Bebop Spoken There

Donovan Haffner ('Best Newcomer' 2025 Parliamentary Jazz Awards): ''I got into jazz the first time I picked up a saxophone!" - Jazzwise Dec 25/Jan 26

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

18122 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 1086 of them this year alone and, so far this month (Dec. 31), 100

From This Moment On ...

JANUARY 2026

Wed 07: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 07: FILM: Blue Moon @ The Forum Cinema, Hexham. 2:00pm. Dir. Richard Linklater’s biopic of Lorenz Hart.
Wed 07: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 07: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 08: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £5.00. Subject: Jazz Milestones of 1976.

Fri 09: The House Trio @ Bishop Auckland Methodist Church. 1:00pm. £9.00.
Fri 09: Nauta @ Jesmond Library, Newcastle. 1:00pm. £5.00. Trio: Jacob Egglestone, Jamie Watkins, Bailey Rudd.
Fri 09: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 09: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 09: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 09: Warren James & the Lonesome Travellers @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm. £15.00.
Fri 09: The Blue Kings @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £10.00. (£8.00. adv.). All-star band.

Sat 10: Mark Toomey Quintet @ St Peter’s Church, Stockton-on-Tees. 7:30pm. £12.00. (inc. pie & peas). Tickets from: 07749 255038.

Sun 11: New ’58 Jazz Collective @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 11: Am Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 11: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 11: Eva Fox & the Sound Hounds @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 12: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 12: Saltburn Big Band @ Saltburn House Hotel. 7:00-9:00pm. Free.

Tue 13: Milne Glendinning Band @ Newcastle House Hotel, Rothbury. 7:30pm. £11.00. Coquetdale Jazz.
Tue 13: Jazz Jam Sandwich @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

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

Tuesday, July 14, 2015

CD Review: Colin Aitchison & The China Coast Jazzmen - The Party Never Ends

Colin Aitchison (tmb/vcl); Peping Ciriaco (tpt/flg); Franco Valussi (clt/ten/sop); Aquilino Espirutu (bjo/gtr/pno/sousa); Joselito Garcia (bs); Robert Flores (dms) + Bert Amparado (tpt); Red Pellini (ten); Tom Cord (dms); Neville Sarony pno/vcl).
(Review by Lance).
Go easy on us, said Colin - our Man in Hong Kong and Numero Uno supporter of BSH East of Suez - bit like asking your son to write his own school report!
Those of us who have known Colin over the years and admired his progress since becoming a pro trumpet/trombone player - not least on his annual visits back to the north east - will know what to expect here.
It's Xmas Party time at Ned Kelly's and the disc conveys the atmosphere as good as any video could.
It's Goodtime Jazz! Think of Turk Murphy at Earthquake  McGoon's in Frisco, Peewee Hunt playing Twelfth St. Rag, Ball, Bilk, Spike Jones and, wait for it, Goodman, Bechet, Armstrong and Sinatra!
What a mix! Red Pellini's gutsy tenor brings to mind Hawkins, Ike Quebec - anybody but Lester! Valussi shows the same flare that he did on Tyneside last week and Colin blows like Satchmo although he perhaps overdoes the Louis vocal cloning. Still the audience at Ned's loved it and, if like me, you ain't been there this is as close as you'll get to Jazz Party HQ! 
What an audience! Joining in the sing-a-longs in a way I haven't heard since the Sunday morning Newcastle Big Band Sessions at the University Playhouse (Colin was in that band too where Hey Jude was given a drunken choral accompaniment!) gives one the Blues to be There.
Ask Roy Willis, or Bob Wilber, Dan Barrett and many more who've passed through.
Then, just when you think you've heard it all - up jumps Neville Sarony with an encapsulated history of Ned Kelly's in words and music, relating the story from Larry Allen to the China Coast Jazzmen.
You know what? I might just go out and book my flight for this Xmas (dream on Lance).
Lance.

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