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Bebop Spoken There

Steve Coleman: ''If you don't keep learning, your mind slows down. Use it or lose it''. (DownBeat, January 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

17733 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 53 of them this year alone and, so far, 53 this month (Jan. 20).

From This Moment On ...

January 2025

Wed 22: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 22: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 22: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 22: Pasadena Roof Orchestra @ Fire Station, Sunderland. 7:30pm.

Thu 23: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, Holystone. 1:00pm. Free. Fortnightly.
Thu 23: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: Obituaries 2024.
Thu 23: Jason Isaacs @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 4:30-6:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Thu 23: Pedal Point Trio @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Fri 24: Zoë Gilby Quartet @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 24: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 24: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 24: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 24: Creakin’ Bones & the Sunday Dinners @ Lindisfarne Social Club, Wallsend. 9:00pm. Admission: TBC. Jazz, blues , jump jive, rock ‘n’ roll.

Sat 25: Boys of Brass @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 3:30-5:30pm. Free.
Sat 25: New '58 Jazz Collective @ Jackson's Wharf, Hartlepool. 6:30pm (doors). Free. A Burns' Night event. Jazz, swing, funk, soul, blues etc.
Sat 25: Edison Herbert Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 25: Red Kites Jazz @ Parish Hall, St Barnabas’ Church, Rowlands Gill. 7:30pm. £10.00. BYOB (tea & coffee available), raffle. Proceeds to St Barnabas’ Church. Performance feat. Shayo (vocals).
Sat 25: Jack & Jay’s Songbook @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 26: Musicians Unlimited @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 26: Graham Hardy Eclectic Quartet @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm.
Sun 26: Ruth Lambert Trio @ The Juke Shed, Union Quay, North Shields. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 26: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 26: Jazz Jam Sandwich! @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 26: Tweed River Jazz Band @ Barrels Ale House, Berwick-upon-Tweed. 7:30pm. Free.
Sun 26: Gratkowski, Tramontana, Beresford, Affifi @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £12.00. JNE.
Sun 26: Jazz Jam @ Fabio’s, Saddler St., Durham. 8:00pm. Free. A Durham University Jazz Society promotion. All welcome.

Mon 27: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 28: ???

Wed 29: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 29: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 29: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).

Thu 30: Matters Unknown (aka Jonathan Enser, Nubiyan Twist) + support TBA @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 8:00pm (7:00pm doors). £12.22 (gig & food); £9:04 (gig only).
Thu 30: Soznak @ The Mill Tavern, Hebburn. 8:00pm. Free.
Thu 30: Struggle Buggy @ Harbour View, Roker, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Rhythm & blues.

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

Saturday, September 28, 2013

The Customs House Big Band @ St. Cuthbert’s Parish Centre, Crook. Friday Sept. 27

Bill Watson, Michael Lamb, Ken DeVere, Gordon Marshall: (trumpets); Gareth Weaver, Chris Kurgi-Smith, Michael Fletcher, Peter Morgan: (trombones);  Jill Brett, Kim Webb, (alto);  Alan Marshall, Peter Hepplewhite (tenor); Chris Kaberry(baritone); Bill Brittain (piano); Alan Smith (bass guitar); Barry Black (drums); Roy Willis (guitar)..
(Review and photo by Jerry)
7.15, and almost dark; under the open-beamed roof, candles glimmer beside simple floral displays and bowls of nibbles on each red-clothed table. The bar is well stocked with bottled ales and the band is doing a quick sound-check - a hint of what is to come. We are at Crook – my favourite venue bar none!

At 7.30 sharp we were drummed into Love for Sale which featured alto, trumpet and tenor – the first of many excellent solos this evening – and a big, big finish. Indiana was introduced as a “little thing”, but there was really nothing “little” about the sound from this 17-piece band!
We were urged to dance, if we felt like it, and buy the soloists drinks! Next, aptly, was Straight No Chaser! For Sunny Side of the Street Peter Morgan suggested that we sing (Ruth Lambert was absent, ill) and we did, rather shyly at first, but feeling “rich as Rockefeller” nonetheless.
Next was “Not the Stan Kenton Band (but we would like to be)” - trombones to the fore, on But Beautiful: full-throttle crescendos, alto sax solo, hints of foghorn baritone and a high trumpet finish (Ooops! I’m sounding like a wine-buff!) No dancers yet but the Latin rhythms of Storm Zone were clearly getting to the guy who samba-ed to the bar ahead of me, and during The Way You Look Tonight, TWO couples were up and dancing!
Why Musicians Can’t Dance (THREE couples now could) was given the lie, by Peter Morgan, some of whose moves while conducting had me expecting a moonwalk at any moment! A nice guitar solo on this one, too.
April in Paris closed the set with audience-participation (“One more time” we chanted)! So now he had us singing, dancing and chanting: if there’s any snow to be sold to the Inuit, here’s your man for the job!
The interval passed with pizza slices and raffle then back to the music!
Specifically, the music of Gordon Goodwin: the brilliant, cartoon inspired Hunting Wabbits. Its manic staccato opening, all honking brass and clashing cymbals, had the dancers back in action straight away and the melodic middle section featured more fine solos including soprano sax and piano before the drums announced a return to madness. The dancers needed to steer well clear of Mr Morgan’s windmill arms as he wound the band up to a frenetic finale! Goodwin also provided the set-closer, Sing Sang Sung – an “interesting” (understatement!) take on Sing Sing Sing heard on Monday at The Cherry Tree. There the audience had been vocal, here they were rowdily festive, dancing, clapping and hollering (someone near me was doing a passable impersonation of a tawny owl)!
In between these gems – all good, but I need to be brief – we had: Stardust (and an explanation of the name “Hoagy”); Groovin’ High (which lived up to its name); Moonlight in Vermont; Sister Sadie (bop bop bop-baa) and C Jam Blues with at least 10 solos to illustrate “What jazz bands are all about” (Peter Morgan’s words, not mine). Great stuff: this is a band to follow, if not to the ends of the earth, at least to Crook or South Shields or anywhere else you can catch them! Did anyone buy a drink for the soloists, I wonder?

Thanks to all at St. Cuthbert’s for an excellent night: next  gig is Djangologie, keep an eye on the listings for that. We’ll be there. – Jerry.

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