Bebop Spoken There

Ethan Hawke (starring as Lorenz Hart in Blue Moon): ''Larry [Lorenz] Hart would be so happy that his music and his words and his poetry are still alive.'' - The Northern Echo 27 November 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

18000 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 964 of them this year alone and, so far, 73 this month (Nov. 24).

From This Moment On ...

DECEMBER 2025

Fri 05: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 05: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 05: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 05: Jazzy Xmas @ Redhills, Durham. 7:30-10:00pm. £10.00., £9.00., £8.00. Miners’ Hall, Flass St., Durham. Feat. Durham University Big Band & Durham University Jazz Orchestra.
Fri 05: Castillo Nuevo Trio @ Hotel Gotham, Newcastle. 5:30pm. Free.
Fri 05: Alligator Gumbo @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm. £16.96. Saltburn Jazz Xmas Party.

Sat 06: Sarah Spencer’s Transatlantic Band @ St Augustine’s Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm. £10.00.
Sat 06: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. £27.50. Tutor: Steve Glendinning. Minor Swing. Enrol at: learning@jazz.coop.
Sat 06: Jeff Hewer Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 06: NUJO Jazz Jam @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm (doors). £3.76 (inc. bf).
Sat 06: Kaberry Big Band @ The Seahorse, Whitley Bay. 7:30pm (7:00pm doors). £15.00. (inc. hot buffet). ‘Christmas 1945’. Kaberry Big Band, formerly Vermont Big Band.
Sat 06: Smokin’ Spitfires @ Platform 1, Bedlington. 7:30pm. £6.00. Rhythm & blues.
Sat 06: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00. Xmas Party with buffet.
Sat 06: The Jive Aces @ The Witham, Barnard Castle. 8:00pm. £22.00., £20.00.
Sat 06: Brass Fiesta @ Revoluçion de Cuba, Newcastle. 10:30pm. Free.

Sun 07: Ian Bosworth Quintet @ Chapel, Middlesbrough. 1:00pm. Free. Feat. special guest Donna Hewitt (sax, clarinet).
Sun 07: Finn-Keeble Group @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00pm. £10.00.
Sun 07: Sax Choir @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 07: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Skerritt w. backing tapes.
Sun 07: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 2:30pm. Free. Trio + Ruth Lambert.
Sun 07: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 07: Jason Isaacs Big Band @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 5:15pm (4:00pm doors). £21.50 (inc. bf).
Sun 07: Paul Skerritt @ 3 Stories, High St. West, Sunderland. 6:30pm. Skerritt w. backing tapes.
Sun 07: Lindsay Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Support set from Play More Jazz! course participants. Note earlier start.

Mon 08: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 09: Jazz Jam Sandwich @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm

Wed 10: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 10: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 10: Jam Session @ The Tannery, Hexham. 7:00pm. Free.
Wed 10: Mike Lindup Jazz Trio @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £26.50 (inc. bf). Lindup, Yolanda Charles (bass), John Sam (drums).
Wed 10: Bold Big Band @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £12.00.

Thu 11: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: West Coast (cool ) / Wordsearch (cool) Cool Jazz or ‘Cold’, ‘Cool’, ‘Hot’, ‘Warm’ in the title or lyrics.
Thu 11: George Robinson @ Prohibition Bar, Albert Road, Middlesbrough TS1 2RU. 7:00pm (doors). £5.42 (inc. bf). Vienna’s Voice charity evening featuring ’15 year old singing sensation the ‘Redcar Crooner’ George Robinson’. Over 35s only.
Thu 11: Paul Skerritt @ Chakh Dhoom, Jesmond, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Indian restaurant. Skerritt w. back tapes.
Thu 11: Ransom Van @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm.
Thu 11: Down for the Count Swing Orchestra @ Middlesbrough Town Hall. 7:30pm. £37.70 (inc. bf). ‘Swing into Xmas’.

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

Wednesday, September 04, 2013

Branford Marsalis/SNJO Scottish Tour Dates

The Scottish National Jazz Orchestra (SNJO) directed by Tommy Smith proudly presents The Music of Wayne Shorter with very special guest Branford Marsalis
Perth, Concert Hall............27th September 2013 at 7.30 pm
Mill Street Perth PH1 5HZ 01738 621031 Online Box Office
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Glasgow, Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. 28th September 2013 at 7.30 pm 100 Renfrew St Glasgow G2 3DB 0141 332 4101 Online Box Office
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Edinburgh, Queen’s Hall.........29th September 2013 at 7.30 pm
85-89 Clerk St Edinburgh EH8 9JG 0131 668 2019 Online Box Office.
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(Photo by Palma Kolansky.)
This September, a confluence of the like-minded will converge in a series of Scottish concerts laden with the promise of beautiful, free-flowing jazz. Tommy Smith will astutely direct the quiet power of the SNJO through the music of Wayne Shorter, long recognized as one of the most expansive thinkers in jazz. They are joined on these dates by guest soloist, Branford Marsalis, who is widely admired as a meticulous
performer with a boldly independent train of thought.
All are capable independently of shaking our faith in what we think we know. Together, they will reclaim the term “going forward” from marketing-speak, and apply it to some of the most courageous and humane jazz music ever composed. Audiences can rightly anticipate a master-class in theory, design, execution and improvisation from award winning artists; but if anyone is going to emerge with a prize it will be the fortunate listeners in the auditoria.
Branford Marsalis needs no introduction to jazz fans who are already familiar with his family history and his remarkable career. Born into the Marsalis family that has blood ties to the heart of jazz in New Orleans, it has been his destiny (along with his father Ellis, and brothers Jason, Wynton and Delfeayo) to be a torch-bearer for this extraordinary music.
It’s a torch that lights the way into the realm of the classical and the giltzy twin empires of rock and pop. He first came to prominence with Art Blakey’s renowned Jazz Messengers, but he is also known for a long working association with Sting between 1985 and 1999. His own quartet is much feted for it’s rich, eclectic output, and a clutch of Grammys speaks to his abilities as composer. Since the turn of the millenium, he has cemented a deserved reputation as the saxophonist of choice for fresh, lyrical interpretations of classical music by composers such as Satie, Debussy, Ravel and Copland.
The task at hand is the presentation of Wayne Shorter’s range as a composer and includes works such as Footprints, Virgo, Yes or No and Speak No Evil. There ought to be little doubt that the arrangements for the SNJO will frame Shorter’s music in an affecting light. Theirs is a mission to educate, initiate and illuminate.
The craft of Branford Marsalis may be visible to anyone with a YouTube account, but it must surely be most truly felt in live performance. The music he will be playing with the SNJO has, on many occasions, been ahead of it’s time. Now it has found a home in the 21st century, and it’s ready to share it’s secrets and it’s delights.
Sponsors: Creative Scotland, Wallace Brass, Arts & Business Scotland, Amb:IT:ion, Scotland

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