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Bebop Spoken There

John McLaughlin: '' A Love Supreme coincided with my search for meaning in life". (DownBeat, March 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

17873 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 194 of them this year alone and, so far, 41 this month (March 14).

From This Moment On ...

MARCH 2025.

Thu 20: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, Holystone. 1:00pm. Free. CANCELLED PERMANENTLY!
Thu 20: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: Nicknames.
Thu 20: Terri Green Experience @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £15.90.
Thu 20: King Bees @ The Cumberland Arms, Byker, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). Superb blues band.
Thu 20: Lindsay Hannon Trio @ The Harbour View, Roker, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Hannon’s ‘Tom Waits for No Man’ set.
Thu 20: Ray Stubbs R&B All Stars @ Mill Tavern, Hebburn. 8:30pm. Free.

Fri 21: Paul Skerritt @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 21: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 21: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 21: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 21: Giles Strong Quartet @ 1719, Hendon, Sunderland. 7:30pm. CANCELLED!
Fri 21: New Century Ragtime Orchestra @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Featuring special guest Martin Litton (piano).

Sat 22: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 12:30-2:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 22: Jason Isaacs @ Seaburn STACK, Seaburn. 3:30pm-5:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 22: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 22: Swamp Stomp String Band @ The White Room, Stanley. 7:45pm.
Sat 22: Rivkala @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Country blues guitar & vocals.

Sun 23: Musicians Unlimited @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 23: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 23: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 23: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 23: Mississippi MacDonald @ Georgian Theatre, Stockton. 3:00pm. Blues.
Sun 23: Tweed River Jazz Band @ Barrels Ale House, Berwick. 7:00pm. Free.
Sun 23: The Great Deceivers @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Tom Atkinson & co play King Crimson (1969-1974). Atkinson (guitar); Josh Bentham (alto sax); Stu Dawson (bass); Jeff Armstrong (drums).

Mon 24: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 24: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 6:30pm. Free.

Tue 25: Fred Wesley & the New JB’s @ The Cluny. 7:30pm (doors). £27.50. POSTPONED! New date Wednesday 26 November.

Thu 27: Hannabiell & Midnight Blue @ King’s Hall, Newcastle University. 1:15pm. Free.
Thu 27: Michael Littlefield & Scott Taylor @ The Harbour View, Roker, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Superb blues duo.

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

Monday, July 22, 2013

Keith Stephen’s Hot Club Trio with Caroline Irwin & Steve Andrews @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. July 21

Keith Stephen (guitar), Roly Veitch (guitar & vocals), Bruce Rollo (double bass), Caroline Irwin (vocals) & Steve Andrews (clarinet & tenor saxophone) + Colin Aitchison (trumpet & vocals)
(Review by Russell).
Coquette, Exactly Like You (showcasing Caroline Irwin’s expressive vocal style), great tunes to start with, bandleader Keith Stephen and bassist Bruce Rollo first to step up. The latter number bright and breezy with reedsman Steve Andrews doubling on clarinet, then tenor. Irwin sang Walking After Midnight (Andrews featured once again). Hot clarinet covered the Andrews Sisters’ hit Bei Mir Bist du Schon, followed by Roly Veitch telling us What a Little Moonlight Can Do. Steve Andrews’ clarinet accompanied vocalist Irwin on I Get the Blues When it Rains (no chance!) and Wild Child Irwin ran amok on Running Wild concluding an excellent first set.
The interval. A Deuchars’ refill, a raffle ticket and in walked Hong Kong-based ex-pat trumpeter Colin Aitchison. The beer fine, raffle ticket a dud, CA in good form. Second set and Irwin set about Autumn Leaves in French. I ask you! What a girl! Miles playing it in Antibes (c.1965) was something, to hear a local lass singing the lyrics – in French – in the Black Bull was Desert Island Discs’ material! Our Far East visitor – Mr Aitchison – sat-in, standing alongside Andrews (tenor), on I Can’t Give You Anything But Love serenaded by Caroline Irwin.
The boys in the band took a spell (they went to the bar) leaving the stage to Steve Andrews and Blaydon Jazz Club’s Main Man Roly Veitch to craft a beautiful take on Skylark. The rhythm boys – slap bass maestro Bruce Rollo and six-string Hot Club kings Keith Stephen and Roly.Veitch  - whisked us off to ‘30s Left Bank Paris on China Boy, Cumbrian-based reedsman Andrews in the back seat of the Peugeot, as they careered along the Champs Elysées, Gallic-style. Irwin’s seductive French brought to life La Vie en Rose, then she went Cuckoo before regaining her sanity in time to hear Aitchison’s top trumpet (and convincing Satchmo vocals) calling Dr Jazz. Great stuff.
Next month – Sunday 18 August – don’t miss the incomparable Ruth Lambert with Giles Strong and Mick Shoulder and special guest, ace trumpeter Graham Hardy. Oh, by the way, take the chance to hear Colin at the Crescent Club this week, possibly Jesmond Legion and maybe the Marquis of Granby.  
Russell.                             





1 comment :

Lance said...

Russell, they couldn't be careering down the Champs Elysèes on Sunday night as Le Tour de France was taking place at that very moment in time.

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