Bebop Spoken There

Donovan Haffner ('Best Newcomer' 2025 Parliamentary Jazz Awards): ''I got into jazz the first time I picked up a saxophone!" - Jazzwise Dec 25/Jan 26

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

18146 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 24 of them this year alone and, so far this month (Jan. 7), 24

From This Moment On ...

JANUARY 2026

Fri 09: The House Trio @ Bishop Auckland Methodist Church. 1:00pm. £9.00.
Fri 09: Nauta @ Jesmond Library, Newcastle. 1:00pm. £5.00. Trio: Jacob Egglestone, Jamie Watkins, Bailey Rudd.
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: Warren James & the Lonesome Travellers @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm. £15.00.
Fri 09: The Blue Kings @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £10.00. (£8.00. adv.). All-star band.

Sat 10: Mark Toomey Quintet @ St Peter’s Church, Stockton-on-Tees. 7:30pm. £12.00. (inc. pie & peas). Tickets from: 07749 255038.

Sun 11: New ’58 Jazz Collective @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 11: Am Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 11: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 11: Eva Fox & the Sound Hounds @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 12: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 12: Saltburn Big Band @ Saltburn House Hotel. 7:00-9:00pm. Free.

Tue 13: Milne Glendinning Band @ Newcastle House Hotel, Rothbury. 7:30pm. £11.00. Coquetdale Jazz.
Tue 13: Jazz Jam Sandwich @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Wed 14: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 14: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 14: Jam Session @ The Tannery, Hexham. 7:00pm. Free.
Wed 14: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 15: Mark Toomey Quartet @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm. Free. Quartet + guest Paul Donnelly (guitar).

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, February 21, 2014

Zara McFarlane @ Sage Gateshead. February 20.

Zara McFarlane (vcl); Binker Golding (ten); ???(pno); Max Luthart (bs); Moses Boyd (dms).
(Review by Lance).
Hall Two was ground floor full. I guess Hall One did better - Richard and Adam of  Britain's Got Talent "fame"! Well, for my money, there was a lot more talent in Hall Two tonight!
I'd reviewed Zara's CD If You Knew Her earlier this month so I knew this was going to be a cracking gig and it certainly was. The majority of the numbers were from the current CD plus a couple from her previous effort, Until Tomorrow. In fact my favourite of the whole concert was from that earlier CD - More Than Mine. Perhaps it was the inspiration behind the song that got me. A tale of seeing your ex in a supermarket with somebody new and trying to hide behind the vegetable rack but being spotted. This girl sings about life!
But they were all good. Police and Thieves (The Clash), Nina Simone's Plain Gold Ring plus a host of originals by the lady herself. Her pitching is impeccable over a very wide range and her scatting reminiscent of Ella, Sarah and Anita at their best.
As if this wasn't enough, Binker Golding blew great tenor sax. His interchanges with Zara = excitement unlimited¹°. Luthart and Boyd kept the rhythm section flowing, totally relaxed. I didn't catch the name of the pianist. It certainly wasn't Peter Edwards who plays on the disc. 
A superb evening - Richard and Adam? Who needs you?
Well it seemed just about every taxi in town did. There were so many taxis outside of Sage Gateshead that my poor Quaylink bus was marooned amidst them unable to move in either direction until the Hall One show was over. Nothing for me to do but to leg it over to the 27 bus stop. Missed the bus by about 10 seconds. So What? Up the bank to the Metro for the South Shields train. Missed it by about 5 seconds!
Despite all this, I wouldn't have missed the concert even if I'd had to walk home.
Lance.
PS: A special mention of Shirley (and her husband) who I met during the interval. Shirley came to my rescue when I told her my pen had ran out. She gave me hers - without that act of kindness this review couldn't have been written!
Thank you Shirley.

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