Bebop Spoken There

Joe Alterman: ''All I wanted to do growing up was to sound like Erroll Garner playing "Poor Butterfly." I thought that was the coolest sound I'd ever heard.'' (DownBeat November, 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

19,105 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 18 years ago. 969 of them this year alone and, so far this month (Nov. 14) 39.

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

November

Sun 15: Lianne Carroll: Jazz Vocal Weekend Workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 9:30am-5:00pm. Day 2/2. SOLD OUT!
Sun 15: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 2:30pm. Free.
Sun 15: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 15: James Birkett & Emma Fisk @ The Waiting Room, Eaglescliffe. 7:00pm. £48.18 (to include dinner); £17.43 (concert only).
Sun 15: Sarah Gillespie & Chris Montague @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £18.00.
Sun 15: Liane Carroll @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £14.00., £12.00., £7.00. Solo performance. SOLD OUT!

Mon 16: Friends of Jazz @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 17: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Jacob Egglestone, Paul Grainger, Joe Deans.
Tue 17: Grammy Season (Laubrock/Seabrook/Lovato/Rainey) @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 8:00pm. JNE.

Wed 18: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 18: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 18: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 19: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ The Millstone, Mill Rise, South Gosforth, Newcastle. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 19: Papa G’s Troves @ Newcastle Arts Centre. 7:30pm. Free (donations).
Thu 19: Marina Josephina @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. £10.60; £10.60.; £8.50 Early Bird.

Fri 20: Zoë Gilby & Andy Champion: The Music of Duke Ellington @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 20: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 20: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 20: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 20: Customs House Big Band @ Sunderland Minster. 7:30pm.

Sat 21: Pete Tanton Duo @ Awesome Frank’s, West Jesmond Metro Station, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £8.00.
Sat 21: Paul Skerritt Big Band @ The Westovian Theatre, South Shields. 7:30pm. £18.00.

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Paragon @ Jazz Café October 28.

Peter Ehwald (reeds); Arthur Lea (keyboards); Matthias Akeo Nowak (bass); Jon Scott (drums).
(Review by Steve H/photo courtesy of Ken Drew.) 
Maybe David Cameron and Angel Merkel should have been at this gig last night to observe this wonderfully cohesive and elegant Anglo-German collaboration. If our politicians could work as well together as these talented musicians our future in Europe would not be in any doubt.
The last time this band played in Newcastle was five years ago and, although each member has gone off in-between times to pursue their own goals, once reunited they become a helluva tight symbiotic force. The music is certainly not wild but rather intricate and considered in a Northern European kind of way albeit with lots of funky riffs from Lea on keyboard. My personal favourite tunes of the night were the more up tempo numbers that concluded each set. The first of these was inspired by a one-way ticket that Ehwald had acquired for a festival in Morocco. His ebullient soprano really grabbed the audience with its vibrant eastern feel.
The final piece, the romantically named (according to Ehwald anyway) Blue Eyes White Dragon, saw the band lay down a groove with Lea on Rhodes getting seriously soulful. The audience showed their appreciation and were rewarded with an encore although, unlike its lively predecessor, this was a quiet ballad.  It is great to see a band of such technically gifted musicians so obviously reveling in each other’s company, their quality and enthusiasm could not but help rub off on a more than respectably sized Tyneside audience.    
JAZZ RECORD RECITAL
Literary & Philosophical Society
Earlier in the evening DJ Chris Calver spun some vinyl at a recital at the Lit and Phil the tracks were selected from the donated record collection of the late Ian Breach interspersed with these Jazz classics there was a selection from the library's classical collection chosen by Lit & Phil president Alexander Armstrong so alongside Dizzy, Monk, Goodman and Mingus we were treated to works from Bach, Beethoven and Benjamin Britten. Eclectic but fun.
Steve H.

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