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Bebop Spoken There

George Porter Jr.: ''To me, syncopation is like jazz. It wasn't meant for the masses. It was meant just for a hip few". (DownBeat, May 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

18043 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 364 of them this year alone and, so far, 42 this month (May 15).

From This Moment On ...

MAY 2025

Mon 19: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 19: Lewis Watson Quartet @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £10.00.

Tue 20: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Stu Collingwood, Paul Grainger, Bailey Rudd.
Tue 20: Alexia Gardner Quintet @ Pleased to Meet You, Bridge St., Morpeth NE61 1ND. 8:00pm.

Wed 21: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 21: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public). b Wed 21: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 22: Nuevo Castillo Orquesta @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £5.00.
Thu 22: Anna Reay & Deon Krishnan @ STACK, Exchange Sq., Middlesbrough. 7:30-9:15pm. Free.
Thu 22: Pedal Point Trio @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Fri 23: Dean Stockdale Quartet @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. ‘Celebrating Oscar’.
Fri 23: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 23: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 23: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 23: Anna Reay & Deon Krishnan @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 4:00-6:00pm. Free.
Fri 23: Joe Steels Group @ The Pele, Corbridge. 7:00pm. £10.00. + £1.55. bf. A Northumberland Jazz Festival fringe event.
Fri 23: Spilt Milk @ STACK, Exchange Sq., Middlesbrough. 7:00-9:00pm. Free. Nolan Brothers (vocal harmonies).
Fri 23: Gaz Hughes Quartet @ Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm.
Fri 23: Strictly Smokin’ Big Band @ The Witham, Barnard Castle. 8:00pm. £19.00.; £17.00. ‘Time After Time’.

Sat 24: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 12:30-2:15pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 24: Tyne Valley Big Band @ Bywell Hall, Stocksfield. 1:30pm. Northumberland County Show.
Sat 24: Jason Isaacs @ STACK, Seaburn. 3:30-5:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 24: Ray Stubbs R&B All Stars @ The Peacock, Sunderland. 6:00pm.
Sat 24: Dean Stockdale Quartet + Mingus Sings @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 7:00pm. Admission: see website: www.queenshall.co.uk. Stockdale (piano); Tim Williams (guitar); Gavin Barras (double bass); Gaz Hughes (drums) + Mingus Sings: Sara Oschlag (vocals); Alan Barnes (reeds); Tim Lapthorn (piano); Arnie Somogyi (double bass); Clark Tracey (drums). A Northumberland Jazz Festival event.
Sat 24: Joseph Carville Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 24: Saltburn Big Band @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm. £12.00.
Sat 24: NUJO Jazz Jam @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 8:00pm (7:00pm doors). £3.00. + bf.
Sat 24: Papa G’s Troves @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 25: Zoë Gilby & Andy Champion: Bandstand Sessions @ The Sele, Hexham. 12 noon. Free. A Northumberland Jazz Festival event.
Sun 25: Musicians Unlimited @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 25: Northern Monkey Brass Band @ Spanish City Plaza (outdoor stage). 1:00pm. Free. A Whitley Bay Carnival event.
Sun 25: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 25: Catriona Bourne Quartet @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm. Admission: see website: www.queenshall.co.uk. Bourne (harp), Francis Tulip (guitar), James Owston (double bass), Joe Bainbridge (drums). A Northumberland Jazz Festival event.
Sun 25: Ruth Lambert Trio @ Juke Shed, North Shields. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 25: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 25: Struggle Buggy @ The Tyne Bar, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. Blues.
Sun 25: Joe Steels Group + Norma Winstone (vocals); Nikki Iles (piano); Mike Walker (guitar); Steve Watts (double bass). 7:00pm. Admission: see website: www.queenshall.co.uk. Steels (guitar); Ferg Kilsby (trumpet, flugelhorn); Ben Lawrence (piano); Paul Susans (double bass); John Hirst (drums). A Northumberland Jazz Festival event.
Sun 25: Jazz Jam Sandwich! @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 25: Xhosa Cole/Neil Charles/Mark Sanders @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A JNE promotion. Note: Xhosa Cole replaces Nicole Mitchell.

