Bebop Spoken There

Melissa Aldana: ''Having to play a ballads album, which is something very revealing for a saxophone player, would help me to question some new aspects of how to go deeper into sound." (DownBeat May, 2026)

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

18656 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 18 years ago. 520 of them this year alone and, so far this month (June 25) 72

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

From This Moment On

June

Mon 29: Friends of Jazz @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 30: Alan Law Trio @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 2:00pm. Free.
Tue 30: Eva Fox & the Sound Hounds @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

July

Wed 01: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 01: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 01: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 02: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ The Millstone, Mill Rise, South Gosforth, Newcastle. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 02: Paul Skerritt @ Angels' Share, St George's Terrace, Jesmond, Newcastle NE2 2SX. 8:00pm. Free. Booking advised (0191 200 1975). Skerritt w. backing tapes.
Thu 02: De’Sean Jones & Blaque Dynamite feat. Urban Art Orchestra @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). De’Sean Jones (MD, tenor sax); Blaque Dynamite (Mike Mitchell, drums); Jamie Murray (drums) with UAO horns & strings.
Thu 02: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm.
Thu 02: Howlin’ Mat @ Newcastle Arts centre. 7:30pm. Free. Acoustic

Fri 03: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 03: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 03: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 03: Paul Donnelly Quartet @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm.
Fri 03: Martin Taylor @ Arc, Stockton. 8:00pm. Taylor (solo guitar).

Sat 04: Spats Langham’s Hot Fingers @ St Augustine’s Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm. £10.00. Darlington New Orleans Jazz Club.
Sat 04: Michael Woods @ Cycle Hub, Quayside, Ouseburn. 1:30-2:30pm & 3:00-4:00pm. Free. Acoustic blues guitar. An Ouseburn Festival event.
Sat 04: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. £27.50. Tutor: Steve Glendinning. Take the ‘A’ Train to Summertime: From Melody to Masterclass. Enrol at: learning@jazz.coop.
Sat 04: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00.

Sun 05: Smokin’ Spitfires @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:45pm. £10.00.
Sun 05: Ian Bosworth Quintet @ Chapel, Middlesbrough. 1:00pm. Free. Feat. guest TBC.
Sun 05: Michael Woods @ Cycle Hub, Quayside, Ouseburn. 1:30-2:30pm & 3:15-4:00pm. Free. Acoustic blues guitar. An Ouseburn Festival event.
Sun 05: Lydia Rae Quintet @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00pm. £10.00. Rae (vocals); Sam Lightwing (alto sax, tenor sax); Ben Lawrence (piano); Andy Champion (double bass); John Bradford (drums).
Sun 05: Sax Choir @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 05: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Table reservations (0191 261 8000). Skerritt w. backing tapes.
Sun 05: Storytellers Street Band @ Ouseburn Woodland, Ouseburn. 5:00-6:00pm. Free. An Ouseburn Festival event.
Sun 05: Gerry Richardson’s Big Idea @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Sun 05: Jambone @ Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:15-9:45pm. Free but ticketed.

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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