint of White Boar Bitter, a slice of cake (all proceeds to the tour fund for July’s trip to Belgium by the County Durham Youth Big Band and Little Big Band), a strip of raffle tickets, a natter with one or two jazz nerds - sorry, aficionados - and it was time to resume our place in the standing-room-only hall for the second set.
Tom Cat from the eponymous album reintroduced Matt (trumpet) then Matt (tenor), Forde sketched Monk then took evasive action to get out of the way of Gardner’s instantaneous rat-a-tat-tat rim shot response (touché!). Roberts threw down the gauntlet opting to play Twice Around (another from Tom Cat). The boys were up for it. Cookin’ or what? Wow!!! Just in Time from Expoobident took it down featuring Harmon Roberts then yet more wonderful tenor from Anderson.
The full house demanded more. The Forum Jazz Club has worked hard to win an audience. Roberts expressed his thanks to all concerned; the organisers (the experienced tutors and the young musicians on door duties, raffle ticket sales and sundry other tasks), the audience and his friends sharing the stand with him. Sidewinder wound it up. Heaven, I’m in (jazz) heaven…              

Russell.        

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