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Bebop Spoken There

Stan Woodward: ''We're part of the British jazz scene, but we don't play London jazz. We play Newcastle jazz. The Knats album represents many things, but most importantly that Newcastle isn't overlooked". (DownBeat, 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

17945 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 266 of them this year alone and, so far, 22 this month (April 8).

From This Moment On ...

April 2025.

Thu 10: Indigo Jazz Voices @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:45pm. £5.00.CANCELLED!
Thu 10: Magpies of Swing @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £12.00., £10.00., £7.00. A Globe fundraiser (all proceeds to the venue).
Thu 10: Exhaust: Camila Nebbia/Kit Downes/Andrew Lisle @ Jesmond URC, Newcastle. 8:00pm (7:30pm doors). £13.20., £11.00. JNE.
Thu 10: Jeremy McMurray & the Pocket Jazz Orchestra @ Arc, Stockton. 8:00pm. Feat. guests Ray Dales & Jackie Summers.

Fri 11: Zoë Gilby Quartet @ Auckland Castle, Bishop Auckland. 1:00pm. £8.00.
Fri 11: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 11: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 11: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 11: John Rowland Trio: The Music of Ben Webster @ Jesmond Library, Newcastle. 1:00pm. £5.00. Rowland (tenor sax); Alan Law (piano); Paul Grainger (double bass).
Fri 11: Imelda May @ The Fire Station, Sunderland. 7:30pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 11: Shunyata Improvisation Group @ Cullercoats Watch House. 7:30-9:00pm. Free (donations).

Sat 12: Jason Isaacs @ STACK, Seaburn. 3:30-5:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 12: Rob Heron & the Tea Pad Orchestra + House of the Black Gardenia + King Bees @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. 6:30pm (doors). £18.00.
Sat 12: Bright Street Big Band @ Washington Arts Centre. 6:30pm. £12.00. Event includes swing dance taster session, DJ dance session. Bright Street Big Band on stage 7:30-8:15pm & 8:45-9:30pm. SOLD OUT!
Sat 12: Milne Glendinning Band @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 12: Imelda May @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 7:30pm. £42.20. SOLD OUT!
Sat 12: Papa G’s Troves @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 13: Daniel John Martin with Swing Manouche @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00pm. £10.00.
Sun 13: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 13: Hejira: A Celebration of Joni Mitchell @ Wylam Brewery, Newcastle. 8:00pm (7:00pm doors). £22.50.
Sun 13: Wilkinson/Edwards/Noble + Chojnacki @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £13.20., £11.00. JNE.

Mon 14: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 14: Zoë Gilby Quintet @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £10.00.

Tue 15: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Michael Young, Paul Grainger, Abbie Finn.

Wed 16: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 16: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 16: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. CANCELLED!

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, August 02, 2013

Mick Shoulder Quintet @ Lit and Phil August 1.

Mick Shoulder (bs); Graham Hardy (tpt); Graeme Wilson (ten); Paul Edis (pno); Rob Walker (dms).
(Review by Lance.)
Close your eyes and Hey! you're in Birdland, NYC, listening to the Jazz Messengers, or is it London's Flamingo Club and the Jazz Couriers? Nah! we're in Newcastle listening to the Emcee 5 in the Down Beat! Well we are in Newcastle but it's 50 years on from those halcyon days and smoky dives. We're in the Literary and Philosophical  Society listening to Mick Shoulder's Quintet. Around us the portraits of past Lit and Phil dignitaries look down upon us like the Lords of Ruddigore in Sullivan's opera of the same name. However, unlike the aforementioned Lords, these portraits do not come to life.
The band, however, do very much come to life!.
Mick Shoulder, to his credit, apart from being a sensitive and meaningful bass player, has played a major role in drawing attention to areas of jazz that may otherwise have been overlooked by today's seekers of new horizons. Djangologie has kept the Hot Club flame burning and this quintet reminds us that the 1950s' Blue Note era is now the centrifugal force of jazz - the new mainstream - drawing on what went before and providing the inspiration for what was to come.That Old Feeling benefitted from an Edis piano intro that led into a superb arrangement with Hank Mobley - sorry Graeme Wilson - setting the standard for what was to follow. Whisper Not and Graham Hardy's flugel is outstanding. It may have been written by Benny Golson but the feeling evoked is Ian Carr and Emcee 5.
Too Close For Comfort (Couriers) swing like crazy. a luscious feature for Wilson - Some Other Time - reminds us of the beauty that abounds in a balladic interpretation and, closing the set, we're Swingin' the Samba a la Horace Silver with Rob Walker giving it that.
A bottle of Lord Collingwood - Wylam Breweries tribute to Nelson's sidekick goes down well at the reasonable price of £2.50.
The second set continues in the same vein - this is going to be high on the Gig of the Year list. Come Rain or Come Shine (Messengers) has great solos all round and none better than Edis' block chords passage that makes me think he's got more than the average number of fingers.
Graham Hardy on flugel and Solitude tugs at the emotions, Thursday's Thing, a minor keyed opus that once more brings Emcee 5 to mind, before the grand finale, Cheek to Cheek, arguably the Couriers finest arrangement and beautifully re-created here.
Everyone in the world should have been here tonight - one or two weren't.
Thank you Mick and the guys but please, don't make us wait another 12 months till the next one!
Photos.
Lance.
PS: Apologies for initially billing this as a sextet - it was all those extra fingers of Paul Edis that confused the issue!

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