Bebop Spoken There

John McLaughlin: ''It was then that Coltrane came along and single-handedly brought this dimension of spirituality into jazz. It was a pivotal experience to me.'' (DownBeat September, 2026)

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

18957 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 18 years ago. 821 of them this year alone and, so far this month (Sept. 30.) 100.

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

From This Moment On

October.

Sun 04: Tees Bay Swing Band @ Heugh Battery, Hartlepool. 11:00am-12 noon & 1:00-2:00pm.
Sun 04: Smokin’ Spitfires @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:45pm. £10.00.
Sun 04: Ian Bosworth Quintet @ Chapel, Middlesbrough. 1:00pm. Free. Quintet w. special guest Bill Watson (trumpet).
Sun 04: Sax Choir w. Rachel Musson @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 04: Rivkala + Ceitidh Mac + Thatcher & Knowles @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:30pm. A NFOJAIM event.
Sun 04: Ruth Lambert Trio @ The Juke Shed, North Shields. 3:00pm. Free. RESCHEDULED from September 27.
Sun 04: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 04: NUJO Jazz Jam @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm. £3.00.

Mon 05: Friends of Jazz @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 05: Saltburn Big Band @ Saltburn House Hotel. 7:00-9:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).

Tue 06: Alan Law @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 2:00pm. Free. Alan Law (piano) w. Paul Grainger (double bass).
Tue 06: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Murray Oak, Paul Grainger, John Bradford.
Tue 06: Customs House Big Band @ The Masonic Hall, Ferryhill. 7:30pm. Free.
Tue 06: Black is the Color of My Voice @ Northern Stage, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Apphia Campbell’s one-woman stage play inspired by Nina Simone. First night of two.

Wed 07: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free. Wed 07: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 07: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 07: Black is the Color of My Voice @ Northern Stage, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Apphia Campbell’s one-woman stage play inspired by Nina Simone. Second night of two.

Thu 08: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ The Millstone, Mill Rise, South Gosforth, Newcastle. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 08: Pete Tanton’s Chet Set @ Newcastle Arts Centre. 7:30pm. Free (donations).
Thu 08: Indigo Jazz Voices w. Little Big Band @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:45pm. £5.00.

Fri 09: Dean Stockdale Trio @ Bishop Auckland Methodist Church. 1:00pm. £9.00. Dean Stockdale (piano); Mick Shoulder (double bass); John Bradford (drums).
Fri 09: John Rowland Trio @ Jesmond Library, Newcastle. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 09: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 09: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 09: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 09: Shalala @ The Globe, Newcastle.

Sat 10: Catfish Keith @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £19.00. + bf. Jumpin’ Hot Club.

Saturday, November 09, 2013

It’s a Lockout! - Djangologie at St.Cuthbert’s Hall Crook - Friday November 8

Mick Shoulder (bass), Emma Fisk (violin), Giles Strong (guitar) and James Birkett (guitar).
(Review by Jerry)
Even when the main door jams and can’t be fixed there’s always a welcome (and a biblical abundance of pizza!) in Crook. 80+ of us (more than there were printed tickets for!) trooped through the back door and settled down for a great return visit by Djangologie. Two latecomers were literally locked out when the back door clashed shut – but they were swiftly admitted when their plight was spotted: in Crook, there is a welcome even for the tardy (and pizza and CD’s)!
 I mention CD’s because Mick did, repeatedly: sartorially elegant like an extra from The Godfather, he warned that no-one would leave without a CD so it looked like we might have a lock-IN as well. Not necessary, as it happened – no-one wanted to leave at the end, never mind during the performance. And he DID sell lots of CD’s, though I'm sure this was down to the quality of the music rather than the threads (or threats)!

The set-list featured a mix of “nice old tunes” (Reinhardt, Archibald Joyce), more recent tunes (Winterstein’s Hunn O Pani Naschella– still can’t find a translation for that –and Jovanovic’s Gelem Gelem  for example) and an even more recent composition by Thomas Dutronc who is, according to Emma, “gorgeous”! No surprise really (showing my age here!) as his mother was Francoise Hardy, and who DIDN’T have a crush on her??? Interspersed with these were great originals musically chronicling the “mainstays” of Mick’s life – “dogs and failed romance”! It’ll make a great biopic one day, for sure! Some (Feuille d’Automne, Dans Mon Endroit Tranquille, Beautiful Till 3 for example) were already old friends from yomping up and down the M1 where Djangologie’s CD is required listening (go easy on us, Mick, we’ve already bought it!)  Others were completely new to us such as Song for Izumi dedicated to another gorgeously inspiring (to Mick, this time) musician / actress, Izumi Yukimura. That’s a long way from the till in Morrison’s, but beautiful too!
Amazing solos all round inspired the audience (just as last year) to noisy approval; I had two good bottled ales, ate too much pizza AND won a raffle prize. I will treasure the memory of Emma Fisk sneezing in the middle of J’Attendrai without missing a beat (don’t see that every day!) and I’ll be first on the waiting-list when this superb band get round to a second CD! That’d be an offer I can’t refuse!
Jerry

1 comment :

Lance said...

And if you were locked out you can catch the band on Monday night in Jesmond at the Cherry Tree Restaurant on Osborne Road.

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