Bebop Spoken There

Christian McBride: ''I believe we are living in a historically embarrassing moment in American history.'' - Downbeat December 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

18061 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 1025 of them this year alone and, so far, 39 this month (Dec. 14).

From This Moment On ...

DECEMBER 2025

Fri 19: Fraser Urquhart @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. £8.00. SOLD OUT! .
Fri 19: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free..
Fri 19: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free..
Fri 19: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00..
Fri 19: Castillo Nuevo @ Hotel Gotham, Newcastle. 5:00pm. Free. .
Fri 19: Alexia Gardner @ FIKA Art Gallery, Morpeth. 6:30pm. Gardner, Alan Law, Jude Murphy..
Fri 19: Paul Skerritt @ Middlesbrough Town Hall. 7:00pm. Skerritt w. backing tapes. .
Fri 19: Giles Strong Quartet @ Sunderland Minster. 7:30pm. Old Black Cat Jazz Club..
Fri 19: Creakin’ Bones & the Xmas Dinners @ The White Room, Stanley. 7:45pm. £13.01 (inc. bf)..
Fri 19: Mark Toomey Quintet @ The Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. Opus 4 Jazz Club.

Sat 20: Jazz Attack @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 11:00am. Free.
Sat 20: Alexia Gardner @ FIKA Art Gallery, Morpeth. 6:30pm. Gardner, Alan Law, Jude Murphy. SOLD OUT!
Sat 20: Joseph Carville Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. CANCELLED!
Sat 20: Ray Stubbs R&B All Stars @ Billy Bootleggers, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 20: Hoodoo Blues @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:15pm (doors). £14.25, £11.55. Dance class, social dancing, live music & Xmas Party. Live music from 9:00pm - Ruth Lambert, Giles Strong, Ian Paterson & John Bradford (jazz and blues).
Sat 20: John Pope Quintet @ Blank Studios, Newcastle. 7:30-8:30pm. £7.70 (inc. bf). Album recording session.

Sun 21: New ’58 Jazz Collective @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 21: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. ‘Xmas Swingalong’. Skerritt w. backing tapes.
Sun 21: Ruth Lambert Trio @ Juke Shed, Union Quay, North Shields. 3:00-5:00pm. Free.
Sun 21: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 21: Strictly Smokin’ Big Band @ o2 City Hall, Newcastle. 6:00pm. £35.80., £33.25., £31.00.
Sun 21: The Globe Xmas Party @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. Live music.
Sun 21: Tweed River Jazz Band @ The Barrels Ale House, Berwick. 7:30pm. Free.

Mon 22: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 23: Paul Skerritt @ Chakh Dhoom, Jesmond, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Indian restaurant. Skerritt w. backing tapes.

Wed 24: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 24: Alexia Gardner @ The Townhouse, Bridge St., Morpeth. 1:30-4:30pm. ‘The A Capella Sessions’. Gardner, Paula Gardner, Alexia Hope Gardner Diamany.
Wed 24: Paul Skerritt @ Mambo Wine & Dine, South Shields. 1:30pm. Skerritt w. backing tapes.

Thu 25: Alexia Gardner @ The Townhouse, Bridge St., Morpeth. 1:30-4:00pm. ‘All About the Bass Sessions’. Alexia Gardner, Paula Gardner, Jude Murphy.

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, January 18, 2016

Alice Grace Quintet @ Hoochie Coochie - Jan. 17


Alice Grace (vcl); Paul Gowland (ten/alt/sop); Pete Gilligan (pno); Paul Grainger (bs); Russ Morgan (dms).
(Review by Lance).
The outstanding moment for me in the Danny Kaye, Bing Crosby remake of Holiday Inn - White Christmas - wasn't Bingo singing the title song, or even the delightful and amusing Sisters sung by Vera Ellen and Rosemary Clooney. No, for me, it was George's auntie's heartfelt crooning of the Irving Berlin number Love You Didn't Do Right By Me.
The years rolled by and I never heard the song again - apart from every Boxing Day or thereabouts!
Until tonight!
Tonight, Alice raised Auntie Rose's seemingly unpassable bar up to an even higher level!
This was 'the biz'!
Berlin had also provided the opener - an uptempo blast on Blue Skies and it just went on from there.
Alice sang and scatted and vocalesed (remind me what the difference is?)
She swung and swang, Paul Gowland swang and swung on saxophones galore. Gilligan was, simply, Gilligan - how many pianists just wish they were "Simply, Gilligan?"
Paul Grainger, his blossoming beard  has a long way to go before it rivals the late Crombie's facial adornment  - his bass playing makes up for it. In particular the fours twixt voice and bass that were just some of the highlights.
Russ, he was brill . Not just solos but, as sympathetic a player as you'll find behind any parradiddle.
A choice selection of the old and not so old. The familiar and not so familiar.
Blue Skies; Until You Come Back to Me (S.Wonder); Secret Love; Nardis (Mile's tribute to Ben Sidran as lyricised by Sarah Elizabeth Charles); What is This Thing Called Love?; Invitation; If I Knew Now; Love You Didn't Do Right By Me;  Everybody's Song (Kenny Wheeler); Learnin' the Blues; God Bless the Child; Brenda Russell's It's a Jazz Day; Just in Time; You Don't Know What Love is; On the Street Where you Live and, for an encore, The Sky is There.
The sky certainly was there. This may not have been Berkeley Square although there definitely was magic abroad in the air and a nightingale did sing...
Photos.
Lance.

2 comments :

John Pope (on F/b) said...

'Vocalise' usually refers to putting lyrics to a learned instrumental solo. Kurt Elling does it fabulously with a Charlie Haden solo on his recording of Moonlight Serenade.

Just in case you were serious.

Lance said...

Thanks John. This and many other jazz questions are answered in a soon to be published book by Dave Gelly - '30-Second Jazz'. Review coming up shortly.

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