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HOWAY THE LADS!

Bebop Spoken There

John McLaughlin: '' A Love Supreme coincided with my search for meaning in life". (DownBeat, March 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

17873 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 194 of them this year alone and, so far, 41 this month (March 14).

From This Moment On ...

MARCH 2025.

Sat 15: Hot Teapots @ St Augustine’s Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm.
Sat 15: Lagos to Longbenton + Belladonna @ Whitley Bay Big Social, Whitley Road, Whitley Bay. 2:00pm. Free. Afrobeat/jazz fusion + soul/funk/R&B
Sat 15: Creakin’ Bones @ Billy Bootleggers. Ouseburn, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free.
Sat 15: Joseph Carville Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 15: Is This Jazz? @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Tickets: www.eventbrite.co.uk. Performances by Mu Quintet, Jinjé, A Brief Utopia, John Pope & Co + André Marmot (author of Unapologetic Expression: The Inside Story of the UK Jazz Explosion) in conversation + DJ sets ‘til 3:00am. ‘A Festival of New Jazz’.
Sat 15: Vintage Explosion @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 7:30pm. SOLD OUT!
Sat 15: Alligator Gumbo @ The Forum, Darlington. 7:30pm. £15.00.
Sat 15: One Night Standards @ The White Room, Stanley. 8:00pm. £8.67 (inc. bf). Note - previously advertised Salty Dogs cancelled.
Sat 15: Howlin’ Mat @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Blues guitar.

Sun 16: Jason Isaacs @ STACK, Exchange Sq., Middlesbrough. 1:00-2:45pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sun 16: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 16: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 16: Pearl Blossoms @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Ragtime.
Sun 16: Hot 8 Brass Band @ Wylam Brewery. 7:30pm. ‘Big Tuba Tour’.
Sun 16: ARQ @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Sun 16: Air4ce @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 8:30pm (8:00pm doors). £12.00.; £10.00. Tom Atkinson’s all-star band (line-up inc. Lindsay Hannon & Sue Ferris).
Sun 16: Jazz Jam @ Fabio’s, Saddler St., Durham. 8:00pm. Free. A Durham University Jazz Society promotion. All welcome.

Mon 17: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 17: Jamie Toms Quartet @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £10.00.

Tue 18: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Laurence Harrison, Paul Grainger, Tim Johnston.
Tue 18: Phil Bancroft’s Beautiful Storm @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £13.20 & £11.00.. A JNE-Gem Arts co-promotion.

Wed 19: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 19: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 19: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 20: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, Holystone. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 20: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: Nicknames.
Thu 20: Terri Green Experience @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £15.90.
Thu 20: Lindsay Hannon Trio @ The Harbour View, Roker, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Hannon’s ‘Tom Waits for No Man’ set.
Thu 20: Ray Stubbs R&B All Stars @ Mill Tavern, Hebburn. 8:30pm. Free.

Fri 21: Paul Skerritt @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 21: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 21: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 21: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 21: Giles Strong Quartet @ 1719, Hendon, Sunderland. 7:30pm. CANCELLED!
Fri 21: New Century Ragtime Orchestra @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Featuring special guest Martin Litton (piano).

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, January 28, 2015

Laura Jurd Septet @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. January 27

Lauren Kinsella (voice), Laura Jurd (trumpet), Chris Batchelor (trumpet), Colm O’Hara (trombone), Mick Foster (bass saxophone), Alex Roth (guitar) & Corrie Dick (drums)  
(Review by Russell/photo courtesy of Ken Drew).
Last Tuesday in the month, Jazz North East’s Schmazz strand, upstairs at the Jazz Café. The ‘Caff’ was closed, the shutters down. Had Laura Jurd’s gig been cancelled? Ah! Of course, the gig had been scheduled in the Black Swan around the corner!
The Newcastle Arts Centre on Westgate Road was open for business. The Black Swan – a basement bar and performance space – is a large venue. Jazz North East anticipated a larger audience than usual for the visit by the much talked about trumpeter and, indeed, a larger than usual audience turned up.
Jurd is on tour. Her second album – Human Spirit – garnered favourable reviews and the line-up on the recording committed to the tour. Irishwoman Lauren Kinsella (now living in London) introduced Colm O’Hara to Jurd. The Irish trombonist impressed, got the job of working on the studio session and made the journey across the Irish Sea to tour the UK
The septet opened, appropriately, with Opening Sequence. As the evening unfolded Jurd gave many solo opportunities to her hand-picked band. Bass sax plumber Mick Foster hit on a free vamp with drummer Corrie Dick during She Knew Him (a highlight of the first, enjoyable set).
Vocalist Lauren Kinsella (another much talked about young musician) is a familiar face (and voice) to the Newcastle audience, this being her fourth gig on Tyneside in recent years. Her distinctive approach met with the approval of more than one vocalist in the Black Swan crowd. A mischievous, light, southern Irish burr played with sound; a lyric deconstructed, reconstructed, exemplified in an exchange with Chris Batchelor on a forward looking (it will soon be spring) Brighter Days. Many of the tunes were anchored by the excellent drumming of the award-winning Corrie Dick. A trumpet/drums section sparkled inviting others to step up – Alex Roth (guitar), Kinsella, plumber Foster. Pirates (written with Mark Lockheart in mind) ended the set. The tune is available to download for free at: www.laurajurd.com
Second set. Roth and Dick set about tearing up Blinded. Jurd’s writing lets her musicians off the leash, but only so far before reining them in and the duo would have to continue a dialogue some other time (next gig). Jurd herself played with a minimum of pedal effects.   An accomplished trumpeter, more trumpet wouldn’t have gone amiss. The CD title track – Human Spirit – settled into another riff/vamp featuring Batchelor and Dick. The gig’s penultimate number – More Than Just a Fairy Tale – worked well, a collective piece. A concert beginning with Opening Sequence could only be brought to a close with Closing Sequence. And so it was. Jurd has established her name. It will be interesting to see what she does next. This gig was the first in a series of PRS funded Jazz North East concerts – Women Make Music – showcasing some of the best female musicians working in jazz today.      
Russell.           

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