Bebop Spoken There

David Bailey (photographer): ''When I was 16 I wanted to look like Chet Baker. He was my idol - him and James Dean.'' (Talking Pictures documentary : Four beats to the bar and no cheating April, 2026)

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

18469 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 18 years ago. 333 of them this year alone and, so far this month (April 27 ) 67

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

From This Moment On

April

Wed 29: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 29: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 29: Long/Remon/Zilker @ The Ship Isis, Sunderland. 7:00pm. £10.00. + £1.00. bf. Tom Remon plays Irish folk!
Wed 29: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 29: Hackney Colliery Band @ Alnwick Playhouse. 7:30pm. £25.00.

Thu 30: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £5.00. Subject: International Jazz Day & JANE AGM.
Thu 30: Duke Junction @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £14.00., £12.00., £7.00. Nadim Teimoori (tenor sax); Jeff Hewer (guitar); Martin Longhawn (organ); Steve Hanley (drums). An International Jazz Day event & the 12th anniversary of Newcastle Jazz Co-op acquiring the Globe!

May

Fri 01: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 01: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 01: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 01: Castillo Nuevo Trio @ Hotel Gotham, Newcastle. 5:30pm. Free.
Fri 01: Bede Wind Band + East Coast Swing Band @ Cullercoats Methodist Church. 7:30pm. £10.00. Tickets from: www.ticketsource.com, members of Bede Wind Band & at the door. Memorial concert for Anne-Marie Purvis, who was a member of both ensembles. All proceeds to Tiny Lives Trust.
Fri 01: Louis Louis Louis @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm. £15.00.

Sat 02: Midnite Follies Orchestra @ St Augustine’s Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm. £20.00. Darlington New Orleans Jazz Club. All-star line-up.
Sat 02: Knats Masterclass & Jam II @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 1:00-3:00pm. £15.00.
Sat 02: Shannon Pearl + John Pope & John Garner @ Langley Tracks, Langley on Tyne NE47 5LA. 5:30pm (doors). £15.00. + £1.50. bf. ‘Witch-pop’ + Pope & Garner.
Sat 02: Knats + Nauta @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm (doors). £17.51., £14.33., £11.16.
Sat 02: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00.

Sun 03: Chilcott Jazz Mass @ St George’s Church, Jesmond, Newcastle. 9:30am. Free. Sung communion with Parish Choir (featuring Bob Chilcott’s music). A Jesmond Community Festival event.
Sun 03: Smokin’ Spitfires @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:45pm. £10.00.
Sun 03: Ian Bosworth Quintet @ Chapel, Middlesbrough. 1:00pm. Free. Feat. guest Mark Toomey (alto sax).
Sun 03: Sax Choir @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 03: Tom Waits for No Man @ Oxygenic, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm (2:30pm doors). Neckties and Boxing Gloves album launch. £14.00 (gig & a CD); £8.00 (gig only).
Sun 03: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 03: NUJO Jazz Jam @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm (doors). £3.76.
Sun 03: John Pope & John Garner @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £12.00., £10.00.

Mon 04: Friends of Jazz @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 04: Pete Tanton’s Cuban Heels @ The Library, South Parade, Whitley Bay. 2:00-4:00pm. Free.
Mon 04: Saltburn Big Band @ Saltburn House Hotel. 7:00-9:00pm. Free.

Tue 05: Leah Kirk (voice): Final Year Music Recital @ The Band Room, Music Studios, Assembly Lane, Newcastle University. 2:30pm. Free, open to the public.
Tue 05: Jenny Baker (voice): Final Year Music Recital @ The Band Room, Music Studios, Assembly Lane, Newcastle University. 4:20pm. Free, open to the public.
Tue 05: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Stu Collingwood (piano); Paul Grainger (double bass); Tim Johnston (drums).
Tue 05: Customs House Big Band @ The Masonic Hall, Ferryhill. 7:30pm. Free.

Monday, May 12, 2014

Snarky Puppy @ Sage Gateshead. May 11

Michael League (electric bass), Bill Laurance (keyboards), Cory Henry (keyboards), Mike Maher (trumpet & flugelhorn), Evan Weiss (trumpet & flugelhorn), Chris Bullock (tenor saxophone),  Mark Lettieri (guitar), Robert ‘Sput’ Searight (drums) & Nate Werth (percussion)
(Review by Russell/Photo courtesy of Sage Gateshead.)
Hall Two was buzzing. Level one all standing, rammed, the seated upper tiers rammed. A word of mouth phenomenon, the sneakered Snarky Puppy strolled out to a rapturous Sage Gateshead reception. Bassist Michael League’s jazz funk twenty somethings are mid-way through a European tour and they’re having a ball. Greeted by ecstatic full houses every night, the University of North Texas boys are living the dream and someone had tipped them off that Tyneside was the party capital of the universe!
Touring their eighth album (We Like it Here), the iTunes’ chart-toppers ripped into a set of gargantuan jazz funk grooves. League’s bass lines the pivot, the killing Robert ‘Sput’ Searight (drums) the turbo-charged motor with percussion partner Nate Werth, brass and reeds dancing around their wah-wahs. Miles c.1970 used them, Snarky Puppy 2014 use them – the wah-wah pedal is back! Chris Bullock’s tenor sax, the trumpets and flugelhorns of Mike Maher and the new boy from Seattle, Evan Weiss, guitarist Mark Lettieri, all pressed the pedal to the floor. The brass boys knocked out extended trumpet solos at high volume, Weiss did the same on flugel (how he did it is a marvel) and when Maher wasn’t playing he was dancing. The set list featured the new album (What About Me? a highlight) and a few back catalogue numbers including Laurance’s reworking of Ready Wednesday. At intervals League took it down, the melody emerging (notably on the Latin-feel Tio Macaco) from the keys of Londoner Bill Laurance and the dancing Cory Henry. An encore was inevitable and those seated on the upper floors joined the dance floor crowd in a standing ovation.  
Committed to community outreach work at their Brooklyn NYC base, issuing CDs and DVDs at regular intervals and in their spare time touring the world (200 performances a year), Snarky Puppy’s post-gig meet and greet session at Sage Gateshead was a music industry exemplar. As the crowd left Hall Two there was the band sitting at a table ready to chat and sign a CD. Down to earth, polite American boys, Snarky Puppy know they’re living the dream.  
Russell.   
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1 comment :

Unknown said...

The best gig I have ever been to. The best band I have ever seen. I'm loving the album 'We Like It Here'. A masterpiece.

Thursday, May 15, 2014 4:32:00 pm

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