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

Thu 08: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £5.00. Subject: Jazz Milestones of 1976.

Fri 09: The House Trio @ Bishop Auckland Methodist Church. 1:00pm. £9.00.
Fri 09: Nauta @ Jesmond Library, Newcastle. 1:00pm. £5.00. Trio: Jacob Egglestone, Jamie Watkins, Bailey Rudd.
Fri 09: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 09: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 09: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 09: Warren James & the Lonesome Travellers @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm. £15.00.
Fri 09: The Blue Kings @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £10.00. (£8.00. adv.). All-star band.

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.

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

Tuesday, March 24, 2015

CD Review: George Crowley - Can of Worms

George Crowley (tenor saxophone), Tom Challenger (tenor saxophone), Dan Nicholls (piano & Wurlitzer), Sam Lasserson (double bass) & Jon Scott (drums)
(Review by Russell).
Can of Worms is saxophonist George Crowley’s second album. Recorded in July 2014 on Michael Janisch’s Whirlwind Recordings label, Crowley’s quintet comprises some of the very best of the scene’s younger musicians. London-based Loop Collective member Tom Challenger works with the bandleader as a two-tenor frontline. The rhythm section (piano bass and drums) is an integral part of the band sound, thus ‘rhythm section’ is inadequate in describing the contributions of Dan Nicholls, Sam Lasserson and Jon Scott.
The Opener is just that – a slow-burning composition igniting, indeed erupting, into an all out blast from the quintet. Drummer Jon Scott drives the band across seven titles; restless, pushing, changing direction at will. Crowley and Challenger dive in with purposeful solo flights. Ubiquitous Up Tune in 3 is up-tempo – Scott, the tenors and Nicholls’ piano solo.
Rum Punch takes its time; chiming keys, tenors calling, Scott’s drumming loose, almost free. Taut, fraught tenors squabble, bass and drums steward matters. Track five - I’m Not Here to Reinvent the Wheel – fizzes, swinging amidst the organised chaos of a free for all section, surfacing at the other end with the same fizzing energy. Baroque Wurlitzer from Nicholls complements Crowley and Challenger’s comprehensive tenor solos on Terminal
Can of Worms is an album to play again and again. It is available now on the progressive Whirlwind Recordings label (WR4666).
Russell.
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