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Bebop Spoken There

Kurt Elling: ''There's something to learn from every musician you play with''. (DownBeat, December 2024).

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Josh Weir: I love the writing on bebop spoken here... I think the work you are doing is amazing.

Postage

17630 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 904 of them this year alone and, so far, 49 this month (Dec. 20).

From This Moment On ...

December

Fri 20: Edison Herbert Trio @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
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: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 1:00-3:00pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Fri 20: Baghdaddies @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 20: Smokin’ Spitfires @ Platform 1, East Bedlington Community Centre. 7:00pm.
Fri 20: Pete Tanton’s Christmas @ 1719, Hendon, Sunderland. 7:30pm. CANCELLED!
Fri 20: Alligator Gumbo @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 20: Abbie Finn’s Finntet @ The Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. Opus 4 Jazz Club.
Fri 20: Brass Fiesta @ Revoluçion de Cuba, Newcastle. 10:30pm. Free.

Sat 21: Lindsay Hannon Quartet @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00pm. £15.00. ‘Swinging with Christmas Songs’.
Sat 21: Jason Isaacs @ Seaburn STACK, Seaburn. 3:30-5:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 21: Jackson’s Wharf Xmas Party @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 7:00pm. Free. Featuring the New ’58 Jazz Collective.
Sat 21: Brass Fiesta @ Revoluçion de Cuba, Newcastle. 10:30pm. Free.

Sun 22: Hot Club du Nord @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:00pm. £15.00. + bf. Xmas party. SOLD OUT!
Sun 22: Red Kites Jazz @ Gibside Chapel, nr. Rowlands Gill. 1:00pm. Admission charge applies.
Sun 22: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 22: Ruth Lambert Trio @ The Juke Shed, Union Quay, North Shields. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 22: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 22: Revolutionaires @ Tyne Bar, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. Superb rhythm & blues outfit.
Sun 22: Laurence Harrison, Paul Grainger & Mark Robertson @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Line-up TBC.
Sun 22: The Globe Xmas Party @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. Live music (musicians TBC).
Sun 22: Ray Stubbs R & B All-Stars @ Zerox, Sandhill, Newcastle. 7:00pm (doors).

Mon 23: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 23: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Wheatsheaf, Benton Sq., Whitley Road, Palmersville NE12 9SU. Tel: 0191 266 8137. 1:00pm. Free. CANCELLED!
Mon 23: Edison Herbert Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 4:00pm. Free.
Mon 23: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 4:00-6:00pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Mon 23: Milne-Glendinning Band @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.

Tue 24: Lindsay Hannon & Mark Williams @ Ernest, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 11:00am-1:00pm. Free.
Tue 24: Paul Skerritt @ Mambo Wine & Dine, South Shields. 1:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.

Wed 25: Wot? No jazz!

Thu 26: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free. TBC.
Thu 26: The Boneshakers @ Tyne Bar, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. The 17th annual Boneshakers’ Shindig.

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

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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