Total Pageviews

Bebop Spoken There

Sullivan Fortner: ''I always judge it by the bass player: If the bass player is happy, it's going to be a good night". (DownBeat, February 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

17777 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 98 of them this year alone and, so far, 23 this month (Feb.8).

From This Moment On ...

February 2025

Sun 16: MOBO Song @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 12 noon. Free, performances on the concourse. Line-up inc. Jazz Attack (on stage time TBC) & Jambone (12:20pm).
Sun 16: Jason Isaacs @ STACK, Exchange Sq., Middlesbrough. 1:00-2:45pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sun 16: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 16: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 16: MOBO Awards Fringe 2025: BBC Introducing NE X MOBO Showcase @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 6:00pm. Free (ticketed). Line-up inc. Jambone, Knats, Rivkala, SwanNek.
Sun 16: The Shayo Experience @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 16: Gerry Richardson Quartet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. .

Mon 17: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 17: Matt Forster Quartet @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 1:00pm. £9.00. at the door; £8.20. (inc £0.20 bf) online, in advance.
Mon 17: Russ Morgan Quartet @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £10.00.

Tue 18: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Alan Law, Paul Grainger, John Hirst.

Wed 19: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 19: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 19: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 20: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, Holystone. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 20: James Birkett & Emma Fisk @ King’s Hall, Newcastle University. 1:15pm. Free.
Thu 20: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: Jazz Milestones - 1975.
Thu 20: Renegade Brass Band @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors).
Thu 20: Orange Claw Hammer + Peony @ The Globe, Newcastle.7:30pm. Orange Claw Hammer play Captain Beefheart.
Thu 20: Jeremy McMurray & the Pocket Jazz Orchestra @ Arc, Stockton. 8:00pm. Featuring special guest Zoë Gilby.

Fri 21: JazzMain @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 21: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 21: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 21: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 21: Joe Steels Trio @ The Pele, Corbridge. 7:00pm. £10.00. TBC.
Fri 21: Emma Rawicz w. Strictly Smokin’ Big Band @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm.

Sat 22: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 12:30-2:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 22: Jason Isaacs @ Seaburn STACK, Seaburn. 3:30pm-5:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 22: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 22: Mississippi MacDonald @ Claypath Deli, Durham. 7:00pm. Blues.
Sat 22: Lindsay Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ Old Cinema Laundrette, Durham. 7:45pm. £16.50. SOLD OUT!
Sat 22: Michael Woods @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Country blues guitar & vocals.

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, August 06, 2015

Jazz Co-op @ The Globe: The Weekend Workshop And Other Matters

The workshops got off to an inauspicious start – a drummer got stuck in the lift!  Someone remarked that it would be even better if it had been a banjo player!  Once he’d been rescued, a great weekend of learning, music-making and sheer fun began.  We can’t wait until next year, but we’ll have to, so that the hard-working tutors, Judith Thompson and James Birkett, can have a well earned rest, and the organisers, Dave Parker and Elton Ritchie, can put their feet up for a while.
We were divided into two groups according to previous experience, so that we could study scales and chords, which we did, based on the tune Lady Be Good.  Don’t know quite what the more experienced group did with Jim, but it must have been complicated, judging by the papers with circles of keys etc lying around in their room upstairs.  I must have learned something as I can now play Lester Leaps In on my tin whistle, complete with a solo, and I was attending as a vocalist!
In the afternoons, following an excellent buffet lunch from Waitrose no less, we divided into bands of more or less equally balanced instruments, except that we had the only vocalist and pianist and the others had the double bass. It was our chance to be arrangers of 2 tunes, I’ve Got Rhythm and There’ll  Never Be Another You. And a chance to do things that we’d never done before, such as singing a walking bass and doing 4’s with the drums.  We loved it!
Then we came back on Sunday and did it all again, in more depth.
We rounded off the whole proceedings with each band playing their pieces for the others.  Jim’s band had actually composed an original work, (sorry the title escapes me) which sounded very skilled and exciting, with plenty of interesting solos.  Then we did our 2 songs with great enthusiasm and aplomb.  I must say that there’s nothing quite like working with a band when you know everyone has contributed of their best.  It sounded good to me.
We could have done with more horn players, so be ready for next year, all ye saxes out there!  And I’d recommend this for vocalists – it’s good to find out what instrumentalists get up to and what they expect of us singers.  A singer in each band would have been handy.  
I should have taken my bed to the Globe for the weekend, because I was actually there on Friday night as well.  This was the first of the monthly Blues Jams, to be held on the final Friday of each month. The house band (sorry I don’t know their names yet) was lead by bluesman and drummer Adam Featherstone and although the audience was small, this event promises good times ahead.  I enjoyed hearing how different blues is from jazz.  Contributors included Barry Keatings, Keith Barrett, Steve Glendinning and myself. Pieces played and sung were Work Song; Stairway To Heaven; Nobody Loves You When You’re Down And Out and many others.  Why not come along next time?
Ann Alex

No comments :

Blog Archive