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Bebop Spoken There

Steve Coleman: ''If you don't keep learning, your mind slows down. Use it or lose it''. (DownBeat, January 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

17733 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 53 of them this year alone and, so far, 53 this month (Jan. 20).

From This Moment On ...

January 2025

Wed 22: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 22: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 22: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 22: Pasadena Roof Orchestra @ Fire Station, Sunderland. 7:30pm.

Thu 23: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, Holystone. 1:00pm. Free. Fortnightly.
Thu 23: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: Obituaries 2024.
Thu 23: Jason Isaacs @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 4:30-6:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Thu 23: Pedal Point Trio @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Fri 24: Zoë Gilby Quartet @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 24: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 24: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 24: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 24: Creakin’ Bones & the Sunday Dinners @ Lindisfarne Social Club, Wallsend. 9:00pm. Admission: TBC. Jazz, blues , jump jive, rock ‘n’ roll.

Sat 25: Boys of Brass @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 3:30-5:30pm. Free.
Sat 25: New '58 Jazz Collective @ Jackson's Wharf, Hartlepool. 6:30pm (doors). Free. A Burns' Night event. Jazz, swing, funk, soul, blues etc.
Sat 25: Edison Herbert Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 25: Red Kites Jazz @ Parish Hall, St Barnabas’ Church, Rowlands Gill. 7:30pm. £10.00. BYOB (tea & coffee available), raffle. Proceeds to St Barnabas’ Church. Performance feat. Shayo (vocals).
Sat 25: Jack & Jay’s Songbook @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 26: Musicians Unlimited @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 26: Graham Hardy Eclectic Quartet @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm.
Sun 26: Ruth Lambert Trio @ The Juke Shed, Union Quay, North Shields. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 26: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 26: Jazz Jam Sandwich! @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 26: Tweed River Jazz Band @ Barrels Ale House, Berwick-upon-Tweed. 7:30pm. Free.
Sun 26: Gratkowski, Tramontana, Beresford, Affifi @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £12.00. JNE.
Sun 26: Jazz Jam @ Fabio’s, Saddler St., Durham. 8:00pm. Free. A Durham University Jazz Society promotion. All welcome.

Mon 27: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 28: ???

Wed 29: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 29: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 29: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).

Thu 30: Matters Unknown (aka Jonathan Enser, Nubiyan Twist) + support TBA @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 8:00pm (7:00pm doors). £12.22 (gig & food); £9:04 (gig only).
Thu 30: Soznak @ The Mill Tavern, Hebburn. 8:00pm. Free.
Thu 30: Struggle Buggy @ Harbour View, Roker, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Rhythm & blues.

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, April 13, 2015

GIJF Day Three: Vocal Workshop with Alice Zawadzki and Other Matters

(Review by Ann Alex/photo courtesy of Ken Drew)
At last I know where my soft palate is situated.  We began the workshop with vocal exercises, hums so that we could feel our soft palates enhancing the sound, then we found our diaphragms for breathing exercises.  We then sang ‘ooo’ on our chosen note, sounding rather like Buddhist monks, quite spiritual, and the sounds tend to come together to form a pleasing whole, surely a sign that human beings have a natural tendency to co-operate, at least that’s my interpretation of it. Then brave volunteers sang solo to the accompaniment of Alice’s fine band of keys, guitar, bass and drums (named on the review of Saturday evening).
Four people were brave enough to submit their singing for feedback, including Jen Errington who did a pleasing version of I Thought About You, deservedly praised.  And we had such fun with the singer of St Louis Blues, a lovely bluesey voice, with us clapping and finger clicking along and singing as well.  All this led us to discuss ways to count in the band, probably the hardest thing of the lot for singers, apart from remembering the words of course. All very enjoyable and useful – thanks so much to Alice and the musicians.
Other Matters
Readers must by now have gathered that other matters mainly concerns the Concourse and the Jazz Co-op stand, although today had me looking eagerly through the fine selection of 2nd hand CD’s which were for sale on the Jazz North East stand.
I entered the Sage at ten to two (did you know that when you say ‘ten to two’ you have the rhythm for swing?  I quote Jim Birkett), to hear what sounded like free jazz, weird really, but it then materialised into a lively exciting version of Well You Needn’t from a woman singer, a real gem from the concourse to take me into the workshop. My meal after the workshop was eaten to the accompaniment of the John Ellis Trio, keys, bass, drums and vocals, starting with a rousing Norwegian Wood, and including Hi Lili Hi Lili Hi Lo, which took me right back to the sad film I saw as a child which has this beautiful song in it. A good jazz/rock combo.
Then came Jambone, the Sage’s own superb youth big band, augmented on this occasion by members of Manchester’s Beats and Pieces band and conducted by Ben Cottrell.  They played for the teatime session, which rounds off the concourse performances at GIJF, quite an emotional part of the festival, as it’s nearly over by this time apart from the evening gigs.  They gradually built up to a wall of sound for the first tune. A typical later tune began simply with keys and a banana shaped shaker, a trumpet solo, then a build up to the tension of ensemble playing, and all this being painted by the festival artist, busy at her easel at the front of the cafe.  Another tune, a steady beat for quite a while, then horns rise out of the sound.  Then a drum solo with wisps of horns playing about, and a strong loud finish.
People arriving for the evening gigs, some of the women in circular skirts with masses of frills beneath, coming for the Americana type music of Davina And The Vagabonds. All quiet when the gigs have begun, except for the sound of the gear being taken down on the concourse stage. I chat to a few stragglers who come to the Co-op stand.
Over for another year.   
Ann Alex.

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