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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

17957 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 278 of them this year alone and, so far, 34 this month (April 14).

From This Moment On ...

April 2025.

Wed 16: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 16: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 16: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. CANCELLED!

Thu 17: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: Only Six Standards.
Thu 17: Redwell @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Fri 18: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 18: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 18: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 18: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 1:00-2:45pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Fri 18: Jason Isaacs @ STACK, Seaburn. 3:30-5:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.

Fri 18: Alexia Gardner @ Fika Gallery, Oldgate, Morpeth NE61 1LT. 7:00pm. Trio (Gardner, Alan Law, Jude Murphy).RESCHEDULED FOR JUNE 13

Fri 18: Sarah Jane Morris & Tony Remy: The Sisterhood @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £25.00.

Sat 19: Jason Isaacs @ STACK, Exchange Sq., Middlesbrough. 1:00-3:00pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 19: Joseph Carville Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 19: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 20: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 20: Salty Dog @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 20: Spilt Milk @ STACK, Exchange Sq., Middlesbrough. 7:00-9:00pm. Free. Nolan Brothers (vocal harmonies).
Sun 20: Tweed River Jazz Band @ The Barrels Ale House, Berwick-upon-Tweed. 7:00pm. Free.
Sun 20: C.A.L.I.E @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 21: Newcastle Record Fair @ Copthorne Hotel, Newcastle. 10:00am. Going in search of the Buddy Bolden cylinder…
Mon 21: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 22: Abbie Finn Trio @ Newcastle House Hotel, Rothbury. 7:30pm. Coquetdale Jazz.

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

Sunday, October 19, 2014

Clouts’ poetic jazz heads north by degree

You don’t need a degree in Social Anthropology from Cambridge University to play jazz but it certainly helped pianist and composer Philip Clouts.
South Africa-born Clouts, who brings his new quartet to the Jazz Café in Newcastle on Friday October 31 on their way to a Scottish tour, was just finishing his studies at Cambridge when he had an epiphany. Realising that he wanted to contribute to his own culture instead of studying other ones, he decided to concentrate on music and specifically the South African jazz style that had followed him to London, where he grew up.
“At that time in the 1980s there were many exiled South African musicians in London,” he says. “Some, like Dudu Pukwana, the great saxophonist, had come over in the 1960s, as my own family had done, with the Blue Notes who became celebrated very quickly for their vibrant music. But there were others from a younger generation, including drummers Brian Abrahams and Thebe Lipere and for me most notably the pianist Bheki Mseleku who was a great source of inspiration and who mentored me for a short while.”
The group Clouts formed on returning to London from Cambridge, Zubop, benefited as a whole from the exiled musicians’ input into their playing. As well as Mseleku showing Clouts the ropes, Thebe Lipere joined Zubop for their first few gigs, playing his distinctive African drum kit, and with this “rubber stamping” of their efforts, the band went on to be very popular on the live music circuit, subsequently expanding into ZubopGambia, which featured the BBC World Music Awards-winning riti, or one-string fiddle, player Juldeh Camara.
In 2006, Clouts decided to leave London for Dorset and began a new phase of music-making inspired by the coast where he lives. He continues to draw inspiration from South African music and from music from all around the world, including Cuba and South America, but something of his father, respected poet Sydney Clouts’ talent has emerged also in Clouts’ compositions that have been inspired by the Dorset landscape.
“There are ways in which my composing has been shaped by both my father and my uncle Cyril Clouts, who was a musician and composer too,” says Clouts, whose new group features saxophonist Tom Ward, bassist Tim Fairhall and the Yamaha Jazz Scholarship-winning drummer Dave Ingamells. “Cyril created very expressive music in the 1960s and 1970s and my father was profoundly affected by the landscape around Cape Town, and I like to think that living near the sea has drawn me closer to his ability to express his response to nature, except I use notes where he used words.”
Tour dates:
Fri Oct 31: Jazz Café, Newcastle
Sat Nov 1: Auchenblae Village Hall
Sun Nov 2: Edinburgh The Jazz Bar
Mon Nov 3: St Andrews - The Inn at Lathones
Tue Nov 4: Aberdeen Lemon Tree
Wed Nov 5: Glasgow Woodend Tennis & Bowling Club
Thu Nov 6: Dunfermline Carnegie Hall
Fri Nov 7: The Atrium at Clitheroe Castle.
Rob Adams.


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