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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

17822(and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 143 of them this year alone and, so far, 68 this month (Feb.25).

From This Moment On ...

MARCH 2025

Sun 02: Great North Big Band Jazz Festival @ Park View Community Centre, Chester-le-Street. 11:00am. £10.00. Day 3/3.
Sun 02: Smokin’ Spitfires @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:45pm. £7.50.
Sun 02: Nauta @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00pm. £10.00.
Sun 02: Sax Choir @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free (donations).
Sun 02: Side Café Orkestar @ Café Under the Spire, Derwentwater Road, Gateshead. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 02: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 02: Milne Glendinning Band @ The White Room, Stanley. 6:30pm.
Sun 02: Bella by Barlight @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 02: Tweed River Jazz Band @ Spittal Bowling Club, Berwick. 7:00pm. Free.
Sun 02: Ali Watson Quartet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 03: Milne Glendinning Band @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 1:00pm. £9.00. at the door; £8.20. (inc £0.20 bf) online, in advance.
Mon 03: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 04: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ Victoria & Albert Inn, Seaton Delaval. Tel: 0191 237 3697. 12:30pm. £8.00. ‘Jazz ‘n’ Pancakes’.
Tue 04: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Stu Collingwood, Paul Grainger, Abbie Finn.
Tue 04: Customs House Big Band @ The Masonic Hall, North St., Ferryhill DL17 8HX. 7:30pm. Free.

Wed 05: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 05: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 05: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 06: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, Holystone. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 06: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: The Jazz Music of Quincy Jones.
Thu 06: BBC Big Band @ The Hippodrome, Darlington. 7:30pm. £32.00., £25.00., £16.00. ‘The Sound of Cinema’ featuring Emer McPartland (vocals).
Thu 06: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 06: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm. Free. Guests: Dan Johnson (sax); Josh Bentham (sax); Gary Hadfield (keys); Adrian Beadnell (bass). A Tees Hot Club promotion. First Thursday in the month.

Fri 07: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 07: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 07: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 07: James Birkett & Emma Fisk @ Old Lowlight, Clifford’s Fort, North Shields NE30 1JE. 7:00pm. £15.00. + bf. www.oldlowlight.co.uk. Rescheduled from Friday 7th February.
Fri 07: Jake Leg Jug Band @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm. £12.00.

Sat 08: Jamie Taylor, Graham Harvey, Andy Champion @ Divinity House Concert Hall, Palace Green Music Dept., Durham University. 7:00-9:00pm (6:30pm doors). £7.50. (£6.00. DUJS member). ‘An Evening of Jazz’. Later in the evening the trio will be joined by Freddie Krone, drums (Durham Uni final year music student).
Sat 08: Milne Glendinning Band @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 08: Lagos to Longbenton @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Afrobeat, jazz-fusion.

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, March 16, 2015

Faye MacCalman & John Pope @ The Jazz Café. March 14

Faye MacCalman (tenor saxophone) & John Pope (double bass)
(Review by Russell/photo courtesy of Mike Tilley.)
Final year music student Faye MacCalman (tenor saxophone) teamed up with bassist John Pope to present two sets of accessible post-bop material to an appreciative –and occasionally noisy – Saturday night crowd at the Jazz Café. The first set began earlier than usual as John Pope had to be home and in bed by half past ten. Not true – he had another gig across town starting at ten thirty!
Faye MacCalman’s measured, low register tenor playing suggested late period Trane. The set list referenced Ornette and Sun Ra via Bird, Oliver Nelson and Mingus. John Pope has his ear to the ground – not literally, at least not during gigs – and seized the opportunity to work with MacCalman having heard her perform as a music student. A contingent of Newcastle University students turned-out at the Jazz Café to show their support, for the most part resisting the temptation to play with their wye aye phones – other than to briefly capture the moment. And there were moments – Stolen Moments being an example. Stormy Weather (squall as opposed to tempest) and Wayne Shorter (Juju) led to the set-closer, Anthropology (Honest John Pope said they wouldn’t go at breakneck pace and they didn’t).
The second set opened in top gear – Cherokee went ‘whoosh’ as JP’s solo disappeared into the distance. Impressive. MacCalman’s tenor impressed on Monk’s Bye-Ya. JP’s cross-town gig beckoned (£££). MacCalman and Pope said: Goodbye, Pork Pie Hat. Faye MacCalman returns to the Jazz Café with her quartet on May 21 in support to the free jazz duo of Sarah Gail Brand and Mark Sanders.                 
Russell.             

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