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Bebop Spoken There

Sullivan Fortner: ''I always judge it by the bass player: If the bass player is happy, it's going to be a good night". (DownBeat, February 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

17805 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 126 of them this year alone and, so far, 51 this month (Feb.16).

From This Moment On ...

February 2025

Wed 19: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 19: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 19: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 20: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, Holystone. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 20: James Birkett & Emma Fisk @ King’s Hall, Newcastle University. 1:15pm. Free.
Thu 20: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: Jazz Milestones - 1975.
Thu 20: Renegade Brass Band @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors).
Thu 20: Orange Claw Hammer + Peony @ The Globe, Newcastle.7:30pm. Orange Claw Hammer play Captain Beefheart.
Thu 20: Jeremy McMurray & the Pocket Jazz Orchestra @ Arc, Stockton. 8:00pm. Featuring special guest Zoë Gilby.

Fri 21: JazzMain @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 21: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 21: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 21: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 21: Joe Steels Trio @ The Pele, Corbridge. 7:00pm. £10.00. TBC.
Fri 21: Emma Rawicz w. Strictly Smokin’ Big Band @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm.

Sat 22: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 12:30-2:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 22: Jason Isaacs @ Seaburn STACK, Seaburn. 3:30pm-5:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 22: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 22: Mississippi MacDonald @ Claypath Deli, Durham. 7:00pm. Blues.
Sat 22: Lindsay Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ Old Cinema Laundrette, Durham. 7:45pm. £16.50. SOLD OUT!
Sat 22: Michael Woods @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Country blues guitar & vocals.

Sun 23: Musicians Unlimited @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 23: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 23: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 23: Mark Williams Trio @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm.
Sun 23: Ruth Lambert Trio @ The Juke Shed, Union Quay, North Shields. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 23: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 23: Jazz Jam Sandwich! @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 23: Mississippi MacDonald @ Georgian Theatre, Stockton. 3:00pm. Blues.
Sun 23: Mu Quintet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Sun 23: Jazz Jam @ Fabio’s, Saddler St., Durham. 8:00pm. Free. A Durham University Jazz Society promotion. All welcome.

Mon 24: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 24: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 6:30pm. Free.

Tue 25: ?

Wed 26: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 26: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 26: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

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

Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Jazz in the Afternoon @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. April 21

Brian Chester (keyboards, trombone, silly hat), Derek Fleck (clarinet, tenor saxophone, silly hat), John Carstairs Hallam (double bass) & Ollie Rillands (drums & vocals) + Lawrence McBriarty (trombone), Barry Soulsby (clarinet & vocals), Miles Watson (trumpet,) Roy Gibson (keyboards), Doris Fenn (banjo), John Broddle (vocals), Theresa Armstrong (vocals) & Lisa Murphy (vocals)
(Review by Russell).
Easter Monday, sunshine, Metro to the coast packed (buckets and spades, screaming tots, tattoos, harmless pit-bulls). A nice day to sit on the prom and watch the disembarked disport themselves. To more pressing matters…an afternoon of jazz in the Crescent Club. The club, like the train, packed, standing room only.
The regulars – band and audience – assembled in good time, the beers on the bar the best selection by far to be found in a north east CIU club. Consett Brewery’s Last Tap the first to be sampled as John Broddle sang Easter Parade (topical, if nothing else). Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams suggested Broddle, backed by Brian Chester (piano, DIY multi coloured mini umbrella hat) and Derek Fleck (tenor, distressed straw hat). Chester’s verdict on JB’s efforts an encouraging ‘absolutely average’. Drummer Ollie Rillands met a (regular) request speeding along Route 66. Lawrence McBriarty (trombone) brought a little respectability to proceedings on Jazz Me Blues and Nagasaki.
The Monday session welcomes sitters-in and a new name got up to sing a couple of numbers including Autumn Leaves. The name to note is Lisa Murphy. Several generations younger than the boys in the band, Ms Murphy should sit in elsewhere (the Jazz Café’s jam session, perhaps), a voice to be heard again.
The interval – another beer (the Maxim Brewery’s Wanted Simcoe Kid), a natter, a raffle ticket. One lucky (unlucky?) person got to choose between a bottle of wine and a CD. Derek Fleck implored the winner to ‘take the Glenn Miller thing away’! Fleck picked up his tenor, assumed his Lester Young stance (slumped along the leather upholstered seating) and accompanied the eternally youthful Theresa Armstrong on Mean to Me
Things were hotting up. Roy Gibson sat at the piano, Miles Watson (trumpet) got up and Mr Chester played trombone alongside Mr McBriarty. The estimable Doris Fenn (banjo) joined the engine room boys (Rillands and double bassist John Carstairs Hallam) as a marmalade of clarinets (Fleck and Barry Soulsby) upped the ante. The Loch Ness Brewery’s Wilderness called out to be supped as a jam session threatened. Time waits for no jam session, time to go, there’s always next week.         
Russell.        

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