Bebop Spoken There

Christian McBride: ''I believe we are living in a historically embarrassing moment in American history.'' - Downbeat December 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

18061 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 1025 of them this year alone and, so far, 39 this month (Dec. 14).

From This Moment On ...

DECEMBER 2025

Fri 19: Fraser Urquhart @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. £8.00. SOLD OUT! .
Fri 19: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free..
Fri 19: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free..
Fri 19: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00..
Fri 19: Castillo Nuevo @ Hotel Gotham, Newcastle. 5:00pm. Free. .
Fri 19: Alexia Gardner @ FIKA Art Gallery, Morpeth. 6:30pm. Gardner, Alan Law, Jude Murphy..
Fri 19: Paul Skerritt @ Middlesbrough Town Hall. 7:00pm. Skerritt w. backing tapes. .
Fri 19: Giles Strong Quartet @ Sunderland Minster. 7:30pm. Old Black Cat Jazz Club..
Fri 19: Creakin’ Bones & the Xmas Dinners @ The White Room, Stanley. 7:45pm. £13.01 (inc. bf)..
Fri 19: Mark Toomey Quintet @ The Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. Opus 4 Jazz Club.

Sat 20: Jazz Attack @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 11:00am. Free.
Sat 20: Alexia Gardner @ FIKA Art Gallery, Morpeth. 6:30pm. Gardner, Alan Law, Jude Murphy. SOLD OUT!
Sat 20: Joseph Carville Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. CANCELLED!
Sat 20: Ray Stubbs R&B All Stars @ Billy Bootleggers, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 20: Hoodoo Blues @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:15pm (doors). £14.25, £11.55. Dance class, social dancing, live music & Xmas Party. Live music from 9:00pm - Ruth Lambert, Giles Strong, Ian Paterson & John Bradford (jazz and blues).
Sat 20: John Pope Quintet @ Blank Studios, Newcastle. 7:30-8:30pm. £7.70 (inc. bf). Album recording session.

Sun 21: New ’58 Jazz Collective @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 21: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. ‘Xmas Swingalong’. Skerritt w. backing tapes.
Sun 21: Ruth Lambert Trio @ Juke Shed, Union Quay, North Shields. 3:00-5:00pm. Free.
Sun 21: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 21: Strictly Smokin’ Big Band @ o2 City Hall, Newcastle. 6:00pm. £35.80., £33.25., £31.00.
Sun 21: The Globe Xmas Party @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. Live music.
Sun 21: Tweed River Jazz Band @ The Barrels Ale House, Berwick. 7:30pm. Free.

Mon 22: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 23: Paul Skerritt @ Chakh Dhoom, Jesmond, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Indian restaurant. Skerritt w. backing tapes.

Wed 24: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 24: Alexia Gardner @ The Townhouse, Bridge St., Morpeth. 1:30-4:30pm. ‘The A Capella Sessions’. Gardner, Paula Gardner, Alexia Hope Gardner Diamany.
Wed 24: Paul Skerritt @ Mambo Wine & Dine, South Shields. 1:30pm. Skerritt w. backing tapes.

Thu 25: Alexia Gardner @ The Townhouse, Bridge St., Morpeth. 1:30-4:00pm. ‘All About the Bass Sessions’. Alexia Gardner, Paula Gardner, Jude Murphy.

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

Saturday, July 04, 2015

Paul Edis (New York) Trio with Graham Hardy @ The Jazz Café. July 3

Paul Edis (piano), Mick Shoulder (double bass), Adam Sinclair (drums) & Graham Hardy (trumpet)
(Review by Russell)
New York edition of Time Out: Tonite at the Village Vanguard the Paul Edis Trio with special guest Graham Hardy. Rewrite: Tonight at the Jazz Café the Paul Edis Trio with special guest Graham Hardy. The evening began promisingly; a Pink Lane (Newcastle) seagull took aim and…SPLAT! deposited a present on your reviewer’s foot (not head!). On arriving at the Vanguard, sorry, Jazz Café, mine host Kay suggested purchasing that lottery ticket! The door open, few walked in strolling up from (Grand) Central Station.
Nostalgia in Times Square. The Paul Edis Trio on top form. Take the [ever-so-slow] A Train (a fleeting reference to I’m Beginning to See the Light). The Paul Edis Trio on top form – ‘killing’ as New Yorkers would say. In walked Clifford, special guest tonite here at the Vanguard. Edis couldn’t help himself – New York this, New York that. You’d be forgiven for thinking he’d just returned from the Big Apple! Graham ‘Clifford’ Hardy walked the short distance from his nearby brownstone loft apartment to sit in with Edis, Shoulder and Sinclair. Joyspring, Moon River, Au Privave. Great solos from Hardy and Edis, and Shoulder and Sinclair.  
Edis reported New York had been hot, hot, hot. No surprise there. Jazz Café, Newcastle was hot, Big Apple-style. Sweltering temperatures, red-hot playing from the best trio in town (and on this occasion, guest GH). Balkan buskers walked on by, looking to make a nickel or a dime. Tattooed uglies walked on by, blokes too. The door was open, the few walked in wandering up from (Grand) Central Station. The new beer – Border Hadrian’s Coast to Coast – could become a favourite. Chatting with JC there could be a review or two from Sur le Continent to look forward to.
Second set: Edis originals Lines and A Stab in the Dark (the latter with a Sinclair Blakey feel) could have been called at a Big Apple jam session…one day, one day. Coltrane put in an appearance (spiritually) on Central Park West, Parisian Thoroughfare featured GH (PE quoted Joyspring). A ballad – Blame it on My Youth (street sounds accompaniment) and to close – In Walked Bud. Another excellent night at the Jazz Café. Good to hear GH. The Paul Edis Trio – NYC or Jazz Café, Newcastle upon Tyne  – it’s the essential gig. 
Russell.

1 comment :

Ann Alex said...

I wonder if your seagull was the same one that splattered on me and my handbag on Thursday morning as I was on my way to a meeting!
Ann Alex

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