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

Friday, May 15, 2015

Music Students’ Final Year Recitals @ Culture Lab. May 13

(Treatise by Russell)
A drum clinic special! And a special finger style guitarist! Newcastle University’s hub of cultural practice – Culture Lab – on King’s Walk opened its doors to the public to allow those interested to experience the frisson of excitement generated by the ‘one-shot’ exam scenario. Three drummers and a guitarist were about to give it their best shot – years of study and here they were, steeling themselves for the challenge of a lifetime.
Guitarist Daniel Morgan said hello, made reference to his programme notes (all present had a copy) and said little more. Seated, with acoustic guitar, Morgan played a set of ten compositions bookended by two John Renbourn pieces. The Hermit began the recital. A poignant tune given that Morgan had the pleasure of meeting John Renbourn in January of this year, a matter of weeks before the untimely death of the world-renowned guitarist. Indeed, during Renbourn’s teaching engagement at Newcastle University Morgan had an unforgettable one-on-one lesson with the man. Andrés Segovia’s arrangement of El Noi de la Mare (a Catalan Christmas song) and a song by Michael Chapdelaine (Beau Fleuve) detailing the travails of a touring musician indicated the breadth of material studied by Morgan. Henry Glover’s Drown in My Own Tears (an arrangement drawing on versions by Ray Charles and Jeff Buckley) represented the blues idiom. On this number Morgan invited singer Hannah Scully to join him on stage. Scully stayed on for some Jobim and then Morgan was all but done save for John Renbourn’s Palermo Snow. Morgan is a fine guitarist. He thanked his guitar tutor Mick Wright and Geoff Needham for the long-term loan of a rather nice guitar. Concert recitals as a professional musician are sure to follow.
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As someone once said: And now, something completely different. Three drummers, one after another, the common denominator…tutor Geoff Hutchinson. First up – Lewis West. The affable young man stated that he would try and reach that all important professional standard and I’ll be playing a lot of tonight’s music on brushes, as they’re a staple of any jazz drummer’s repertoire…One gets the impression West has had a good teacher! Five pieces to be heard, starting with Monk’s Well, You Needn’t. West’s band, featuring the brilliant Ella El-Salahi on vocals, went to town on it. Rachelle Ferrell’s up tempo version of What is This Thing Called Love? presented West with the opportunity to, as his notes suggested: …push myself out of my comfort zone and it’s a fantastic opportunity to show some technical proficiency with the brushes. West did more than show some proficiency!
Sophie Milman’s version of Paul Simon’s 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover proved to be fun. Fun before a solo examination piece. Tutor Geoff Hutchinson suggested to West that he’d love to hear someone take on Max Roach’s For Big Sid with the addition of a left foot hi-hat swing pattern maintained throughout the piece. Student West was man enough to take up the challenge and for several months had been working on it. Blistering! Stamina-sapping brilliance! Time to party with the band on Superstition. Funkin’ brilliant!
Lewis West’s band: Ella El-Salahi (voice), Faye MacCalman (tenor saxophone), Josh Lane (trumpet), Luke Gaul (guitar) & Tim Farrow (double bass & electric bass)
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As Joe Cromey-Hawke assembled his kit (he was next up), the thought occurred that perhaps the punishing practice regime endured by Miles Teller’s character in Whiplash wasn’t too far from reality. Not that Bebop Spoken Here for one minute suggests that JK Simmon’s character (Fletcher) stalks the corridors of the music department at Newcastle University! Cromey-Hawke’s programme notes were headlined Groove. I chose groove as the theme for my recital because I feel it is one of the most commonly neglected aspects of modern drumming. His opening piece (Hair Off) by German drummer Marco Minnemann appeared frighteningly complex reflecting Marco’s passion for cross-limb-interdependence said JCH. Cross limbed? Crossed fingers – good luck! Amazingly JCH did it – hear the applause! Drum Heads would surely appreciate Steve Gadd’s Zildjian Day Solo 1984. JCH has studied it, he could play it, amazing. As a penultimate piece Benny Greb’s Grebfruit further illustrated the illusive ‘groove’. In 2013 JCH attended a Greb clinic in Newcastle. Inspired by the experience he transcribed the piece and played it. Is there anything these guys can’t do? Party time Brooklyn style. Snarky Puppy’s 2014 Outlier so impressed Cromey-Hawke that he set about transcribing and arranging it for a six piece band (Snarky Puppy numbered forty musicians on the track!). His band joined him on stage and rocked out.
Joe Cromey-Hawke’s band: Josh Lane (trumpet), Emily King (alto saxophone), Luke Gaul (guitar), Jamie Lawson (piano) & Tim Farrow (electric bass)
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Last, but by no means least, local lad George Hutton. On reading Hutton’s notes, the phrase ‘bloody hell’ (or an approximation) sprung to mind. Four pieces – one by the legendary Alan Dawson (he had tenure as drum tutor for eighteen years at Berklee), one by Jojo Mayer (with synth bass backing track) and two pieces by Billy Cobham. The second (and closing) Cobham feature was to be the fearsome Vital Transformation as performed by the Mahavishnu Orchestra. Hutton must be mad. He couldn’t possibly take on that one!
Alan Dawson’s The Rudimental Ritual comprises eighty six rudiments. Hutton played the study in the traditional format – on solo snare. Mesmerising. Hutton, eyes closed, pulled it off. Wow! On Cobham’s Red Baron (from the album Spectrum) Hutton invited two of his musician friends to join him (Johnny Carr, guitar and Tom Chapman, electric bass). A jazz funk drill for an accomplished trio. And finally…Vital Transformation (from The Inner Mounting Flame, Mahavishnu Orchestra). To recreate a sense of the period Hutton asked violinist John Hutchinson to complete the line-up. Imagine Hutchinson as Jerry Goodman, Carr as John McLaughlin and Chapman as Rick Laird (they decided to forego a Jan Hammer stand in) and Hutton as the great Billy Cobham (the line-up that played the composition in question way back when at Newcastle City Hall). The same Billy Cobham who, years later, gave a drum clinic at the People’s Theatre, at which a drummer (the theatre was packed with drummers) asked Cobham to demonstrate the intro to Vital Transformation. That was a thrilling occasion. Hutton was about to attempt the very same thing. Mad! The boy’s mad! Well, if your reviewer had a jazz hat, he’d eat it. Hutton and band did it. Hutton thanked the audience for being there. Thank you Mr Hutton.
George Hutton’s band: Johnny Carr (guitar), Tom Chapman (bass) & John Hutchinson (violin).
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A truly memorable occasion.  
Russell.                           

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