Bebop Spoken There

Emma Rawicz: "In a couple of years I've gone from being a normal university student to suddenly being on international stages." DownBeat January 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

18219 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 73 of them this year alone and, so far this month (Jan. 24), 73

From This Moment On ...

JANUARY 2026

Fri 30: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 30: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 30: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 30: Castillo Nuevo Trio @ Hotel Gotham, Newcastle. 5:30pm. Free.
Fri 30: Pete Roth Trio @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). Feat. Bill Bruford.
Fri 30: Jive Aces @ Alnwick Playhouse. 7:30pm.
Fri 30: Tweed River Jazz Band @ Northern Edge Coffee, Silver St., Berwick. 7:00pm.
Fri 30: Dan Coulthurst Quintet @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 7:30pm (7:00pm doors). £10.00 + £1.00. bf (www.wegottickets.com). Coulthurst (trumpet); Joel Stedman (bass clarinet, flute); Nico Widdowson (piano); Fergus Quill (double bass); Theo Goss (drums).

Sat 31: Darling Dollies @ St George’s Church, Jesmond, Newcastle. 3:00pm. £10.00. Vocal trio.
Sat 31: Brass Fiesta @ Revoluçion de Cuba, Newcastle. 10:30pm. Free.

FEBRUARY 2026

Sun 01: Smokin’ Spitfires @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:45pm. £10.00.
Sun 01: Ian Bosworth Quintet @ Chapel, Middlesbrough. 1:00pm. Free. Quintet + guest Bill Watson (trumpet, flugelhorn).
Sun 01: Sax Choir @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 01: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 01: Annie & the Caldwells @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £25.00. adv. Gospel/soul.
Sun 01: Jive Aces @ Alnwick Playhouse. 7:30pm.
Sun 01: Olly Styles Experience + Jenny Baker @ the Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 02: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 02: Saltburn Big Band @ Saltburn House Hotel. 7:00-9:00pm. Free.

Tue 03: Customs House Big Band @ The Masonic Hall, Ferryhill. 7:30pm. Free.
Tue 03: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Joe Steels, Paul Grainger, Abbie Finn.

Wed 04: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 04: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 04: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 05: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £5.00. Subject:Times of the Day & Trios.
Thu 05: Jeremy McMurray’s Pocket Jazz Orchestra @ Arc, Stockton. 8:00pm. Special guest Emma Wilson.
Thu 05: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm.

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

Saturday, November 15, 2014

Big Bands Are Like Buses

Radio Reveling from Russell).
BBC Radio does jazz well.* The problem is there isn’t enough of it – until the annual London Jazz Festival registers on Auntie’s radar. Composer of the Week: Big Band (Monday-Friday) on Radio 3 (12 noon) looks in depth at the form. Regular presenter Donald Macleod is guided through five one hour programmes by Guy Barker starting with Pioneers on Monday 17 Nov. Tuesday – The Swing Era, Wednesday – Big Band Bebop, Thursday – The 1950s and Friday – The New Sounds. All five programmes are repeated at 6:30pm each day through the week. 
Clare Teal (Sunday 16, Radio 2, 9:00pm) plays more big band fare and Julian Joseph joins her to preview the London Jazz Festival. On Radio 3 (Tuesday, 7:30pm) Radio 3 Live in Concert there is more big band jazz live from the Barbican, London. The BBC Concert Orchestra with Clark Rundell (conductor) works with Norma Winstone and the Trish Clowes Quintet. Newly commissioned work will be heard from Clowes and Guy Barker.
Novelist John Harvey shares his Private Passions (Sunday, Radio 3, 12 noon). Charlie Resnick is sure to get some jazz played! Clare Teal pops up again on In Tune (Radio 3, Monday, 4:30pm) and later the Branford Marsalis Quartet can be heard on Jazz on 3 (11:00pm) from the LJF. The classical side of Branford will be revealed throughout the week on Essential Classics (Radio 3, Monday-Friday, 9:00am). Jamie Cullum meets Arun Ghosh (Tuesday, Radio 2, 7:00pm) and at ten o’clock The Secret Kind of Blue looks at Miles’ ’59 recording (Guy Barker presents, first broadcast in 2009). Jay Rayner appears on In Tune (Tuesday, 4:30pm) with his jazz quartet. If actors can play the blues, Rayner can play jazz. And don’t forget the blues…Paul Jones over on Radio 2, 7:00pm, Monday has a further installment from London’s Blues Fest featuring Robert Cray. And finally, on Thursday 20, catch part three of The Atlantic Records Story over on BBC 6 Music. The programme (3/13) airs at 1:00am Friday looking at the label’s jazz catalogue.
Russell.
* Last night’s gala opening of this year’s London Jazz Festival broadcast live on Radio 3  from the Barbican – Radio 3 Live in Concert: Jazz Voice – featured Guy Baker fronting the London Jazz Festival Orchestra and an array of singers including Kurt Elling, Georgie Fame and Dee Dee Bridgewater. All great stuff, until near the end of the concert a Radio 3 continuity announcer interrupted Elling and band to tell the listener it was time to leave the Barbican to join the following scheduled programme. Now, can you image live opera from the Met or the Royal Opera House being cut short before the fat lady sang?              

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