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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

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.

Mon 19: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 19: Lewis Watson Quartet @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £10.00.

Tue 20: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Stu Collingwood, Paul Grainger, Bailey Rudd.
Tue 20: Alexia Gardner Quintet @ Pleased to Meet You, Bridge St., Morpeth NE61 1ND. 8:00pm.

Wed 21: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 21: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 21: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, 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

Monday, July 27, 2015

Stephanie Trick & Paolo Alderighi with the New Century Ragtime Orchestra @ Caedmon Hall, Gateshead - July 26.


(Review by Lance).
Rawicz and Landauer it wasn't, Pete Johnson and Albert Ammons it was - and then some. If you were seeking sounds, I hesitate to use the word music, that were searching for new frontiers you wouldn't find them here and, if you had, the hall wouldn't have been near sold out!
And yet, what we heard tonight was indeed music that broke the mould - in the earlier part of the last century.
Ragtime, stride and boogie woogie by the two guest pianists plus hot dance music and early big band jazz from the finest purveyors of the idiom this side of Slovakia - the New Century Ragtime Orchestra.
The band had been active during the transfer window with several new signings, whether permanent or on loan I'm not sure. Ian Wynne on piano, Neville Hartley bumped over to trombone, Graham Hardy from the Northern Monkey (suit) Brass Band on trumpet, Laurence Dunn, whose beard reduces Steve Andrews' whiskery growth to a mere goatee, on violin and Roly Veitch on (whisper it) banjo. Steve Andrews also took a more active musical role and even sang on Nagasaki!
Keith Nichols is the band's usual guest pianist and it says much for Papa Keith that it required two pianists to replace him! But what replacements!
As they did last year, American Stephanie Trick and Italian Paolo Alderighi stunned the crowd with an amazing performance - four hands are better than two? These four hands were better than twenty-two!
An unforgettable evening.
Outside it was raining - I decided to phone for a taxi. Neither of my two preferred cab company's knew where Gateshead Library was so I bussed it.
This was probably wise - how could you describe such an evening to a cabbie listening to Metro Radio?
Lance.
PS: Nice to bump into my old school chum George Watt. George was at the bar buying a bottle of water for his wife - he certainly knows how to treat a girl!
Stephanie Trick, Paolo Alderighi (pno) + Steve Andrews (ten/clt/vcl/mc); Graham Hardy, Alastair Lord (tpt); Neville Hartley (tmb); Jim McBriarty (clt/alt/vcl); Gavin Lee (clt/ten); Alan Marshall (alt/clt); Laurence Dunn (vln); Ian Wynne (pno); Phil Rutherford (sousa); Roly Veitch (bjo/gtr); Steve Doyle (dms); Caroline Irwin (vcl).

2 comments :

George Watt said...

It was indeed another wonderful evening of music - made even better by our chance meeting.
PS. I splashed out on the way home and bought my good lady a bag of chips.

Lance said...

George, this brings me back to our schooldays ~ Chips? Plurals were always your problems during Mrs Young's English lessons! But yes, it was a superb concert and if I'd been with Dorothy I'd have bought her a fish to go with her chip. But you can take the boy out of...

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