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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

17680 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 23 of them this year alone and, so far, 23 this month (Jan. 9).

From This Moment On ...

January 2025

Tue 14: Zoë Gilby Quintet @ Newcastle House Hotel, Rothbury. 7:30pm.

Wed 15: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 15: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 15: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 15: Hot Club of Heaton @ Elder Beer, Heaton, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘third Wednesday in the month’ session. TBC.

Thu 16: Pete Tanton & the Cuban Heels @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Fri 17: Lindsay Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 17: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 17: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 17: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 17: Joe Steels Trio w. Graham Hardy @ The Pele, Corbridge. 7:00pm. £10.00. (inc. a welcome drink & table reservation). Book at: www.drinks@thepele.co.uk. A ‘Jazz at the Pele’ promotion.
Fri 17: Russ Morgan Quartet @ Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. Opus 4 Jazz Club.
Fri 17: Redwell @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sat 18: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 18: Alter Ego + Jamie Toms/Graham Don Duo @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 7:30pm. £15.00. at the door; £14.35. (inc £0.35 bf) online, in advance.
Sat 18: Tweed River Jazz Band @ Repas 7 by Night, West St., Berwick TD15 1AS. 7:30pm. Free. Album launch gig.
Sat 18: Delta Prophets @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 19: Glenn Miller Orchestra UK @ Glasshouse, Gateshead. 3:00pm. ‘Glenn Miller & the Rat Pack Era’.
Sun 19: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 19: Spilt Milk @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 5:15-7:00pm. Free. Nolan Brothers (vocal harmonies).
Sun 19: Tenement Jazz Band @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 19: Nick Ross Orchestra @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 7:30pm.
Sun 19: Freight Train (Tobin/Noble/Clarvis) @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 20: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 21: ???

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

Monday, April 07, 2014

GIJF – Day Three - Shiver

(Review by Russell).
Sunday afternoon, Hall Two, standing room only three floors up. Clearly some had heard of Polar Bear and some had heard of Shiver. Local heroes Shiver with guest vocalists are Geordie Heroes (drummer Joost Hendrickx awarded Honourary Geordie status). Home grown, the trio – Chris Sharkey (guitar), Andy Champion (electric bass) and Hendrickx – recently took their music on the road and this Gatehsead International Jazz Festival appearance held extra appeal with guest vocalists Zoe Gilby and John Turrell invited to join them on stage.
The trio kicked-off in fine style taking no prisoners with a searing Hammerhead Blues. Chris Sharkey spoke of the tune’s genesis: proud of his Geordie roots, acknowledging the region’s largely lost heavy industrial base – coal, steel, shipbuilding – hence Hammerhead. This was meat and drink to bassist Andy Champion, locking onto steam hammer riffs, the accumulated dust of long gone industries blown away in a sustained attack with Hendrickx. Sharkey, restless on fret board and stage, developed ideas at lightening speed, then a change of direction, then another, pedal board pressed into action. The lean left hander (powder blue Strat) moved this way then that returning to the pedal board to signal ‘diversion ahead’.
Champion had his share of the electronic hardware (Hendrickx’s kit similarly wired) and put the boot in with some staggering bass playing. The Mayfair Ballroom in Newcastle fell victim to ‘progress’, demolished some years ago to make way for an all under one roof ‘experience’ of chain restaurants, pubs and multiplex cinema. Sharkey lamented its loss – from the foxtrot dance band era to the days of pretty boy/ugly (delete as appropriate) heavy metal bands. So, we got Quickstep. It was quick alright, Shiver style! What next? Sharkey introduced the afternoon’s guest vocalists. The pre-gig assumption was we would hear two vocalists and indeed we did. Make that four vocalists (more of that later!). The principal guests – Zoe Gilby (her late dad Mike once a formidable member of the trumpet section at the Mayfair back in the old days) and John Turrell – strode out casual, confident. Any sane person would be terrified! How on earth would they be heard on this gig?
Heard they were, sections written to accommodate the voice, other sections full on power trio and vocals! Tyneside has a history of collaborative projects. Many moons ago before Sting became a global megastar he worked on a ‘rock opera’, for want of a better term. Here at Sage Gateshead Chris Sharkey premiered something of a ‘stadium power metal-scored operatic opus’. John Turrell’s soulful voice an inspired choice for this project, Zoe Gilby explored new territory with an astonishing, brave performance, the screaming rock goddess! An intense Gilby – Hendrickx vocal/drums feature heard Gilby utterly uninhibited, urged on by Hendrickx. Quite remarkable. So, it can be said Shiver came up with something different! The four vocalists? Turrell and Gilby and…Sharkey and Champion. Well, well, well! Backing vocals but nevertheless vocals. Whatever next?!
Russell.

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