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Bebop Spoken There

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The Things They Say!

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Postage

16287 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 169 of them this year alone and, so far, 41 this month (Mar 18).

From This Moment On ...

March

Tue 19: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Michael Young, Paul Grainger, Tim Johnston.

Wed 20: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 20: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 20: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 21: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 21: Castillo Neuvo Trio + Conor Emery & His ‘Bones Band @ The Grove, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 7:30pm (7:00pm doors). £10.00. (£7.00. student).
Thu 21: Remi Banklyn + Chris Corcoran Trio @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £12.50. Chicago blues. An International Guitar Foundation promotion.
Thu 21: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Ragtime piano.
Thu 21: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm.

Fri 22: Vasilis Xenopoulos & Paul Edis @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. £8.00. SOLD OUT!
Fri 22: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 22: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 22: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 22: Nauta + Remy CB + Last Orders @ Hoochie Coochie, Newcastle. 8:30pm (7:30pm doors). Free.
Fri 22: Vasilis Xenopoulos-Paul Edis Quartet @ Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. £15.00. Opus 4 Jazz Club.
Fri 22: Redwell @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sat 23: Jambone @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 6:30pm. Free (ticketed). End of term performance in the Northern Rock Foundation Hall.
Sat 23: Milne-Glendinning Band @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 23: Red Kites Jazz @ Rowlands Gill Community Centre NE39 1JB. 7:00pm. Tickets: £12.00. (gibsidecommunityfarm@gmail.com). A ‘Build a Barn’ fundraiser. BYOB, tea/coffee available.
Sat 23: New Century Ragtime Orchestra @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £20.00. + bf (book in person at venue - no booking fee!). Featuring pianist Martin Litton.
Sat 23: Pete Tanton’s Cuba Libre @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 24: Musicians Unlimited @ Park Inn, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 24: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:30pm. Free.
Sun 24: Luis Verde @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm. Verde (alto sax); Joe Steels (guitar); John Pope (double bass); John Hirst (drums). Alto sax brilliance!
Sun 24: Elsie Franklin @ The Globe, Newcastle. 3:00pm. £10.00. Country blues. An International Guitar Foundation promotion.
Sun 24: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay Metro Station. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 24: Las Vegas Live with the Rat Pack @ The Forum, Billingham.
Sun 24: Ian Millar & Dominic Spencer @ Otterburn Memorial Hall. 7:30pm. £12.00.
Sun 24: Lindsay Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Note start time - 7:00pm.
Sun 24: Bold Big Band @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 25: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 25: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 6:30pm. Free.

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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