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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

17755 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 76 of them this year alone and, so far, 1 this month (Feb.1).

From This Moment On ...

February 2025

Sat 08: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 12:30-2:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 08: Jason Isaacs @ Seaburn STACK, Seaburn. 3:30-5:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 08: Milne Glendinning Band @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 08: Lewis Watson Quartet @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 7:30pm. £15.00. at the door; £14.35. (inc £0.35 bf) online, in advance.
Sat 08: Anth Purdy @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. ‘Swing Jazz Guitar’.
Sat 08: NUJO Jazz Jam @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A Newcastle University Jazz Orchestra event. All welcome.

Sun 09: The New ’58 Jazz Collective @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 09: Am Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 09: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 09: Glenn Miller & Big Band Spectacular @ The Forum, Billingham. 3:00pm.
Sun 09: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 09: Tom Remon & Mark Williams @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 09: Rod Oughton’s Tomorrow’s New Quartet with Ben van Helder @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Line-up inc. Deschanel Gordon.
Sun 09: Jazz Jam @ Fabio’s, Saddler St., Durham. 8:00pm. Free. A Durham University Jazz Society promotion. All welcome.

Mon 10: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 11: Steve Summers Quintet @ Newcastle House Hotel, Rothbury. 7:30pm.

Wed 12: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 12: Jam session @ The Tannery, Gilesgate, Hexham. 7:00-9:00pm. Free.
Wed 12: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 12: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 13: Student Performances @ King’s Hall, Newcastle University. 4:00pm. Free. Inc. Olly Styles (tenor sax).
Thu 13: MOBO Awards Fringe 2025: Artist Showcase @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 7:00pm. Free (ticketed). Line-up inc. Hannabiell & Midnight Blue.
Thu 13: Indigo Jazz Voices @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:45pm. £5.00.

Fri 14: John Rowland Trio @ Jesmond Library, Newcastle. 12:30-1:30pm. £5.00. at the door. New second Friday in the month concert series.
Fri 14: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 14: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 14: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 14: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 4:00-6:00pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Fri 14: Archipelago + Anna Tempest @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm. £12.00., £10.00., £8.00.
Fri 14: Paul Jones & Dave Kelly @ Alnwick Playhouse. 7:30pm. Rhythm & blues.
Fri 14: Alexia Gardner Quintet @ The White Room, Stanley. 7:45pm.
Fri 14: Jazz Sabbath @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm.

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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