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

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.

Thu 15: Mark Toomey Quartet @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm. Free. Quartet + guest Paul Donnelly (guitar).

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

Saturday, April 04, 2015

Ruth Lambert/Stuart Collingwood @ Vermont Hotel, Newcastle - April 3

Ruth Lambert (vcl); Stuart Collingwood (pno).
(Review by Lance).
This was a very Good Friday indeed! A solo set by Paul Edis at the Jazz Caff (reviewed by Russell above) put me in the right frame of mind for the short hop across the city centre to the Vermont Hotel. There was a full moon so where else could one celebrate it other than Vermont?
After the intensity  of listening to a solo recital by Paul Edis - don't get me wrong Paul, this is meant as a compliment - I thought the 3 days long piece by Freddy Chopin was fantastic and as one who struggled with the Schaum books I could but gasp in awe! However, once seated in the plush Redwood Bar of the Vermont Hotel listening to Stuart Collingwood comping and soloing with Ruth Lambert how blessed (I use the word blessed as it's Good Friday) I felt to be able to hear such fine, albeit, different, music on a night when the area between the two gigs was awash with - hobbledehoys and ne'er-do-wells. Doubt if Chopin was high on their play list!
Back to Vermont - Pennies in a stream...  Pennies don't come into the equation here! But why should they? This is a 4 star hotel giving residents classy, sophisticated music by the best Newcastle has to offer.
Soft, gentle and laid back, Ruth and Stu rubber stamped Is You Is or Is You Ain't my Baby?; Blue Moon; A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square; That Old Devil Moon; Let's Fall in Love and a Bonnie Raitt number that upped the ante. I'd have hung around longer but the number 27 was approaching. I enjoyed what I heard..
Lance.
PS: 4 star hotel? it gained an extra 2 stars tonight!

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