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Bebop Spoken There

Stan Woodward: ''We're part of the British jazz scene, but we don't play London jazz. We play Newcastle jazz. The Knats album represents many things, but most importantly that Newcastle isn't overlooked". (DownBeat, April 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

17904 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 225 of them this year alone and, so far, 72 this month (March 24).

From This Moment On ...

MARCH 2025.

Tue 25: Fred Wesley & the New JB’s @ The Cluny. 7:30pm (doors). £27.50. POSTPONED! New date Wednesday 26 November.

Wed 26: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 26: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 26: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 27: Hannabiell & Midnight Blue @ King’s Hall, Newcastle University. 1:15pm. Free.
Thu 27: Michael Littlefield & Scott Taylor @ The Harbour View, Roker, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Superb blues duo.

Fri 28: Giles Strong Quartet @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. £8.00 SOLD OUT!.
Fri 28: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 28: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 28: Spilt Milk @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 7:00-9:00pm. Free. Nolan Brothers (vocal harmonies).
Fri 28: Castillo Nuevo Orquesta @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £8.00.
Fri 28: Pete Tanton’s Chet Set @ Old Cinema Laundrette, Durham. 7:45pm.
Fri 28: Sue Ferris Quintet @ Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. £10.00. Opus 4 Jazz Club.
Fri 28: Mostly Moonlight @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Fri 28: Juliana Day & Manon McCoy @ Cumberland Arms, Byker, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £12.00.; £10.00. advance. JNE.

Sat 29: Edison Herbert Trio @ The Vault, Darlington 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 29: Doris Day Story @ Phoenix Theatre, Blyth. 7:30pm.
Sat 29: Squabble! @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 30: Jan Spencelayh & Dave Archbold @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 30: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 30: Jamil Sheriff Trio w. Nadim Teimoori @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm.
Sun 30: Ruth Lambert Trio @ The Juke Shed, Union Quay, North Shields. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 30: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 30: Jazz Jam Sandwich! @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 30: Jamil Sheriff Trio w. Nadim Teimoori @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 31: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. 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, August 11, 2015

LP Review: Tubby Hayes Quartet - Live at the Hopbine 1968 Vol. 1. "The Syndicate"


Tubby Hayes (ten); Louis Stewart (gtr); Kenny Baldock (bs); Spike Wells (dms).
(Review by Lance.)
I try to avoid review discs "jumping the queue" - first come first served  has always been my motto  -but there are times when those values get thrown out of the window.
This is one such occasion.!
In my younger days, living, as I did for awhile, in Edgware/Harrow, I'd drop by Tommy Whittle's gig at The Hopbine in Wembley, Apart from Whittle, a fine tenor player who guested many times up here at Blaydon Jazz Club, there were other featured jazz musicians, I recall Ronnie Ross on one occasion but, I don't think I ever caught Tubbs there. If I'd been there when this session took place I'd've remembered it!
Tubby the Tenor, Louis Stewart, Kenny Baldock (depping for Ron Mathewson), Spike Wells - giants all!
This was a band!
As Fats Waller once, reportedly said, when Art Tatum entered the club, "God is in the house". Well, tonight, God is on my turntable.
Yes, turntable. An LP!
The current wave of vinyl as pioneered by Gearbox, means you are getting the real McCoy or. in this case, the real Tubby Hayes.
Will there be a better vinyl jazz release this year? They ain't offering odds at Ladbrokes and wisely so - the bookies ain't daft!
This is Tubby in his later years (he was 33 at the time and died 5 years later) but don't let anyone tell you he was coasting! He had so much still to give. He'd shod the Getzian mantle of his early years and was now blowing Coltrane but not the 'outside Trane'. The hard bop tone, the virtuosic technique heard here provides the proof of his world standing. Will there ever be a greater British jazz musician than Tubbs? - not in my lifetime unless I exceed the longevity records by a decade or two.
Then again, will there ever be a better Irish (southern) jazz guitarist than Louis Stewart? I doubt if Ladbrokes will take bets on that either although you may manage to back a few contenders each way!
In short, this is as good an example as any of Hayes, who, at this stage of his tragically short life, was more tubular than tubby.
Two compositions by Tubby - The Syndicate & The Inner Splurge - along with Jimmy Heath's Gingerbread Boy and Luis Bonfa's The Gentle Rain make this an album comparable with anything Blue Note or Prestige was releasing at the time.
Solid hard bop on a solid piece of 12" vinyl. Not the pliable lampshade material discs the majors were releasing in the pre CD days but, to reiterate, solid.
And, of course, being an LP you don't need a magnifying glass to read the notes which are, not surprisingly, by Simon Spillett the world's greatest authority on Tubby Hayes and author of the recently reviewed The Long Shadow of the Little Giant. 
Buy.
Lance.

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