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Bebop Spoken There

George Colligan: ''I think to be a successful musician, you must be versatile to make a living — until you find your niche''. (DownBeat, July 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

17,596 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 560 of them this year alone and, so far, 38 this month (July 13).

From This Moment On ...

JULY 2025

Thu 17: Brass Bash @ Trimdon Community College, Co. Durham. 6:00-9:00pm. Free. Various bands. A Durham Brass Festival event.
Thu 17: Brass Bash @ Blackhill & Consett Park, Co. Durham. 6:00-8:00pm. Free. Various bands. A Durham Brass Festival event.
Thu 17: NONUNONU @ Elder Beer, Heaton, Newcastle. 7:00pm (doors). £11:55 (inc bf).

Fri 18: Greg Abate w. Dean Stockdale Trio @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 18: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 18: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 18: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 18: Brass Bash @ Town Park, Newton Aycliffe, Co. Durham. 6:00-9:00pm. Free. Various bands. A Durham Brass Festival event.
Fri 18: Brass Bash @ North Terrace, Seaham, Co. Durham. 6:00-9:00pm. Free. Various bands. A Durham Brass Festival event.
Fri 18: Zoë Gilby Quartet @ Sunderland Minster. 7:30pm.
Fri 18: Knats: Masterclass & jam session @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 7:30pm. £15.00.
Fri 18: Rat Pack - Live in Concert @ Tyne Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm.
Fri 18: Greg Abate w. Dean Stockdale Trio @ Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. £15.00.
Fri 18: Front Porch Three @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. A Hoodoo Blues dance class & social. Social & Front Porch Three only from 8:30pm. £5.00.

Sat 19: Streets of Brass @ Durham City. From 10:00am. Free. Various street bands. A Durham Brass Festival event.
Sat 19: Mr Wilson’s Second Liners: BRASS Boat Cruise @ Elvet Bridge jetty (by the boat club & Tomahawk Steak), Durham City. 12 noon. £12.00.; £10.00.; £5.00. 60 mins cruise, 2 x sets. SOLD OUT! A Durham Brass Festival event.
Sat 19: Bollywood Brass Band @ Monument Metro Station & Haymarket Metro Station, Newcastle. 2:00pm & 3:00pm & 4:00pm (3 x 30 mins). Free. A Gem Arts Masala Festival event.
Sat 19: Diddy Sweg: BRASS Boat Cruise @ Elvet Bridge jetty (by the boat club & Tomahawk Steak), Durham City. 2:00pm. £12.00.; £10.00.; £5.00. 60 mins cruise, 2 x sets. A Durham Brass Festival event.
Sat 19: Brazen Brass Band: BRASS Boat Cruise @ Elvet Bridge jetty (by the boat club & Tomahawk Steak), Durham City. 12 noon. £12.00.; £10.00.; £5.00. 60 mins cruise, 2 x sets. A Durham Brass Festival event.
Sat 19: Party in the Park @ Wharton Park, Durham. 5:00-9:00pm. Free. Ten street brass bands. A Durham Brass Festival event.
Sat 19: Jeff Hewer Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 19: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sat 19: Tyne Valley Big Band @ Chopwell Community Centre. 8:00pm.

Sun 20: Streets of Brass @ Durham City. From 11:00am. Free. Various street bands. A Durham Brass Festival event.
Sun 20: Always Drinking Marching Band: BRASS Boat Cruise @ Elvet Bridge jetty (by the boat club & Tomahawk Steak), Durham City. 11:00am. £12.00.; £10.00.; £5.00. 60 mins cruise, 2 x sets. A Durham Brass Festival event.
Sun 20: New York Brass Band: BRASS Boat Cruise @ Elvet Bridge jetty (by the boat club & Tomahawk Steak), Durham City. 1:00pm. £12.00.; £10.00.; £5.00. 60 mins cruise, 2 x sets. A Durham Brass Festival event.
Sun 20: Das Brass: BRASS Boat Cruise @ Elvet Bridge jetty (by the boat club & Tomahawk Steak), Durham City. 3:00pm. £12.00.; £10.00.; £5.00. 60 mins cruise, 2 x sets. A Durham Brass Festival event.
Sun 20: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 20: Pope/Garner/Byrne/Alderson @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. JNE.

Mon 21: Gerry Richardson Quartet @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 1:00pm. £9.00. at the door; £8.20. (inc £0.20 bf) online, in advance.
Mon 21: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club (1:00pm). Free.
Mon 21: New Century Syncopated Seven @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £10.00.

Tue 22: Lewis Watson Quartet @ Newcastle House Hotel, Rothbury. 7:30pm.

Wed 23: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 23: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 23: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 23: Isobel Pearce Quartet @ Dept. of Music, Palace Green, Durham University. 8:15pm. £10.00. & £7.00. First night of two. A Durham Fringe Festival event.

