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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

17985(and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 306 of them this year alone and, so far, 62 this month (April 26).

From This Moment On ...

April 2025.

Sun 27: Musicians Unlimited @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 27: Andrea Vicari Trio @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00pm. Vicari (piano); Andy Champion (double bass); John Bradford (drums).
Sun 27: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 27: Vasilis Xenopoulos-Paul Edis Quartet @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm. Xenopoulos, Edis, Paul Susans, Russ Morgan.
Sun 27: Ruth Lambert Trio @ Juke Shed, North Shields. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 27: JustKing Jones @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. 7:00pm (doors). £17.50. JustKing Jones (alto sax, soprano sax); Jordan Williams (piano); Jason Clotter (bass); Malcolm Charles (drums). Ace NYC outfit!
Sun 27: Jazz Jam Sandwich! @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 27: Swing Manouche @ Warkworth Memorial Hall. 7:30pm. £15.00. Tickets from 01665 711388.
Sun 27: Vasilis Xenopoulos-Paul Edis Quartet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Xenopoulos, Edis, Ken Marley, Russ Morgan.

Mon 28: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 29: ???

Wed 30: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 30: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 30: International Jazz Day @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £16.00.; £14.00. adv.. Feat. Guido Spannocchi, John Pope & Steve Hanley + Take it to the Bridge participants + Open Mic Night participants.

MAY 2025

Thu 01: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: Member’s Contribution.
Thu 01: Alabaster de Plume @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm.
Thu 01: Living in Shadows + OUTRI @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Thu 01: The Shayo Experiment @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Shayo Oshodi & Liam Oliver.
Thu 01: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm. Free.

Fri 02: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 02: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 02: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 02: Anna Reay & Deon Krishnan @ STACK, Seaburn. 4:30-6:15pm. Free.
Fri 02: Nauta @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 7:00pm. £7.50. A ‘Nauta’s House’ gig featuring Nauta & guests Shayo Oshodi & David Gray.
Fri 02: Spilt Milk @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 7:00-9:00pm. Free. Nolan Brothers (vocal harmonies).
Fri 02: Dom Pipkin @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). Solo piano.
Fri 02: Abbie Finn Trio @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm. £12.00. + bf.

Sat 03: Hot Fingers @ St Augustine’s Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm. £10.00.
Sat 03: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. £25.00. Tutor: Steve Glendinning. Summer Samba Enrol at: learning@jazz.coop.
Sat 03: Jason Isaacs @ STACK, Exchange Sq., Middlesbrough. 4:00-6:00pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 03: Edison Herbert Trio @ The Vault, Darlington 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 03: Postmodern Jukebox @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 7:30pm.
Sat 03: NUJO Jazz Jam @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 8:00pm (7:00pm doors). £3.00. + bf.
Sat 03: Eva Fox & the Jazz Guys @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sat 03: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00.
Sat 03: Ray Stubbs R&B All Stars @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:30pm. 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

Saturday, April 26, 2014

“TIMEO DANAOS ET DONA FERENTES”? Vasilis Xenopoulos - The Wind Machine @ St. Cuthbert's Centre, Crook April 25

Vasilis Xenopoulos (ten); Martin Shaw  (tpt/flg); Paul Edis (pno); Andy Champion (bs); Matt Home (dms). 
(Review and photos by Jerry).
If Virgil had been at Crook last night, he’d have hated the rat-grey, mizzly weather but he’d never have penned that line about fearing the Greeks even when bearing gifts! Aided by two “local heroes” (his words, not mine) and by two top-class London-based colleagues, Vasilis brought his considerable gifts (and chirpy, Mediterranean charm) and took Crook by storm, not by stealth.
As at the Bridge, last night, they stormed through Four Brothers and Splanky on which I fully understood Lance’s comment about the BIG sound generated by these five splendid musicians. Altogether more gentle on the senses, Tin Tin Deo brought mesmerising Latin rhythms and a tasty flugelhorn solo (accompanied by tempting smells from the kitchen of pizza cooking for the interval!).
“Ballad Medleys”, one in each half, demonstrated that these guys could do subtle and seductive as well as storming. We had Bewitched, My One and Only Love (first set) then Prelude to a Kiss and Sophisticated Lady (second set). Bewitched we were! Subtlety and great harmonies too on Dizzy Gillespie’s ground-breaking bebop / Latin mix, Con Alma, (correctly translated by Vas as “With Soul”).
“That’s his best” was my comment after each player’s solo – until the next one! They just seemed to get better and better as the evening progressed and there was so much dazzling technique for this “jazznoramus” to watch, listen to and wonder at. On Our Delight, for example Shaw’s muted trumpet, almost swallowing the microphone, produced amazing low notes which had me looking to see if some other instrument had arrived onstage unannounced! He and Vas closed Brookmeyer’s Fun Club with a quiet (improvised?) duet – a kind of horn-duel – the like of which I have not previously heard. Magical! It was great, too, to see drumming up close – so often the drummer is hidden away at the back – and to register the variety of techniques deployed by Matt Home from thunderous solos to the softest of brushing. As for the “local heroes”, if pressed to nominate a “best” solo, I’d plump for Paul’s on Short Story and Andy’s on Fun Club.
I’ve not mentioned, so far, The Groove Merchant which closed the first set, Corner Pocket, which punched holes in the second and the powerful (“frenetic” in a good way) Wind Machine which rounded off the evening. So there you have it: a fairly brief review for an epic gig…
Thanks, as ever, to all at Crook for the candles, nibbles, pizzas and genuine warmth which makes this a great place to be, even on a foul night.
Jerry

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