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Bebop Spoken There

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Postage

16287 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 169 of them this year alone and, so far, 41 this month (Mar 18).

From This Moment On ...

March

Tue 19: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Michael Young, Paul Grainger, Tim Johnston.

Wed 20: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 20: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 20: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 21: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 21: Castillo Neuvo Trio + Conor Emery & His ‘Bones Band @ The Grove, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 7:30pm (7:00pm doors). £10.00. (£7.00. student).
Thu 21: Remi Banklyn + Chris Corcoran Trio @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £12.50. Chicago blues. An International Guitar Foundation promotion.
Thu 21: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Ragtime piano.
Thu 21: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm.

Fri 22: Vasilis Xenopoulos & Paul Edis @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. £8.00. SOLD OUT!
Fri 22: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 22: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 22: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 22: Nauta + Remy CB + Last Orders @ Hoochie Coochie, Newcastle. 8:30pm (7:30pm doors). Free.
Fri 22: Vasilis Xenopoulos-Paul Edis Quartet @ Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. £15.00. Opus 4 Jazz Club.
Fri 22: Redwell @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sat 23: Jambone @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 6:30pm. Free (ticketed). End of term performance in the Northern Rock Foundation Hall.
Sat 23: Milne-Glendinning Band @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 23: Red Kites Jazz @ Rowlands Gill Community Centre NE39 1JB. 7:00pm. Tickets: £12.00. (gibsidecommunityfarm@gmail.com). A ‘Build a Barn’ fundraiser. BYOB, tea/coffee available.
Sat 23: New Century Ragtime Orchestra @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £20.00. + bf (book in person at venue - no booking fee!). Featuring pianist Martin Litton.
Sat 23: Pete Tanton’s Cuba Libre @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 24: Musicians Unlimited @ Park Inn, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 24: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:30pm. Free.
Sun 24: Luis Verde @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm. Verde (alto sax); Joe Steels (guitar); John Pope (double bass); John Hirst (drums). Alto sax brilliance!
Sun 24: Elsie Franklin @ The Globe, Newcastle. 3:00pm. £10.00. Country blues. An International Guitar Foundation promotion.
Sun 24: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay Metro Station. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 24: Las Vegas Live with the Rat Pack @ The Forum, Billingham.
Sun 24: Ian Millar & Dominic Spencer @ Otterburn Memorial Hall. 7:30pm. £12.00.
Sun 24: Lindsay Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Note start time - 7:00pm.
Sun 24: Bold Big Band @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 25: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 25: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 6:30pm. Free.

Wednesday, December 09, 2015

Bradley Johnston @ Sage Gateshead – Dec 8

(Review by Russell)
Future Grooves (BMus Assessments) at Sage Gateshead – futures determined. Rewind a few years to Blaydon Jazz Club: lecturer James Birkett arrives with a shy teenage guitar player. During the interval they play a couple of tunes together as a guitar duo. The rest, as they say, is history. Bradley Johnston went on to play many gigs and record an album with mentor Dr Birkett, more than hold his own at high calibre jam sessions and find the time to form his own quartet amidst his music degree studies. Last night Johnston kept a most important appointment…
Future Grooves (2015’s degree course student performances at Sage Gateshead) included several final year examinees. Bradley Johnston was one of them. Sage Two, the intimate, multi-tiered cockpit-like performance space, welcomed Johnston to the stage with a huge round of applause. Solo, duo, trio, quartet and horn-augmented octet, BJ had clearly been thinking about his set and how best to present it.
A solo piece to begin the set leading off with Alfie, Johnston in a multi-layered spotlight, alone, the man and his acoustic guitar. BJ invited the engaging Belinda Voshtina to sing a number with him. Switching from acoustic to lightly amplified electric, Johnston recalled the great Joe Pass in his accompaniment of Voshtina on Take Love Easy (a magical never to be forgotten moment). Bassist Paul Grainger and drummer Tim Johnston made it a trio on All the Things You Are and pianist Peter Gilligan completed the quartet (seated at Sage Two’s Steinway) on Michel Petrucciani’s Looking Up (BJ in his element, ideas flowing). To conclude the examination the Lickety Split horn section strolled onto stage – Messrs. Bellis, Eland, Gowland and Marshall. Johnston thanked all of the musicians for giving of their services and said he had to go out with a Pat Metheny number. The American guitar hero has been a major influence and BJ tore it up on See the World. ‘See the World’? It’s as sure as night follows day that Bradley Johnston and his guitar will see the world many times over.               
Bradley Johnston (guitar) with Peter Gilligan (piano), Paul Grainger (double bass), Tim Johnston (drums), Belinda Voshtina (vocals) & the Lickety Split Horns: Eddie Bellis (trombone), Kevin Eland (trumpet), Paul Gowland (tenor saxophone) & Alan Marshall (alto saxophone)
Earlier, several other students gave of their best in front of the assessors and a supportive audience. The performances were for the most part non-jazz sets incorporating familiar rock and pop tunes. Phil Richardson sang and played no fewer than three guitars with his band of student friends. Here Comes the Sun, Lovely Day – hit tunes long before the young man was born! Jack Simpson and the Gastric Band presented a powerful set of guitar and vocals, again focusing on well-known numbers from a previous era: Fleetwood Mac, The Police, Cream. Simpson chose to play a solo acoustic guitar and vocals piece written by Lindsay Buckingham and delivered a positive Message in a Bottle to the three examiners. Cream’s White Room and Badge confirmed Simpson’s blues-rockin’ abilities. Was he aware of the legend that White Room had been written late at night in the waiting room at Newcastle Central Station as Eric, Jack and Ginger were booked onto a midnight train heading south (possibly after a gig at the Club A-Gogo)? Simpson’s bass and drums – Steven Hall and Michael Mather – gave sterling support.
Steph Old offered something different. A vocalist, with Gary Spalding accompanying on guitar, later to be joined by a second voice and a percussionist, Old opted for a more up to date programme. Unashamedly ‘pop’, Old’s voice (sore throat not withstanding), soulful, assured, breezed through Boyzone to Jesse J. Student Johnny Roxburgh acted as MC for the evening. An easy, saloon bar charm – Bobby Darin meets Bobby Darin! – belied his age (twenteen) and the fact that later he too was to give his finals’ performance! The t-shirted Roxborough took the opportunity during an interval break to don a three piece – his band members played the game, all suited for the occasion – and emerged as Johnny Roxburgh and the Pirates. Feelin’ Good (the Newley-Bricusse number given the to-be-expected big band horn arrangement), Straighten Up and Fly Right, a finger snapping Moon Dance, a strong vocal treatment of Sophisticated Lady with the accompaniment of Phil Richardson (acoustic guitar) Roxburgh produced a most entertaining performance. The man can sing! There is more than one big band in the region which could do worse than snap up his services. For the record: first year bassist Steven Hall worked in several of the bands – one to watch. And two of the ‘pirates’ are well known on the jazz scene – tenor man Johnny ‘Blue Hat’ Davis and ‘bone man David Gray.
Future Grooves continues Wednesday and Thursday at Sage Gateshead. Admission free but ticketed, check the venue’s website: www.sagegateshead.com
Russell.

2 comments :

Unknown said...

Great review Russell. BJ set sounds as if it is an I was there moment

Unknown said...

Thanks for your kind words Russell, it was our pleasure. See you soon!
Believe!

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