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Bebop Spoken There

Steve Coleman: ''If you don't keep learning, your mind slows down. Use it or lose it''. (DownBeat, January 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

17733 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 53 of them this year alone and, so far, 53 this month (Jan. 20).

From This Moment On ...

January 2025

Fri 24: Zoë Gilby Quartet @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. CANCELLED! TO BE RESCHEDULED!
Fri 24: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 24: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 24: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 24: Creakin’ Bones & the Sunday Dinners @ Lindisfarne Social Club, Wallsend. 9:00pm. Admission: TBC. Jazz, blues , jump jive, rock ‘n’ roll.

Sat 25: Boys of Brass @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 3:30-5:30pm. Free.
Sat 25: New '58 Jazz Collective @ Jackson's Wharf, Hartlepool. 6:30pm (doors). Free. A Burns' Night event. Jazz, swing, funk, soul, blues etc.
Sat 25: Edison Herbert Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 25: Red Kites Jazz @ Parish Hall, St Barnabas’ Church, Rowlands Gill. 7:30pm. £10.00. BYOB (tea & coffee available), raffle. Proceeds to St Barnabas’ Church. Performance feat. Shayo (vocals).
Sat 25: Jack & Jay’s Songbook @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 26: Musicians Unlimited @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 26: Graham Hardy Eclectic Quartet @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm.
Sun 26: Ruth Lambert Trio @ The Juke Shed, Union Quay, North Shields. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 26: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 26: Jazz Jam Sandwich! @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 26: Tweed River Jazz Band @ Barrels Ale House, Berwick-upon-Tweed. 7:30pm. Free.
Sun 26: Gratkowski, Tramontana, Beresford, Affifi @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £12.00. JNE.
Sun 26: Jazz Jam @ Fabio’s, Saddler St., Durham. 8:00pm. Free. A Durham University Jazz Society promotion. All welcome.

Mon 27: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 27: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 6:30pm. Free.

Tue 28: ???

Wed 29: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 29: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 29: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).

Thu 30: Matters Unknown (aka Jonathan Enser, Nubiyan Twist) + support TBA @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 8:00pm (7:00pm doors). £12.22 (gig & food); £9:04 (gig only).
Thu 30: Soznak @ The Mill Tavern, Hebburn. 8:00pm. Free.
Thu 30: Struggle Buggy @ Harbour View, Roker, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Rhythm & blues.

Fri 31: Alan Barnes Quartet @ The Old Library, Auckland Castle, Bishop Auckland. 12 noon-2:00pm (two sets). £12.00. admission (card or cash at the door). Barnes (alto sax, baritone sax, clarinet); Alan Law (piano); Mick Shoulder (double bass); Tim Johnston (drums). Note change of venue, no longer at Mrs M’s as advertised, the concert will be in the Old Library (Bishop Auckland Jazz’s regular venue). Important! It’s a ‘BYOB’ arrangement - ie bring your own booze (and/or tea, coffee, soft drinks).
Fri 31: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 31: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 31: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 31: Café Orkestar @ Café Under the Spire, Gateshead. 6:00pm. ‘Klezmer, Gypsy Jazz, Balkan & More!’.
Fri 31: Nothing in Rambling @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. £10.00. + bf. Country blues duo.
Fri 31 Zoë Gilby Quartet @ Wylam Institute. 7:30pm (7:00pm doors). £15.00. + £1.50. bf.
Fri 31: Creakin’ Bones & the Sunday Dinners @ White Room, Stanley. 7:45pm. £10.00 + bf. Jazz, blues , jump jive, rock ‘n’ roll.
Fri 31: Alan Barnes Quartet @ The Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. £15.00 Barnes (alto sax, baritone sax, clarinet); Alan Law (piano); Mick Shoulder (double bass); Tim Johnston (drums).
Fri 31: SwanNek + Rivkala @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 8:00pm. SwanNek’s new single launch gig. Pilgrim, formerly Hoochie Coochie.

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, August 17, 2015

Paul Edis Trio @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. August 15

Paul Edis (piano), Mick Shoulder (double bass) & Russ Morgan (drums)
(Review by Russell/photos courtesy of Roly Veitch).
The music of Duke Ellington. The latest in an occasional series in which pianist Paul Edis presents a musical portrait of his chosen subject: Edward Kennedy Ellington – composer, pianist, bandleader. Blaydon Jazz Club hosted this first performance of the Paul Edis Trio playing Ellington’s compositions and those associated with him, notably Billy Strayhorn.
The Black Bull regulars turned out, the pianists – Ellington and Edis – the attraction. This   was the first opportunity for some to hear drummer Russ Morgan play. He’s been sitting-in at jam sessions on Tyneside for a year or so, making a big impression, rapidly picking- up some of the plum gigs on the scene; the recently established Tanton-Williams Quartet, working with vocalist Alice Grace, herself a welcome newcomer, and Dr Edis. The ever-reliable bassist Mick Shoulder, busy with his own projects, was, as ever, at Edis’ side.
Rocking in Rhythm for trio, the sound of the Ellington band’s section work in one’s head, this was going to be special. Edis interspersed tunes with commentary; context (the social and the political), relationships (professional and personal), the music and its oft disputed authorship. From Black and Tan Fantasy to Isfahan to Mood Indigo. The trio took a little time to hit their straps. Short on rehearsal time, eye contact essential, a nod the cue, a real test of their musical mettle. Take the A Train took us to Harlem, the Harlem Renaissance of the early years of the twentieth century. The trio settled, the jazz superb, Blaydon Jazz Club was the place to be!
Edis wasn’t too concerned about chronology; Ellington’s five decades as composer were a rollercoaster stylistically, similarly his personal life, public popularity ebbed and flowed with a mid-fifties nadir dispelled overnight at the Newport Jazz Festival. The jazz history books were re-written that rainy night on Rhode Island. Paul Gonsalves’ marathon blues-drenched solo saw Ellington reborn. We didn’t hear Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue a la Newport ’56, not least because the pub hadn’t applied for a late licence! We did hear more classic Ellington; Money Jungle (his brief association with a younger generation of musicians forging a new path), Come Sunday (Edis solo), Satin Doll and to close, Cotton Tail. The audience wanted to hear some more, the trio conferred and said good night with Star Crossed Lovers.
Next month there is a two-concert special. An extra date – Sunday 6 September – sees the phenomenal young guitarist Bradley Johnston in a duo setting with mentor James Birkett.
Lovers of jazz guitar shouldn’t miss this one. If you are yet to hear him play, be prepared to be, as they say, ‘gob-smacked’. Dr Birkett can play a bit too! Then, on the regular third Sunday in the month (20 September), Johnston returns leading his own quartet. The band formed during BJ’s participation in the Jazz Café’s regular jam sessions. Such occasions can be sink-or-swim affairs…it was clear to all that Johnston was in the fast lane! At the Black Bull he will be supported by some of the scene’s most experienced musicians. Get along on the night. Recommended.  
Photos.
Russell

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