Bebop Spoken There

Art Blakey (to Terence Blanchard): ''You ain't Miles find your own shit to do!'' (DownBeat May, 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

18504 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 18 years ago. 368 of them this year alone and, so far this month (May 7 ) 22

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

From This Moment On

May

Fri 15: Conor Emery Quartet @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. Line-up Emery (trombone); Alix Shepherd (piano); John Pope (double bass); Abbie Finn (drums). SOLD OUT!
Fri 15: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 15: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 15: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 15: Gerry Richardson Quartet @ Sunderland Minster. 7:30pm. £13.01 adv., £15.00 on the door. Old Black Cat Jazz Club.
Fri 15: Puppini Sisters @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm. CANCELLED!

Sat 16: Sing Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. £27.50. Tutor: Alexia Gardner. God Bless the Child - Lady Day!. Enrol at: learning@jazz.coop.
Sat 16: Kaberry Big Band @ the Seahorse Pub, Hillheads Rd., Whitley Bay NE23 8HR. From 7:30pm. £15.00
Sat 16: Lady Nade @ Arc, Stockton. 8:00pm. ‘Lady Nade sings Nina Simone’.

Sun 17: Glenn Miller & Big Band Spectacular @ Forum Theatre, Billingham. 7:30pm.
Sun 17: QOW Trio @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £14.00., £12.00., £7.00. Spike Wells, Riley Stone-Lonergan & Eddie Myer.

Mon 18: Friends of Jazz @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 18: Mark Williams Trio @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £10.00.

Tue 19: GoGo Penguin + Daudi Matsiko @ Wylam Brewery, Newcastle. 7:00pm (doors). £22.00 + £4.40 bf.
Tue 19: Danny Lowndes’ Hot Club @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £15.00 + £5.00 bf.
Tue 19: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Michael Young (piano); Paul Grainger (double bass); Mark Robertson (drums).

Wed 20: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 20: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 20: Jordan Jackson @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £19.80 (inc. bf); £15.40 (inc. bf).
Wed 20: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 21: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ The Millstone, Mill Rise, South Gosforth, Newcastle. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 21: Jazz Classics with Rivkala @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. Rivkala (vocals); Alan Law (piano); Paul Grainger (double bass).
Thu 21: Paul Skerritt @ Angels' Share, St George's Terrace, Jesmond, Newcastle NE2 2SX. 8:00pm. Free. Booking advised (0191 200 1975). Skerritt w. backing tapes.

Friday, March 13, 2015

Mercy! Mercy! Mercy! @ Newcastle Arts Centre March 12

Martin Kershaw (alt); Colin Steele (tpt); Steve Hamilton (pno); Brian Shiels (bs); Alyn Cosker (dms).
(Review by Lance/Photo courtesy of Ken Drew).
A cracker of a gig by five of Scotland's finest paying tribute to one of jazz's great bands - The Cannonball Adderley Quintet. It's been a good few days for alto sax players - Mark Toomey's recreation of Bird With Strings down in Saltburn and this appreciation of the late Cannonball. I never heard the alto player live although I did see his brother Nat (played here by Colin Steele - who previously had played Chet Baker at Live Theatre some years back) at the Corner House in the 1980s. 
This was a fairly faithful re-creation opening with the Theme from Fiddler on the Roof with its suggestion of an Irish reel and closing with the piece the band are named after, Joe Zawinal's Mercy! Mercy! Mercy!
In between, the goodly sized crowd heard classics from the Adderley repertoire such  as One For Daddy-o; Big P (Percy Heath); Falling Feathers - one of 'Q''s early compositions which brought out the lyricism in Steve Hamilton and Jive Samba.
Time to stop and recharge and to catch up with those folk who form the nucleus of the north-east jazz population many of whom contribute to these pages.
The second set moved up a gear as second sets usually do. The Way You Look Tonight had blistering alto and the first major explosion from Cosker, Paul Chamber's Ease It featured Shiels alongside a muted solo from Steele which may well have been his best of the night.
Shiels conjures up expressions of absolute concentration as he plays. Eyes closed, brow furrowed, is he thinking of the next set of chord changes or is he wondering if he's turned the gas off.
Steele is the archetypal trumpet player when it comes to body language! Knees bent, horn tilted towards the ceiling, the floor, wherever, shoulders back - Hollywood directors, next time you're casting a jazz trumpet player, look no further.
Kershaw gave us a sumptuous What's New? the band took Duke Pearson's Jeannine at Tempo de Lick before closing with MMM Steele on plunger and Cosker on Adrenaline. 
Lance.
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