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Bebop Spoken There

Trevor Mires: ''My mum is a Dean Martin fan: I'm not, so I would grab my skateboard and get out of the house whenever I heard "Everybody Loves Somebody, Sometime." ". (Jazzwise, April 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

17972 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 293 of them this year alone and, so far, 49 this month (April 22).

From This Moment On ...

April 2025.

Wed 23: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 23: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 23: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. CANCELLED!

Thu 24: Mary Coughlan @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm. £33.80. Blues, jazz etc.
Thu 24: Darlington Big Band @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm.

Fri 25: Vasilis Xenopoulos & Paul Edis @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT! Duo performance.
Fri 25: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 25: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 25: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 25: Andrea Vicari Trio @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. £8.00. Vicari (piano); Andy Champion (double bass); Russ Morgan (drums).
Fri 25: Jason Isaacs @ STACK, Exchange Sq., Middlesbrough. 4:00-6:00pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Fri 25: Red Kites Jazz @ Land of Oak & Iron, Winlaton Mill. 6:00-9:00pm. Free.
Fri 25: Vasilis Xenopoulos & Paul Edis @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 7:30pm. £15.00. at the door; £14.35. (inc £0.35 bf) online, in advance.
Fri 25: Struggle Buggy @ The White Room, Stanley. 7:45pm. Rhythm & blues.
Fri 25: Paul Skerritt Big Band @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm. £20.30., £18.00. All-star big band.
Fri 25: Andrea Vicari Trio @ Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. Vicari (piano); Andy Champion (double bass); Russ Morgan (drums). An Opus 4 Jazz Club event.

Sat 26: Durham Alumni Big Band @ Number One Bar, Darlington. 12 noon. Free (donations).
Sat 26: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 26: Vasilis Xenopoulos & Paul Edis @ Elvet Methodist Church, Durham. 7:30pm. Tickets: £12.00. + bf. Duo performance.
Sat 26: Neil Cowley Trio @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm. £22.50.
Sat 26: Pete Tanton & the Cuban Heels @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

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: ???

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, May 16, 2014

Roger Beaujolais Quartet/Greg Spero @ The Recital Room, Newcastle University. May 15.










Roger Beaujolais (vibes), Robin Aspland (piano), Simon Thorpe (double bass) & Winston Clifford (drums) + Greg Spero (piano) 
(Review by Russell/Photos courtesy of Ken Drew).
Jazz North East’s presentation of the Roger Beaujolais Quartet benefited from the late addition of a short opening set by pianist Greg Spero. JNE’s regulars turned up as ever, Spero turned up in the nick of time, sat at the Steinway, composed himself and trusting  in the instrument, started to play.
Spero’s Chicagoan band mates had made the cross-country journey to hear him play – that’s loyalty for you! – and were happy to stand at the back of the room with a bottle of Marston’s Pedigree in hand. Spero played for about twenty five minutes improvising on Victor Young’s When I Fall in Love. The university’s piano clearly met with his approval, head bowed, deep in concentration, muttering from time to time as many a jazz pianist has done down the years. Keen to play on, he got the nod (another five minutes), asked what kind of audience he was playing to: Would you like to hear a ballad or some blues? The immediate consensus was for the latter, the blues – think One O’clock Jump saloon barChicago style!
The Roger Beaujolais Quartet returned in good time from a pre-concert meal to catch the end of Greg Spero’s set. Pianist Robin Aspland was impressed! Beaujolais opened with Wes Montgomery’s Full House playing to a three quarters full house. Aspland, a first rate player in his own right, relished the opportunity to play such a good piano and threw in a quote (the first of many) from Softly, As in a Morning Sunrise. Drummer Winston Clifford featured on Milton Nascimento’s Vera Cruz contributing the first of two extended solos. Beaujolais said he liked to play ballads. It was the only time he could hear all the notes he was playing, said the vibes man. Turning to his fellow musicians he said: No offence, guys! So he played Milt Jackson’s Heartstrings telling the audience the number was one of a handful of Jackson’s tunes that wasn’t a blues. An original composition – Joe Beam – took its inspiration from the boss of bossa nova Antonio Carlos Jobim. The quartet’s new CD featured throughout the evening and the title track – Mind the Gap – owed more than a little to So What.
The Americans and the Brits saw off the first case of Pedigree, a further supply emerged from the boot of a parked car (all legit, honest guv’nor), the raffle prizes, two of them, went to lucky ticket holders sitting next to one another (Fix! Fix!)…The second set began with another Beaujolais tune called Yes or No. Affable, dressed in a double breasted suit, the Yorkshire-based vibes man certainly knows his instrument, playing with ease during the evening. Bassist Simon Thorpe, the swinging anchor in the band, stepped forward on Admission Impossible, soloing impressively, then without fuss, resumed his unobtrusive rhythm duties. Aspland quoted liberally and bluesily – fast, fleetingly, gone – on another original number – Bad Connection. It connected with the audience! RB likes his ballads, so he said. One of the tunes of the night was Duke Pearson’s Cristo Redemptor with the main man on top form. RB flashed his Vibes Union membership card, calling Bobby Hutcherson’s Highway One and just before Beaujolais and co hit the A1 they left us with Shuffle the Cards. An ace of a gig.
Ken Drew photos.     
Russell.

1 comment :

David Gosling said...

Was there for what has proved to be a momentous occasion. Greg Spero's second appearance in Newcastle and with Makaya McCraven and Junius Paul looking on.

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