Bebop Spoken There

Dominick "Domo" Branch: ''Most people say drummers can't write, they're just time-keepers only beating on things. But I have a very musical brain.'' (DownBeat February, 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

18288 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 18 years ago. 142 of them this year alone and, so far this month (Feb. 14), 42

From This Moment On ...

February

Thu 19: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £5.00. Subject: George Shearing Jazz Moments.

Fri 20: Alex Clarke w. Dean Stockdale Trio @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT! Clarke w. Dean Stockdale, Mick Shoulder, Abbie Finn.
Fri 20: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 20: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 20: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 20: Squabble @ Warkworth Memorial Hall. 7:00pm. Steve Chambers (organ); Jude Murphy (double bass, vocals); Sid White (drums).
Fri 20: Jive Aces @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 7:00pm (6:30pm doors).
Fri 20: Alex Clarke w. Dean Stockdale Trio @ Sunderland Minster. 7:30pm. Clarke w. Dean Stockdale, Mick Shoulder, Abbie Finn.

Sat 21: ???

Sun 22: Musicians Unlimited: Big Band Blast @ West Hartlepool RFC. 1:00-3:00pm . Free.
Sun 22: Joe Steels Group @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm. A Blue Patch album tour.
Sun 22: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 22: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 22: Harben Kay Quartet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 23: Joe Steels Group @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 1:00pm. A Blue Patch album tour.
Mon 23: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 24: Finn-Keeble Group @ Newcastle House Hotel, Rothbury. 7:30pm. £11.00.
Tue 24: Liam Oliver & Shayo Oshodi @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 26: Castillo Nuevo Orquesta @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £6.50.
Thu 26: Shalala @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £7.00 adv.
Thu 26: Mick Cantwell Band @ The Harbour View, Roker, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Blues.

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

Saturday, September 26, 2015

Soundbone plays Led Zep @ Jazz Café. September 25

Chris Grieve (trombone & electronics), Graeme Stephen (guitar & loops) & David Carnegie (drums)
(Review by Russell/Photos courtesy of Mike Tilley).
This was fun. A legendary rock band repackaged as a ‘jazz trio’. Led Zeppelin tapped into the National Grid to generate a trillion watts through Marshall stacks, Soundbone created a big sound of their own filtering trombone and guitar through a box of tricks.  Newcastle City Hall veterans were largely absent from the Jazz Café, oblivious to the goings on in the upstairs room, perhaps sitting at home with a curry listening to Black Dog, bemoaning the fact that things ain’t what they used to be.
Black Dog opened the show – you could have been here! – and the trio pulled it off! A seated Graeme Stephen carved out the Jimmy Page riff, Chris Grieve’s clip-mic ‘bone pulsatingly melodic, drummer David Carnegie dead-on, sub-Bonham sledgehammer.
Stephen and Grieve, two thirds NeWt (the band, not p***** as), recently joined forces with Barbadian, ex-Tyneside resident, David Carnegie to play the Zeppelin ‘songbook’ and it really does work. Moby Dick featured DC’s explosive drumming, Misty Mountain Hop surfaced from a looping swirl of sound and Communication Breakdown lacked one thing, and one thing only, Robert Plant’s inimitable rock god vocals.
Immigrant Song, the folkie Going to California, the charts-reading Soundbone trio had what we already knew – immense chops. The affable Grieve suggested singing along to the tunes was in order – the chances were the audience had beaten him to it. To close a thoroughly entertaining evening Soundbone stretched out on Kashmir; Graeme Stephen developed a brilliant solo, Grieve sang into his now detached mic and Carnegie drove a tight trio to the final stop chord.  
Russell.

No comments :

Blog Archive