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Bebop Spoken There

Trevor Mires: ''My mum is a Dean Martin fan: I'm not, so I would grab my skateboard and get out of the house whenever I heard "Everybody Loves Somebody, Sometime." ". (Jazzwise, April 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

17972 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 293 of them this year alone and, so far, 49 this month (April 22).

From This Moment On ...

April 2025.

Wed 23: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 23: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 23: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. CANCELLED!

Thu 24: Mary Coughlan @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm. £33.80. Blues, jazz etc.
Thu 24: Darlington Big Band @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm.

Fri 25: Vasilis Xenopoulos & Paul Edis @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT! Duo performance.
Fri 25: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 25: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 25: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 25: Andrea Vicari Trio @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. £8.00. Vicari (piano); Andy Champion (double bass); Russ Morgan (drums).
Fri 25: Jason Isaacs @ STACK, Exchange Sq., Middlesbrough. 4:00-6:00pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Fri 25: Red Kites Jazz @ Land of Oak & Iron, Winlaton Mill. 6:00-9:00pm. Free.
Fri 25: Vasilis Xenopoulos & Paul Edis @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 7:30pm. £15.00. at the door; £14.35. (inc £0.35 bf) online, in advance.
Fri 25: Struggle Buggy @ The White Room, Stanley. 7:45pm. Rhythm & blues.
Fri 25: Paul Skerritt Big Band @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm. £20.30., £18.00. All-star big band.
Fri 25: Andrea Vicari Trio @ Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. Vicari (piano); Andy Champion (double bass); Russ Morgan (drums). An Opus 4 Jazz Club event.

Sat 26: Durham Alumni Big Band @ Number One Bar, Darlington. 12 noon. Free (donations).
Sat 26: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 26: Vasilis Xenopoulos & Paul Edis @ Elvet Methodist Church, Durham. 7:30pm. Tickets: £12.00. + bf. Duo performance.
Sat 26: Neil Cowley Trio @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm. £22.50.
Sat 26: Pete Tanton & the Cuban Heels @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 27: Musicians Unlimited @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 27: Andrea Vicari Trio @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00pm. Vicari (piano); Andy Champion (double bass); John Bradford (drums).
Sun 27: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 27: Vasilis Xenopoulos-Paul Edis Quartet @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm. Xenopoulos, Edis, Paul Susans, Russ Morgan.
Sun 27: Ruth Lambert Trio @ Juke Shed, North Shields. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 27: JustKing Jones @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. 7:00pm (doors). £17.50. JustKing Jones (alto sax, soprano sax); Jordan Williams (piano); Jason Clotter (bass); Malcolm Charles (drums). Ace NYC outfit!
Sun 27: Jazz Jam Sandwich! @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 27: Swing Manouche @ Warkworth Memorial Hall. 7:30pm. £15.00. Tickets from 01665 711388.
Sun 27: Vasilis Xenopoulos-Paul Edis Quartet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Xenopoulos, Edis, Ken Marley, Russ Morgan.

Mon 28: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 29: ???

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

Sunday, June 14, 2015

Matt Anderson & Paul Edis @ The Jazz Café. June 13

Matt Anderson (tenor & soprano saxophones) & Paul Edis (piano)
(Review by Russell).
Westgate Hill; Excuse me. Could you tell me where I can find Summerhill Bowling Club?
Ah! You’re going to Vamos! (Kid Creole the attraction!). Turn right and follow the noise.  
The spell of fine weather broke late afternoon. Newcastle’s party animals were out on the town. Hens and stags partied (high-heeled giraffes, rhinos, Roman togas), the well-heeled sought a pre-theatre al fresco option, the discerning drinker was on the CAMRA trail, the non-discerning (seven abreast, less the ‘good’, more like the ‘bad’ and ‘ugly’) fixed their steely gaze on the next boozer (any boozer) up ahead. And then there was jazz, jazz, jazz.
The Vamos! event had its share of coconut wearing/shaking jazzers making a buck, Scots descended on the Globe for some serious jazz, Zoe and Stu played seriously good stuff in the Vermont and then there was Matt Anderson and Paul Edis.
Leeds-based Anderson has become a familiar, welcome, face on Tyneside and this renewed acquaintance with pianist Paul Edis promised to be a meeting of compatible musical minds. The Jazz Café pulled a good number of folk. Some had yet to hear the duo. At the end of the evening some were still to hear Anderson and Edis. Chatter, chatter. Quick! Send another text. That makes it three thousand today! No matter, those who listened (a good number did) heard two fine musicians play a selection of standards and no fewer than three of Edis’ tunes.
Moments Notice, Like Someone in Love, some Edis, some Jobim, a sublime Embraceable You (Anderson superb – your reviewer’s notes read!!! That’s the equivalent of five stars in Down Beat). The set had balance to it – these guys know what they’re doing – and the outer, Tenor Madness, achieved the desired result…Phew! A rhino waddled by, a Balkan accordionist stopped, thought better of it, and moved on, the curious looked in, a typical Pink Lane Saturday night.
Some were in the Caff specifically to hear Edis, some were there to catch Matt Anderson for the first time – either way they were onto a winner. The musicians have the ability to get inside a tune; to explore, to invent, to surprise (to surprise one another). They played it acoustically. Tenor saxophone heard above the intermittent din, the piano (and pianist) sounding good.
Second set. Straight into You Stepped Out of a Dream. Wonderful. Just how do they do it? Murmurations (comp. Edis) had Anderson reading the dots. Advanced reading ability, no doubt about it. Edis excelled on You’d Be So Nice to Come Home To (!!! rating), the jousting duo engaging in a friendly chase. Anderson switched to soprano on Maiden Voyage. Fabulous playing, both reeds and keys. Edis’ ballad Ballad (as good a title as any other) served as the penultimate number of the evening. Invitation closed the evening. On this showing the Jazz Café will surely extend a further invitation to the duo of Matt Anderson and Paul Edis.
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Earlier, the Vermont Hotel’s Redwood Bar hosted a wedding reception. The newly weds and guests departed, the Chesterfield-plush venue sighed in relief. A popped champagne cork lay hidden under a table, snug on the deep pile carpet sprinkled with wedding cake crumbs. A lone quaffed glass awaited collection, hospitality staff doing their best to look busy behind the bar.
At the piano, Stu Collingwood suggested he Don’t Get Around Much Anymore. Suitably suited, Collingwood was fulfilling an engagement with the divinely dressed Zoe Gilby. A class act, the piano/vocals duo chose tunes they liked, tunes the hotel’s guests would like. Gilby impressed on God Bless the Child, interpretation and understanding of the lyric to the fore. It would be good to report a full house. The truth of the matter is this is a hotel booking – top performers, the event largely unknown to the outside world. Lullaby of Birdland, I Thought About You – you get the picture. The next time you’re in town and fancy listening to some top quality jazz check Bebop Spoken Here before you set off. Days and times vary (four o’clock, six o’clock, seven). It won’t cost you a penny (unless you choose to buy a drink) and you can sink into a Chesterfield for a few minutes or a couple of hours, the choice is yours. The short walk from the Vermont to the Jazz Café humming Dindi was never less than entertaining. Party people on the street – sashed last-night-of-freedom gluttons, tanned, plunging necklines, teetering heels. And you should have seen the women…  
Russell.       

                  

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