Total Pageviews

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

18018 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 339 of them this year alone and, so far, 17 this month (May 7).

From This Moment On ...

MAY 2025

Mon 12: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 12: Gregory Porter + Jo Harrop @ Newcastle City Hall. 7:30pm. Support act: Jo Harrop!

Tue 13: ???

Wed 14: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 14: Recital (stage 2): Leah Kirk (voice) @ The Band Room, Music Studios, Assembly Lane, Newcastle University. 3:00pm. Free.
Wed 14: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 14: Tannery jam session @ The Tannery, Hexham. 7:00pm.
Wed 14: Jerron Paxton @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £24.20. Excellent country blues multi-instrumentalist.
Wed 14: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. BACK IN BUSINESS, all welcome!

Thu 15: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: The Greatest in Jazz - Guitarists.
Thu 15: Pete Tanton & the Cuban Heels @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 15: New Ways of Moving in the Counterworlds @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 8:00pm (7:00pm doors). John Garner & John Pope.

Fri 16: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 16: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 16: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 16: Sophie Speed with the Dean Stockdale Trio @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 16: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 1:00-2:45pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Fri 16: Jason Isaacs @ STACK, Exchange Sq., Middlesbrough. 4:00-6:00pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Fri 16: Giles Strong Quartet @ Longframlington Memorial Hall. 7:00pm (doors). Tickets: £12.00. from 01665 570984.
Fri 16: Hot Club du Nord @ St Cuthbert’s Centre, Crook. 7:30pm. £10.00.
Fri 16: Peter Donegan & Anthony Donegan @ The Witham, Barnard Castle. 7:30pm. ‘Lonnie Donegan - The Stories’.

Sat 17: Teresa Watson Band @ Billy Bootleggers, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. Blues.
Sat 17: The Society Quartet @ Hilton Garden Inn, Sunderland. 6:00pm. Tel: 0191 500 9494. £26.00 (inc. two course meal). Line-up: Jason Holcomb, Hannah Taylor, Alix Shepherd & Abbie Finn.
Sat 17: Milne Glendinning Band @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 17: Archie Brown & the Young Bucks @ Billy Bootleggers, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. Rhythm & blues, Americana etc.
Sat 17: Rockin’ Turner Brothers @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Rockabilly, Western swing etc.

Sun 18: Jason Isaacs @ STACK, Seaburn. 12 noon-2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sun 18: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 18: Ruth Lambert & Giles Strong @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 18: Steve Summers Quintet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

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

Thursday, June 11, 2015

Ronnie Scott's Announce Music Instrument Amnesty

GIVE A NEW LIFE TO YOUR INSTRUMENT
Saturday 11th July, 10am – 3.30pm
Ronnie Scott’s launches its first Music Instrument Amnesty giving new life to unused or unwanted instruments by donating them to young aspiring musicians both in the UK and abroad.
On Saturday 11th of July, Ronnie Scott's will be holding a Music Instrument Amnesty to collect unused music instruments and donating them to school aged children in the UK and overseas. The amnesty is organized in association with Sistema England and Music Fund.
Donated instruments will be sent to children whose access to music education has been compromised due to their social situation and/or geographical location through one of Ronnie Scott’s two partners. 
Sistema England, founded by Julian Lloyd Webber, seeks to transform the lives of children, young people and their communities through the power of music making. It is part of an international movement inspired by El Sistema, the Venezuelan programme that benefits street kids through the creation of grass roots orchestras. The Ronnie Scott’s Music Instrument Amnesty will go some way to benefit some of the 3,000 children in Sistema programmes in 14 schools in London, Liverpool, Newcastle, Norwich and Telford.  Overseas, the collected instruments will be given a second life through Music Fund who distributes to projects in international conflict zones from their base in Brussels.  Music Fund is a humanitarian project that supports musicians and music schools in conflict areas and developing countries operating in Africa, the Middle East and Central America.  

It’s an initiative that is especially dear to Ronnie Scott’s Managing Director Simon Cooke who said,

We at Ronnie’s are really pleased to lead this drive helping schools and education projects at home and around the World.  Our standing in the jazz world puts us in a great position to ask musicians, our members and the public at large to help us help underprivileged kids by donating their unloved or used music instruments on July 11.  This is the first of a few new charitable initiatives that the club will be embarking upon”.

Donors are invited to book an advance appointment and then pop in to the legendary Frith Street club anytime between 10am and 3.30pm on Saturday 11thJuly with the instrument they wish to donate. And while they wait for their instrument to be inspected and a tracking number issued - the donor is able to track their instrument to its final destination whether Newcastle, Liverpool or the war torn Middle East – they are invited to experience the iconic venue, perhaps rubbing shoulders with musicians who have graced the Ronnie’s stage who will be dropping their instruments off too!

Ronnie Scott’s isn’t just offering a drop-off point for instruments though, as well as helping to collect and repair instruments, they will be working alongside the organisations both at home and abroad to inspire a young generation of aspiring jazz musicians.   The club will arrange jazz workshops based on its hugely successful Big Band in a Day initiative that invites school kids into Ronnie’s to work with world class musicians in forming their very own big band!
Instruments can be booked in for donation via


 (NB link not live until 2pm on the 11th June)


Note:
The club will only accept instruments that are in a reasonable condition and are unable to accept large instruments such as pianos and organs.

For further information on Ronnie Scott’s, the Music Amnesty or Big Band in a Day please contact info@riotsquadpublicity.com
www.ronniescotts.co.uk
Ronnie Scott’s, 47 Frith Street, Soho, W1

No comments :

Blog Archive