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Bebop Spoken There

Spasmo Brown: “Jazz is an ice cream sandwich! It's the Fourth of July! It's a girl with a waterbed!”. (Syncopated Times, July, 2024).

The Things They Say!

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Simon Spillett: A lovely review from the dean of jazz bloggers, Lance Liddle...

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Postage

17421 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 695 of them this year alone and, so far, 100 this month (Sept. 30).

From This Moment On ...

October

Tue 08: ???

Wed 09: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free. Wed 09: Jason Isaacs @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 5:00-7:00pm. Free.
Wed 09: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 09: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 09: The Tannery Jam Session @ The Tannery, Gilesgate, Hexham. 7:00-9:00pm. Free. A ‘second Wednesday in the month’ jam session.
Wed 09: Shunya, Dudù Kouate & Seb Rochford @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 8:30pm (7:30pm doors). £21.00.

Thu 10: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 10: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. ‘Collaborations - it happened all the time’.
Thu 10: Indigo Jazz Voices w. the Little Big Band @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:45pm. £5.00.
Thu 10: Side Cafe Orkestar @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 10: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesborough. 8:30pm. With guests Donna Hewitt (sax); Bill Watson (trumpet); Graham Thompson (keys); Ron Smith (bass). Free.

Fri 11: Dulcie May Moreno @ The Old Library, Auckland Castle, Bishop Auckland. 1:00pm. £8.00.
Fri 11: The Jazz Quartet + Stratosphonic @ Tynedale Rugby Club, Corbridge. 7:00pm. £15.00. A Rotary Club of Hexham event. The Jazz Quartet (Jude Murphy & co), Stratosphonic (blues/rock).
Fri 11: Joe Steels Trio @ The Pele, Market Place, Corbridge NE45 5AW. 7:30pm. Free.
Fri 11: Crooners @ Tyne Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm.
Fri 11: Mo Scott Band @ Blues Underground, Nelson St., Newcastle. 9:00pm. Free.

Sat 12: Milne-Glendinning Band @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 12: Michael Woods @ Victoria Tunnel, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 7:00pm. £12.00. (£10.00. adv.). Country blues guitar & vocals.
Sat 12: Nauta @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm. £13.28, £11.16, £9.04. A two-track recording launch gig.
Sat 12: Stuart Turner @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Rockabilly, rhythm & blues etc. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sat 12: Lapwing Jazz Trio @ The Ship Inn, Low Newton. 8:00pm. Free. New trio: Paula Whitty, Richard Herdman, Jude Murphy.

Sun 13: Am Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 13: Emma Wilson @ Tyne Bar, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. Blues.
Sun 13: Catfish Keith @ The Cluny. 7:00pm. Country blues.
Sun 13: Cath Stephens & Paul Grainger @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Stephens & Grainger, one third of a triple bill.
Sun 13: Dulcie May Moreno Quartet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 14: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 14: Black is the Color of My Voice @ Hippodrome, Darlington. 7:30pm. Apphia Campbell’s one-woman show inspired by Nina Simone, performed by Nicholle Cherrie.

Tue 15: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Alan Law (piano), Paul Grainger (double bass), Bailey Rudd (drums).

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, October 26, 2015

Double Bill @ Ushaw – Paul Edis & Vasilis Xenopoulos/The Gala Big Band Ushaw College, Durham - October 24

Paul Edis (piano); Vasilis Xenopoulos (tenor sax). (Apologies to Gala Big Band – not all names known.)
(Review by Jerry)
If, on my first visit here, I found the bar/café area impressive, the theatre is jaw-dropping! I know as much about architecture as I do about jazz and I guess this is neo-gothic with its panelling and its statues projecting from the beams like benevolent gargoyles. I think I like neo-gothic: I know I liked the jazz!
The opener, Almost Like Being in Love, showed, immediately, the intuitive understanding these two musicians have after a decade or more of playing together. Vas joked that they were like “an old married couple” – each able to finish the other’s musical sentences before they got there themselves. I hope, as half of an old married couple, that this was meant to be a positive! Either way, the interplay between the two instruments/musicians throughout the set was almost uncanny!
Alone Together showed they could do quiet and thoughtful while Night and Day, Latin style as played by Getz, demonstrated that magical interplay to perfection.
Michel Legrand’s sensitive, romantic What Are You Doing for the Rest of Your Life? had the audience thinking “sitting here to listen to you, if that’s OK?” then Monk’s quirky, spiky Well You Needn’t, with a nod to Georgia Brown (who always gets in somewhere, when Vas is playing!) had them tapping their feet again.
A playful Alice in Wonderland followed before Denzil Best’s foot-tapping Move drummed us to the interval. Terrific!
If I (jazznoramus) had to sum up the appeal of Vas as a saxophonist I’d describe it as understated brilliance: no seeking to dazzle with tricks or faze you with too many notes – just sensitive, technically accomplished renditions of great music.
After the interval, Paul Edis donned his musical director/conductor hat while Vas became a guest front-man (on some numbers) with The Gala Big Band…….who were great. I enjoyed seeing them about 12 months ago in Durham and (I hope this is not seen as a “cack-handed compliment” from one who keeps emphasising his lack of musical knowledge) they have come on a ton since then with more “oomph” to the ensemble work and much more confidence with the solos. According to their leader, they are also tackling “more challenging music.”
There was “comfortable” swing with On the Sunny Side of the Street and Li’l Darlin’, which featured a muted trumpet solo by Dave Skipsey. The closing number, Basie’s One o’Clock Jump, had several well-received solos including trombone, trumpet and bass (sorry if I’ve missed anyone!).
In between these we had Edis originals, including some flagged up as “world premières”. Straight to the Point featured solos by one of the youngest, and possibly one of the oldest band members, Francis Tulip on guitar and George Hetherington on piano, which summed up, for me, the laudably inclusive nature of this ensemble.
In the Nick of Time, a filmic piece which felt as though it really ought to have a narrative, gave Matthew Mackellar a chance to solo on drums. But the “stand-out” piece of the set was Techtonic (I hope I got that spelling right as I think there should be a deliberate “h” in there, but haven’t had a chance to check it) which was a jazz-rock fusion on which the baritone saxes and Francis Tulip (very amplified and in his element) moved plates in the distant café! The audience cheered it to the echo!
Jerry.

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