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Bebop Spoken There

Van Morrison: ''Basically, I'm coming from jazz. Not pop, not rock, not what's commercial. That's where I started, and that's still where I am. I feel the same as I did when I was listening to Louis Armstrong, Lead Belly, Jelly Roll Morton''. (The Northern Echo, 12 June 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

1803759 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 480 of them this year alone and, so far, 58 this month (June 18).

From This Moment On ...

JUNE 2025

Mon 23: MSK Trio @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 1:00pm. £9.00. at the door; £8.20. (inc £0.20 bf) online, in advance.
Mon 23: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club (1:00pm). Free.

Tues 24: ???

Wed 25: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 25: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 25: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 25: The Magpies of Swing @ The Roxy, Leadgate, Co. Durham. 7:30pm. A Ginger Jitterbugs swing dance event, all welcome.

Thu 26: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: Brass Instruments & the use of mutes.

Fri 27: Lewis Watson Quartet @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm.
Fri 27: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 27: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 27: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 27: Strictly Smokin’ Big Band @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 8:00pm. ‘Time After Time’.

Sat 28: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Linskill Centre, North Shields. 4:00-10:30pm. Free, but ticketed (over 18s only). A multi-bill, multi-genre ‘Canny Shiels - North Shields 800’ event. Three Kings Brewery on site.
Sat 28: Joseph Carville Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 28: Jude Murphy & Dan Stanley @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 29: Jude Murphy & Dan Stanley @ Wallington, Northumberland. 12 noon-1:00pm & 2:00-3:00pm. Tel: 01670 773606. National Trust admission prices apply. ‘Tunes in the Blooms’.
Sun 29: Glenn Miller Orchestra UK @ The Fire Station, Sunderland. 3:00pm. Ray McVay & co.
Sun 29: Ruth Lambert Trio @ Juke Shed, North Shields. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 29: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 29: Zoë Gilby w. Ryton Choral Society @ Corbridge Middle School NE45 5HX. 5:30pm. £15.00. Gilby w jazz trio & choir. ‘An evening of jazz song for choir’.
Sun 29: Jazz Jam Sandwich! @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 29: John Wilson & the Sinfonia of London @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 7:30pm. ‘Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Greatest Hits’.
Sun 29: Out Front @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. JNE.

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

Friday, January 08, 2016

CD Review: Echoes of Swing - Dancing

Colin T. Dawson (tpt/vcl); Chris Hopkins (alt); Bernd Lhorsky (pno/ celeste); Oliver Mewes (dms).
(Review by Lance).
This was one that slipped under the radar last October - if it hadn't then last year's CD faves would have been augmented.
Dawson, at 55, has dropped the title of 'Kid' unlike Ory and co who were 'Kids' up to and beyond the grave! Dawson began his career as an actual kid with bands such as the local Heritage Hall Stompers before  recording with the, then, top UK New Orleans outfit - Sammy Rimington. That his musical horizons have expanded  over the years is no better demonstrated than on this ACT CD.
From South Shields to Germany via New Orleans, with this virtual stopover in Harlem circa 1938.
Raymond Scott, John Kirby, Bechet/Ladnier, Red Allen...
Jazz had moved up the river from Storyville, Chicago, called in at Kansas City and found a niche in NYC. Small group swing. Away from the growing emergence of the big bands and ahead of the boppers - Jazz was still dance music.
Dancing is the theme here and even a three legged stomper like myself finds it difficult not to shake a leg to this disc! However, dancer or listener, this is as good as it gets for those who realise that some of the most lasting jazz occurred twixt two of the bloodiest conflicts known to man (to date). Echoes of Swing bring back the era without sounding dated - play this in any trendy bar and I guess everyone would dance.
Dawson plays trumpet,quite restrained but still effective, sings in a soft seductive manner. It might not be what they go for in Whiteleas Club (South Shields)  but at somewhere like the Cherry Tree, Blaydon Jazz Club, Jazz Coop, Jazz Café or in particular, Mike Durham's Classic Jazz Party at Whitley Bay it would be another story... 
The musicians are superb with Hopkins' alto perfectly attuned to Dawson's trumpet whilst Lhorsky and Mewes combine so well that I was half way through the album before I realised there wasn't a bass player!
Originals by Hopkins, Lhorsky and Dawson (Sandancer - a tribute to his home town and the old time music hall act Wilson, Keppel and Betty!) combine with original settings of standards, jazz classics, even JSB's Gavotte1, English Suite No. 6, to give us a potted history of jazz dancing.
Listen to Hipsters Hop.
Lance.
Echoes of Swing - Dancing available on ACT 9103 - 2

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