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HOWAY THE LADS!

Bebop Spoken There

John McLaughlin: '' A Love Supreme coincided with my search for meaning in life". (DownBeat, March 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

17873 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 194 of them this year alone and, so far, 41 this month (March 14).

From This Moment On ...

MARCH 2025.

Sat 15: Hot Teapots @ St Augustine’s Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm.
Sat 15: Lagos to Longbenton + Belladonna @ Whitley Bay Big Social, Whitley Road, Whitley Bay. 2:00pm. Free. Afrobeat/jazz fusion + soul/funk/R&B
Sat 15: Creakin’ Bones @ Billy Bootleggers. Ouseburn, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free.
Sat 15: Joseph Carville Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 15: Is This Jazz? @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Tickets: www.eventbrite.co.uk. Performances by Mu Quintet, Jinjé, A Brief Utopia, John Pope & Co + André Marmot (author of Unapologetic Expression: The Inside Story of the UK Jazz Explosion) in conversation + DJ sets ‘til 3:00am. ‘A Festival of New Jazz’.
Sat 15: Vintage Explosion @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 7:30pm. SOLD OUT!
Sat 15: Alligator Gumbo @ The Forum, Darlington. 7:30pm. £15.00.
Sat 15: One Night Standards @ The White Room, Stanley. 8:00pm. £8.67 (inc. bf). Note - previously advertised Salty Dogs cancelled.
Sat 15: Howlin’ Mat @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Blues guitar.

Sun 16: Jason Isaacs @ STACK, Exchange Sq., Middlesbrough. 1:00-2:45pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sun 16: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 16: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 16: Pearl Blossoms @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Ragtime.
Sun 16: Hot 8 Brass Band @ Wylam Brewery. 7:30pm. ‘Big Tuba Tour’.
Sun 16: ARQ @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Sun 16: Air4ce @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 8:30pm (8:00pm doors). £12.00.; £10.00. Tom Atkinson’s all-star band (line-up inc. Lindsay Hannon & Sue Ferris).
Sun 16: Jazz Jam @ Fabio’s, Saddler St., Durham. 8:00pm. Free. A Durham University Jazz Society promotion. All welcome.

Mon 17: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 17: Jamie Toms Quartet @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £10.00.

Tue 18: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Laurence Harrison, Paul Grainger, Tim Johnston.
Tue 18: Phil Bancroft’s Beautiful Storm @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £13.20 & £11.00.. A JNE-Gem Arts co-promotion.

Wed 19: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 19: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 19: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 20: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, Holystone. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 20: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: Nicknames.
Thu 20: Terri Green Experience @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £15.90.
Thu 20: Lindsay Hannon Trio @ The Harbour View, Roker, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Hannon’s ‘Tom Waits for No Man’ set.
Thu 20: Ray Stubbs R&B All Stars @ Mill Tavern, Hebburn. 8:30pm. Free.

Fri 21: Paul Skerritt @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 21: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 21: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 21: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 21: Giles Strong Quartet @ 1719, Hendon, Sunderland. 7:30pm. CANCELLED!
Fri 21: New Century Ragtime Orchestra @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Featuring special guest Martin Litton (piano).

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 22, 2015

Triptych @ The Lit & Phil. May 22

Paul Edis (piano & clarinet), Paul Susans (double bass) & Rob Walker (drums)
(Review by Russell)
Triptych are: left panel Paul Edis, centre panel Paul Susans, right panel Rob Walker. The canvases prepared by Edis (composer of four of the eight numbers performed), form kept in perspective by Susans, watercolour fills applied by Walker. Classical English pastoral, broad-brush swing time sections, beer-fuelled, early morning groove.
The Lit & Phil’s monthly Friday lunchtime sessions continue to draw the crowds. Those in the know knew this was sure to be a good one and it was. The audience listened in the knowledge that the performance was being recorded. How High the Moon began the one hour set. A jazz piano trio master class – as simple as that. Edis composed Montage in a state of anguish/delirium/despair during a mind-numbing stint in the orchestra pit at one of the region’s many pantomimes (think of the money, Paul!). Composed in the quest for creativity, it largely succeeded. Oh, yes it did! Edis’ Murmurations (ask an ornithologist) threatened to lay claim to the tune of the afternoon; piano intro hinting at Misterioso, the bass line manfully kept on the straight and narrow by the bar stool-perched Susans, Rob Walker’s drumming razor-sharp in response to every subtle compositional shift.
Paul Susans’ Beer For Breakfast hit a groove and kept right on. The Pilgrim Street Set’s monthly residency at Hoochie Coochie (the Triptych boys are involved) could appeal to those who got this one. Dark Ages went back in time to …the Dark Ages. Edis switched to clarinet, partially closing the triptych panels, slowly sketching a quasi, ancient Indian tune (Walker’s hand drumming exemplary). Edis’ panto blues found him reading a book about JS Bach. It proved to be the creative spur resulting in Cerebral. Cerebral? Perhaps. Great playing, for sure. Bach must have been an outstanding improviser. Just imagine if, one day, the man walked in to the Lit & Phil (or Jazz Café) asking to sit in! As Triptych set about tackling the piece Susan’s peered at the score and said (in jest): What do these things here mean?
To close the afternoon’s entertainment Edis announced Percy Grainger’s English Country Garden. Previously played as a solo piano piece, this trio version worked well. Township jazz, or suggestions of it, could be heard. Perhaps Edis could arrange the tune for a sextet (horns) feature. Next month’s session features the Mo Scott Trio. Ms Scott – Empress of the Blues – will be in the company of Paul Edis and bassist Neil Harland. Expect jazz and blues. Expect it to be good, very good. The date for your diary: Friday 19 June (1:00pm).      
Russell.              

1 comment :

Lance said...

Russell/Paul, correct me if I'm wrong but I've always thought Percy Grainger's adaptation was titled simply "Country Gardens". It was only when words were added and recordings made by Jimmie Rodgers, Rolf Harris and others that it became "In an English Country Garden". So, unless Paul was singing, perhaps the original title should have been retained.

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