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

Thu 14: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £5.00. Subject: Philip Larkin’s Jazz Experiment.
Thu 14: Jerron Paxton @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). Superb country blues.
Thu 14: Solcade @ the Bridge Hotel, Newcastle. 7:00pm. EP launch. Rivkala & co..
Thu 14: Jacob Egglestone @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. Egglestone (guitar); Jamie Watkins (bass); Jack Littlewood (drums) & guests.
Thu 14: 58 Jazz Collective @ The Blacksmith’s Arms, Hartlepool. 8:00pm. Free.
Thu 14: Paul Skerritt @ Angels' Share, St George's Terrace, Jesmond, Newcastle NE2 2SX. 8:00pm. Free. Booking advised (0191 200 1975). Skerritt w. backing tapes.

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.

Sunday, March 01, 2015

Smokin’ Spitfires @ The Cluny. Mar 1

Neil Hunter (vocals), Terry O’Hern (trombone), Alan Thompson (tenor & baritone saxophones), Steve McGarvie (alto saxophone & vocals), Geoff Owens (keyboards), Bob Garrington (guitar), Ian Rigby (bass & vocals) & Gary Cain (drums)
(Review by Russell).
The Cluny. First Sunday in the month. Doors 12:30pm. The place heaving by 1:00pm. The Smokin’ Spitfires were in town. The Temptations, Bobby Bland, Sam and Dave, Wilson Pickett. A Memphis Stax Soul Survivors’ shindig. Neil Hunter and one or two of the ‘boys’ have been at it a long time. The same Neil Hunter who fronted the north east’s big soul band par excellence, the Eastside Torpedoes (back in the day).
The big soul voice as good as ever, the band the best around. 634-5789, Sweet Soul Music (Do You Like Good Music? asked Arthur Conley. Yeah, Yeah was the reply). The Cluny’s dance floor awash with sweating, heaving bodies getting’ on down. The horn section culled from Darlington Delta’s jazz fraternity – Terry O’Hern ( Eastside Torpedoes’ trombone veteran), Alan Thompson (tenor & baritone saxes) and backing vocalist extraordinaire Steve McGarvie (and no mean alto player!).
Interval. Outside, fresh air. Twenty minutes later, set two. How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You), Holland, Dozier and Holland’s Motown classic had them on the floor again. They stayed there for the Trammps’ Hold back the Night, Hold On, I’m Comin’ and Move On Up. Exhausting stuff, superb band (rhythm section and horns). Once a month (first Sunday), what a gig!
The Bubble Foundation should be happy with this one!
Advance notice of a gig at a venue familiar to some – Friday April 17 the Smokin’ Spitfires will be in the upstairs room of the Gosforth Hotel (the pub on the corner of Gosforth High Street and Salters Road). 7:30pm. Tickets are £7.00. The only way to get one is to be at the Cluny next time – Sunday 5 April – or to buy one at the door. The Gosforth Hotel date has the makings of an ‘I was there’ gig. Russell.
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1 comment :

Patti D. said...

Oooh - this sounds ace - all that sweet soul music - yeah, yeah and yeah! Note to self, must get to Cluny on Sunday 5 April.

Sunday, March 01, 2015 9:31:00 pm

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