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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

Friday, June 12, 2015

Lickety Split @ the Jazz Café. June 11

Eddie Bellis (trombone), Paul Gowland (tenor saxophone), Alan Marshall (alto saxophone), Kevin Eland (trumpet & flugelhorn), Bradley Johnston (guitar), Roy Willis (guitar), Paul Grainger (double bass) & Paul Wight (drums)
(Review by Russell)
Eddie Bellis’ eight piece band gigs infrequently, band members are forever juggling other gigs. The Jazz Café offered a date well in advance and on a sultry summer evening Bellis and co played two sets to an enthusiastic gathering. Doors and windows open, the bar too, drummer Paul Wight brushed a path for a classy Blues Walk. No matter how often a well known tune is heard, if it’s played lovingly, with commitment, then you’re at a good gig.
Lickety Split are all about good gigs. The material is key, as are the musicians. A number of changes in personnel over the years, the current line-up is, perhaps, as good as anyone, not least bandleader Bellis, could wish for. One dep on the night – Paul Grainger in for a touring Alan Rudd – and one couldn’t see the joins. Bassist Grainger read the parts (most of them familiar numbers), the most reliable of deputies. An arrangement of Monk’s Well You Needn’t, then 88 Basin Street at a no-hurry Freddie Greene (Roy Willis) lick took the honours with Bellis leading a round of solos; Paul Gowland on tenor and frontline partner Alan Marshall (alto) and the seated six-string phenomenon Bradley Johnston.
Maynard Ferguson, aka Kevin Eland, kept himself in check, teasing out a cluster of notes on Doxy, before handing on the baton to a bopping Johnston. Great playing all round. The band grabbed an interval beer, the audience likewise. Good to note one or two new faces, younger faces at that. How did they find about the gig? They’ll be back.
This being summertime, drummer Paul Wight opted for a ‘tailored’ pair of shorts. No one said anything. Wight decided to get his retaliation in first drawing attention to his fashion statement. Bellis said: I hadn’t noticed, but as you’ve mentioned it…
The band’s bop to West Coast sound offers endless possibilities; Bags Groove was one of them with altoist Marshall, then a muted Eland knocking out cracking solos. Johnston got the nod from Bellis to take a solo. Well, this was meat and drink to BJ, he was all over it (owing something to a certain JB)! Bellis usually gravitates to cool school Miles and this Jazz Café set did just that. The Birth of the Cool interspersed with other choice cuts saw out the session; What’s New? Joyspring (Paul Grainger enjoying himself), All Blues (Gowland went off on one, touching down with a text book landing), Move, Rouge and Four. They thought they were done. Not so fast…Encore! Encore!
Lickety Split is a cracking band. Easy going guys…not so easy to pin down to a gig date! So, any promoter keen to offer them a gig, don’t hesitate. Email Bebop Spoken Here and we’ll put you in touch with the band. Lickety Split can be heard again at Bonbar (known to all as the Old Assembly Rooms) in Newcastle on Sunday 30 August.       
Russell.

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