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Bebop Spoken There

George Porter Jr.: ''To me, syncopation is like jazz. It wasn't meant for the masses. It was meant just for a hip few". (DownBeat, May 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

18043 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 364 of them this year alone and, so far, 42 this month (May 15).

From This Moment On ...

MAY 2025

Mon 19: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 19: Lewis Watson Quartet @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £10.00.

Tue 20: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Stu Collingwood, Paul Grainger, Bailey Rudd.
Tue 20: Alexia Gardner Quintet @ Pleased to Meet You, Bridge St., Morpeth NE61 1ND. 8:00pm.

Wed 21: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 21: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public). b Wed 21: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 22: Nuevo Castillo Orquesta @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £5.00.
Thu 22: Anna Reay & Deon Krishnan @ STACK, Exchange Sq., Middlesbrough. 7:30-9:15pm. Free.
Thu 22: Pedal Point Trio @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Fri 23: Dean Stockdale Quartet @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. ‘Celebrating Oscar’.
Fri 23: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 23: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 23: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 23: Anna Reay & Deon Krishnan @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 4:00-6:00pm. Free.
Fri 23: Joe Steels Group @ The Pele, Corbridge. 7:00pm. £10.00. + £1.55. bf. A Northumberland Jazz Festival fringe event.
Fri 23: Spilt Milk @ STACK, Exchange Sq., Middlesbrough. 7:00-9:00pm. Free. Nolan Brothers (vocal harmonies).
Fri 23: Gaz Hughes Quartet @ Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm.
Fri 23: Strictly Smokin’ Big Band @ The Witham, Barnard Castle. 8:00pm. £19.00.; £17.00. ‘Time After Time’.

Sat 24: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 12:30-2:15pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 24: Tyne Valley Big Band @ Bywell Hall, Stocksfield. 1:30pm. Northumberland County Show.
Sat 24: Jason Isaacs @ STACK, Seaburn. 3:30-5:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 24: Ray Stubbs R&B All Stars @ The Peacock, Sunderland. 6:00pm.
Sat 24: Dean Stockdale Quartet + Mingus Sings @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 7:00pm. Admission: see website: www.queenshall.co.uk. Stockdale (piano); Tim Williams (guitar); Gavin Barras (double bass); Gaz Hughes (drums) + Mingus Sings: Sara Oschlag (vocals); Alan Barnes (reeds); Tim Lapthorn (piano); Arnie Somogyi (double bass); Clark Tracey (drums). A Northumberland Jazz Festival event.
Sat 24: Joseph Carville Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 24: Saltburn Big Band @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm. £12.00.
Sat 24: NUJO Jazz Jam @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 8:00pm (7:00pm doors). £3.00. + bf.
Sat 24: Papa G’s Troves @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 25: Zoë Gilby & Andy Champion: Bandstand Sessions @ The Sele, Hexham. 12 noon. Free. A Northumberland Jazz Festival event.
Sun 25: Musicians Unlimited @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 25: Northern Monkey Brass Band @ Spanish City Plaza (outdoor stage). 1:00pm. Free. A Whitley Bay Carnival event.
Sun 25: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 25: Catriona Bourne Quartet @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm. Admission: see website: www.queenshall.co.uk. Bourne (harp), Francis Tulip (guitar), James Owston (double bass), Joe Bainbridge (drums). A Northumberland Jazz Festival event.
Sun 25: Ruth Lambert Trio @ Juke Shed, North Shields. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 25: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 25: Struggle Buggy @ The Tyne Bar, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. Blues.
Sun 25: Joe Steels Group + Norma Winstone (vocals); Nikki Iles (piano); Mike Walker (guitar); Steve Watts (double bass). 7:00pm. Admission: see website: www.queenshall.co.uk. Steels (guitar); Ferg Kilsby (trumpet, flugelhorn); Ben Lawrence (piano); Paul Susans (double bass); John Hirst (drums). A Northumberland Jazz Festival event.
Sun 25: Jazz Jam Sandwich! @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 25: Xhosa Cole/Neil Charles/Mark Sanders @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A JNE promotion. Note: Xhosa Cole replaces Nicole Mitchell.

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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