Bebop Spoken There

Donovan Haffner ('Best Newcomer' 2025 Parliamentary Jazz Awards): ''I got into jazz the first time I picked up a saxophone!" - Jazzwise Dec 25/Jan 26

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

18146 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 24 of them this year alone and, so far this month (Jan. 7), 24

From This Moment On ...

JANUARY 2026

Sat 10: Mark Toomey Quintet @ St Peter’s Church, Stockton-on-Tees. 7:30pm. £12.00. (inc. pie & peas). Tickets from: 07749 255038.

Sun 11: New ’58 Jazz Collective @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 11: Am Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 11: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 11: Eva Fox & the Sound Hounds @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 12: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 12: Saltburn Big Band @ Saltburn House Hotel. 7:00-9:00pm. Free.

Tue 13: Milne Glendinning Band @ Newcastle House Hotel, Rothbury. 7:30pm. £11.00. Coquetdale Jazz.
Tue 13: Jazz Jam Sandwich @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Wed 14: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 14: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 14: Jam Session @ The Tannery, Hexham. 7:00pm. Free.
Wed 14: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 15: Mark Toomey Quartet @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm. Free. Quartet + guest Paul Donnelly (guitar).

Fri 16: Giles Strong Quartet @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. £8.00. SOLD OUT!
Fri 16: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 16: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 16: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 16: Darlington Big Band @ The Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. Opus 4 Jazz Club.
Fri 16: Leeds City Stompers @ Billy Bootleggers, Newcastle. 9:00pm. Free.

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

Monday, November 03, 2014

CD Review: Euan Burton - Too Much Love

Euan Burton (bs); Adam Jackson (alt); Tom Gibbs (pno); Alyn Cosker (dms).
(Review by Lance).
The title comes from the notion that so many of the things that go wrong, or the mistakes people make, come from a place of either people having misplaced love or having so much love that they don't know how to deal with it and channel it properly. I guess it's a rose-tinted way to look at certain darker and more upsetting aspects of life and this struck me as a good starting point for writing a new album, this idea of 'Too Much Love'.
So wrote Euan Burton on the press release to this album.
I'm not sure that reading the above would compel me to me to check the CD out - more likely I'd be off to the corner chemist for some anti-depressants!
Which would be self defeating as, in truth, listening to it in a darkened room without any of the above hype Too Much Love comes across as a rather beautiful work. Excellent compositions, moody and, at times deeply introspective, emotions that, without hindsight, the listener can equate with his own interpretation rather than be swayed by the composer. I realise that, in many ways, this contradicts Burton's intent and I apologise. These things are subjective and, to me, it is simply a CD with some superb playing on some well crafted pieces.
Jackson's alto is as melodic as anything I've heard since the days of Paul Desmond. Plus he can also burn it up - particularly when Cosker is stoking the fire. Gibbs is another Glasgow ace - if all the Scottish jazz musicians decided to move south the English MU would soon be re-building Hadrian's Wall!
As for Burton, a fine bass player and a composer of outstanding ability.
Euan Burton's Too Much Love is to be released by Whirlwind Recordings - WR4662 on November 17. Check it out at http://www.euanburton.com/.
Lance.

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