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

Sunday, January 31, 2016

Zoe Gilby (vocals) & Andy Champion (double bass) @ Jazz Cafe. January 23 via Sheila Jordan @ Cantina Bentivoglio, Bologna, Italy. Summer 2015

(Reviews/photo of Sheila Jordan by JC)
Scanning the internet for possible jazz gigs prior to a trip to Italy last summer I was impressed by the range and variety of concerts on offer but unfortunately either the date or location meant they were not accessible. However, on closer examination, the gig listings of a jazz club in Bologna mentioned a concert by veteran American singer Sheila Jordan on a date that could work (if you ignored the 100 km diversion and over-night stay).  At that time I knew very little about her except that I remembered Zoe Gilby mentioning once or twice during gigs with her husband Andy Champion that Jordan had been an important inspiration in encouraging them to perform as a vocal/bass duo and that she was a pioneer of this format. As a fan of the Gilby/Champion performances, I felt this gig was worth making an effort to get to.
Fortunately, the Cantina Bentivoglio in Bologna turned out to be the business. It had the look of an Italian, pre-makeover Ronnie's - low ceilings, crowded and atmospheric with tables right up to the stage - with the same delightfully chaotic meal service. However, unlike Ronnie's in those days, the food was delicious.
The loquacious MC/owner was certainly passionate, as he spoke with great enthusiasm during his 20-minute introduction to the main act. Not understanding Italian, I presumed it was mainly about jazz but I thought I heard mention of Marx and Gramsci as well as Charlie Parker and Jordan.
Anyway, Sheila Jordan was a revelation. She had a band made up of her own American drummer and two excellent Italian musicians on trumpet and bass. Her opening piece was a five-minute introduction of the band members in vocalese, outlining their singular abilities in great detail, as well as including an announcement that she was 86 and a half - wow!
She had great stamina for a youngster and for the next two hours she sang and swang, scatted and vocalised songs and stories in a brilliant fashion. Many of the stories were about Charlie Parker, whose music entranced her as a teenager, and she described as a 14-year old trying to sneak into the club he was playing in wearing her mother's hat as a disguise, only to be quickly thrown out. But then Bird would come to the door and play a solo for her.
All the musicians were great but she did do a couple of duets with the bass player and the highlight of the night was a ten-minute duo version of 'Chasing the Bird' (which Parker is rumoured to have written for her) where she used all her vocal abilities and scatted and vocalised a succession of rip roaring solos. Amazing.
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This experience made me appreciate even more the great jazz there is on offer locally and the fact that there is a top quality vocal and double bass combination on the doorstep. A brief look through BSH's archives revealed that Zoe Gilby and Andy Champion have been performing in this format since 2009 so that now it is (one example) of their finely honed and highly creative musical talents. I arrived at the Jazz Cafe as Gilby was in full scat attack on Monk's Well, You Needn't . Next was one of my favourite songs, Joni Mitchell's beautiful lyrics combined with Mingus's tune and improvisations on Goodbye Pork Pie Hat. The clarity of Gilby's singing of the lyrics with the complex musical line was outstanding and even though I've listened to this track many times there were a couple of lines I didn't recognise, 'Were these in the original lyrics?' I thought to myself and a quick iPhone check revealed that (of course) they were. I just hadn't been listening properly before. The set continued with the spooky Red Right Hand by Nick Cave, their classic take on Pink Floyd's Money and Kate Bush's Kashka From Baghdad where Gilby did an interesting kind of sound box thing with the mike behind her hands.  All through Andy Champion was in sublime form demonstrating his imperious mastery of the double bass.
At the interval a lively crowd arrived in the Cafe, happily not the usual Friday night 'rowdies', but a group of mainly Parisien jazzers who were playing in the Paris-sur-Tyne festival the following day. This inspired the duo to even greater heights (not surprising given that now at least three of the Miles Davis Quintet were present and also possibly Garibaldi). They ripped into another Mitchell piece from her Mingus album The Dry Cleaner From Des Moines at breakneck speed but again with crystal clear lyrics. Then a trip to Graceland, Monk's Rhythm a Ning, followed by a subtly suggestive song found on a social media site called Halfway to Heaven which Gilby said could be about many different things - but isn't. (A bit like saying Kate Bush's Warm Room could be about DIY central heating).
Also a beautiful ballad, which might have been A Weaver of Dreams, and if so, it would have been a nice link to the set list of the 2009 performance. So seven years as a vocal/bass duo - just a few more to match Jordan's longevity. In the mean time, it's a duo combination not to be missed.
The large and attentive audience were highly appreciative of the duo's terrific performance and the international visitors demonstrated their enthusiasm with much applause and (metaphorically speaking) ringing bells, setting off kitchen timers and banging saucepan lids on tables. It was another great night at the Jazz Cafe.
JC.

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