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Bebop Spoken There

John McLaughlin: '' A Love Supreme coincided with my search for meaning in life". (DownBeat, March 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

17838 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 159of them this year alone and, so far, 6 this month (March 3).

From This Moment On ...

MARCH 2025

Mon 03: Milne Glendinning Band @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 1:00pm. £9.00. at the door; £8.20. (inc £0.20 bf) online, in advance.
Mon 03: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 04: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ Victoria & Albert Inn, Seaton Delaval. Tel: 0191 237 3697. 12:30pm. £8.00. ‘Jazz ‘n’ Pancakes’.
Tue 04: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Stu Collingwood, Paul Grainger, Abbie Finn.
Tue 04: Customs House Big Band @ The Masonic Hall, North St., Ferryhill DL17 8HX. 7:30pm. Free.

Wed 05: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 05: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 05: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 06: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, Holystone. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 06: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: The Jazz Music of Quincy Jones.
Thu 06: BBC Big Band @ The Hippodrome, Darlington. 7:30pm. £32.00., £25.00., £16.00. ‘The Sound of Cinema’ featuring Emer McPartland (vocals).
Thu 06: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 06: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm. Free. Guests: Dan Johnson (sax); Josh Bentham (sax); Gary Hadfield (keys); Adrian Beadnell (bass). A Tees Hot Club promotion. First Thursday in the month.

Fri 07: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 07: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 07: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 07: James Birkett & Emma Fisk @ Old Lowlight, Clifford’s Fort, North Shields NE30 1JE. 7:00pm. £15.00. + bf. www.oldlowlight.co.uk. Rescheduled from Friday 7th February.
Fri 07: Jake Leg Jug Band @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm. £12.00.

Sat 08: Jamie Taylor, Graham Harvey, Andy Champion @ Divinity House Concert Hall, Palace Green Music Dept., Durham University. 7:00-9:00pm (6:30pm doors). £7.50. (£6.00. DUJS member). ‘An Evening of Jazz’. Later in the evening the trio will be joined by Freddie Krone, drums (Durham Uni final year music student).
Sat 08: Milne Glendinning Band @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 08: Lagos to Longbenton @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Afrobeat, jazz-fusion.1:00pm. Free.

Sun 09: The New ’58 Jazz Collective @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 09: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 09: Am Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 09: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 09: Tom Atkinson @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. Tom Atkinson & co play jazz standards, bebop, free jazz, Latin & more. Upstairs. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 09: Eva Fox & the Jazz Guys @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Downstairs.
Sun 09: Zhenya Strigalev’s 2025 Quartet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 10: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club.

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, May 06, 2014

Jazz in the Afternoon @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. May 5

Derek Fleck (clarinet & tenor saxophone), Mick Hill (trumpet & vocals), Roy Gibson (keyboards), Bill Colledge (bass) & Fred Thompson (drums) + Barry Soulsby (clarinet), Doris Fenn (banjo), John Broddle (vocals) & Theresa Armstrong (vocals)
(Review by Russell).
Holiday Monday, decent weather, a (part) change in the old guard. Regulars Chester, Hallam & Rillands were excused duties to meet up with Don Fairley for a nice little earner at a Close House golf day. Derek Fleck - famous for fifteen seconds thanks to Jazz Record Requests - held the fort, though he too had been up Hadrian’s Wall country earlier in the day, returning to base in time to MC affairs.
A pint-sized latter day Emperor Hadrian invaded the Crescent Club disguised as XL, a celebratory brew from the Hadrian Border Brewery (brewed to mark the 38th Newcastle Beer Festival). It was the pick on the bar, another beer being described by the barman as ‘lively’. The club was lively, very busy. A microphone short of a PA system (some could happily live with that) meant the instrumentalists featured, uninterrupted by a succession of singers. All of Me opened proceedings followed by Lady Be Good with Fleck on tenor. The unexpected star attraction - trumpeter Mick Hill - played some proper trumpet on Bye Bye Blues then someone called the tired old warhorse Georgia* and it was duly dragged out once more.
During the interval someone arrived with a mic (hoorah!/boo! - delete as applicable). The jazz economy went into overdrive (ie the raffle), a cloud formation banked over the North Sea and the Cullercoats day trippers thought about taking Tyson, the pit bull, home to charm the neighbours.
Cullercoats Lass Theresa Armstrong sang ‘S Wonderful and These Foolish Things. Jazz in the Afternoon wouldn’t be Jazz in the Afternoon without the ‘S Wonderful Theresa. The great Doris Fenn (banjo) sat at the back on one side flanking the vocal-less Fred Thompson (drums), bassist Bill Colledge the other. The seated Mick Hill’s trumpet stood out throughout the afternoon, then surprisingly, the Teesside trumpeter sang  Some Day You’ll Be Sorry. A hidden talent! John Broddle came off the bench as a late sub to sing On the Sunny Side of the Street (Fleck and Barry Soulsby clarinets) and After You’ve Gone (Hill, trumpet, Roy Gibson’s idiosyncratic keyboards). Time to go. Time to join Tyson and co on the Metro home.
Russell.
* Georgia and others. Name the tunes - great tunes, no doubt - that you could live without. Georgia, Autumn Leaves, Summertime - that’s three for starters                       

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