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Bebop Spoken There

Steve Coleman: ''If you don't keep learning, your mind slows down. Use it or lose it''. (DownBeat, January 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

17733 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 53 of them this year alone and, so far, 53 this month (Jan. 20).

From This Moment On ...

January 2025

Wed 22: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 22: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 22: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 22: Pasadena Roof Orchestra @ Fire Station, Sunderland. 7:30pm.

Thu 23: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, Holystone. 1:00pm. Free. Fortnightly.
Thu 23: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: Obituaries 2024.
Thu 23: Jason Isaacs @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 4:30-6:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Thu 23: Pedal Point Trio @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Fri 24: Zoë Gilby Quartet @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 24: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 24: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 24: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 24: Creakin’ Bones & the Sunday Dinners @ Lindisfarne Social Club, Wallsend. 9:00pm. Admission: TBC. Jazz, blues , jump jive, rock ‘n’ roll.

Sat 25: Boys of Brass @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 3:30-5:30pm. Free.
Sat 25: New '58 Jazz Collective @ Jackson's Wharf, Hartlepool. 6:30pm (doors). Free. A Burns' Night event. Jazz, swing, funk, soul, blues etc.
Sat 25: Edison Herbert Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 25: Red Kites Jazz @ Parish Hall, St Barnabas’ Church, Rowlands Gill. 7:30pm. £10.00. BYOB (tea & coffee available), raffle. Proceeds to St Barnabas’ Church. Performance feat. Shayo (vocals).
Sat 25: Jack & Jay’s Songbook @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 26: Musicians Unlimited @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 26: Graham Hardy Eclectic Quartet @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm.
Sun 26: Ruth Lambert Trio @ The Juke Shed, Union Quay, North Shields. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 26: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 26: Jazz Jam Sandwich! @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 26: Tweed River Jazz Band @ Barrels Ale House, Berwick-upon-Tweed. 7:30pm. Free.
Sun 26: Gratkowski, Tramontana, Beresford, Affifi @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £12.00. JNE.
Sun 26: Jazz Jam @ Fabio’s, Saddler St., Durham. 8:00pm. Free. A Durham University Jazz Society promotion. All welcome.

Mon 27: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 28: ???

Wed 29: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 29: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 29: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).

Thu 30: Matters Unknown (aka Jonathan Enser, Nubiyan Twist) + support TBA @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 8:00pm (7:00pm doors). £12.22 (gig & food); £9:04 (gig only).
Thu 30: Soznak @ The Mill Tavern, Hebburn. 8:00pm. Free.
Thu 30: Struggle Buggy @ Harbour View, Roker, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Rhythm & blues.

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

Wednesday, June 04, 2014

Jazz Café Jam June 3.

Peter Gilligan (pno); Paul Grainger (bs); Paul Wight (dms); Mark Williams (gtr) + Josh Bentham (alt); Paul Skerritt (vcl); Paul Gowland, Stuart Finden, (tenors); Fiona Finden (ten/vcl); Simon Stephenson (gtr)...
(Review by Lance).
Alice in Wonderland was an appropriate opener. I don't know if there were any Alices in the room but, if there were, they would indeed think they had stumbled into a parallel universe that was totally oblivious to the other Pink Lane activities. Gilligan, Grainger, Wight and Williams were sending out the message - come in and hear the truth. At this stage, not many had. Perhaps, like the aforementioned four, they'd gone to Scarborough Fair. This dreary olde English folk tune is not an immediately obvious choice but, in the hands of these guys, it morphed into a near jazz standard. Make Someone Happy? The whole room was happy as the sitters in stood at the bar or sat in the wings awaiting the call.
First sacrificial lamb to be offered up was altoist Josh Bentham. Young, very young, cool looking dude. Georgia on my Mind has well and truly stood the test of time since Hoagy wrote it in 1930 and Bentham's version didn't do it any harm. Nat Adderley's Work Song found the alto player in a more adventurous mood throwing in a few high register forays. Keep an eye out for this young man.
The third of four Pauls, Paul Skerritt, took control of the mic for Orange Coloured Sky and My Funny Valentine, the former a bouncy swinger, the latter  beginning softly then building up to a big finale before subsiding back to pianissimo. Crooning at its best. 
More Paul, Gowland this time, and an awesome I'll Remember April. Big solos all round and blistering fours 'twixt Williams, Wight and Gowland. In a Sentimental Mood brought the first set to a close.
The word must have spread or else one of those bus trips that bar owners prayer for had arrived as, suddenly, the room was crowded!
The second set had more tenor madness, this time from Stuart Finden who paid homage to Hank Mobley with This I Dig of You (?). Mrs Finden sang Stanley Turrentine's Sugar (not to be confused with the Peggy Lee classic) and picked up her tenor for Sister Sadie as Simon Stephenson plugged himself into the Fender Twin (or whatever guitar amp it was). Gilligan, incidentally, played Korg keyboard the house upright being terminally ill.
Enter John Rowland for All the Things You Are and There Will Never be Another You. Now the tenors were three.
Finally, from my point of view, Paul Gowland played You'd be so Nice to Come Home to which sent me on my way to the refurbished Central Station (Grand Central Station?) for Metro/88 bus coordinated journey home.
Well worth the trip.
Lance.

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