Bebop Spoken There

Gary Bartz: ''Music is nature's gift to man. It's the only religion. We're living in a terrible era, but what a beautiful thing music is. Look how it brings us together like religion is supposed to; and with no language barriers.'' (Jazzwise September, 2026)

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

18918 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 18 years ago. 782 of them this year alone and, so far this month (Sept. 18.) 61.

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

From This Moment On

September.

Sun 20: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 20: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 2:30pm. Free.
Sun 20: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 20: Tweed River Jazz Band @ Barrels Ale House, Berwick. 7:00pm. Free.

Mon 21: Friends of Jazz @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 21: Lewis Watson Quartet @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. Coltrane centenary.

Tue 22: ???

Wed 23: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ 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: Lewis Watson Quartet @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 7:30pm. A John Coltrane Centenary Concert (b. 23. 09. 1926). SOLD OUT!
Wed 23: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 24: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ The Millstone, Mill Rise, South Gosforth, Newcastle. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 24: Castillo Nuevo Orquesta @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. £6.50. 7:30pm (doors).
Thu 24: Arun Ghosh @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 8:00pm (7:30pm doors). £21.05. (£22.00. on the door). A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Thu 24: Shalala @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £7.00.

Fri 25: Mark Williams Trio @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. £9.00.
Fri 25: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 25: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 25: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 25: Get the Blessing + Dilettante @ The Cluny (Cluny 2), Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £18.00. + bf. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Fri 25: Jazz Sabbath @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm.

Sat 26: Adam Fairhall & Johnny Hunter: Play Mary Lou Williams @ The Cumberland Arms, Byker, Newcastle. 6:00pm. Free. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Sat 26: John Pope Quintet + Urvashi @ The Cumberland Arms, Byker, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £15.40. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.

Sunday, February 21, 2016

Alone Together: Noel Dennis & Dean Stockdale @ The Jazz Café. Feb 27

Noel Dennis (trumpet & flugelhorn); Dean Stockdale (piano)
(Review by Russell/photo by Lance from archives).
Together again at the Jazz Café, Noel Dennis and Dean Stockdale played a superlative set of standards. Autumn Leaves, Love for Sale (Noel Dennis straight at it with ideas flowing) and Beautiful Love (Dennis on flugelhorn). Dean Stockdale coaxed a tune out of an ailing upright. Two top flight musicians in top gear. Quite a start!
My Funny Valentine (‘a week late’, observed Dennis) featured sensitive flugelhorn. Kind of Blue yielded Freddie Freeloader with Wynton Kelly’s part taken on by Stockdale with value added stride into the bargain and Dennis hitting on a slurring N’Awlins’ vibe. Class playing, the audience showed its appreciation, an excellent first set.
Nostalgia in Times Square opened the second half with Stockdale’s penchant for stride in evidence and Dennis saying he had left his car in the nearby Times Square multi-storey car park! Tom Harrell’s Moon Alley got another runout. Trumpet players love Tom Harrell, this one a bossa feel, straight in. Alone Together was very together; fleet flugelhorn and a sparkling piano solo. Some Day My Prince Will Come, Blue in Green – the tunes kept on coming. Introducing the latter number whilst fitting a battered mute, Dennis recalled that one of his young children said to him as he was about to get in some practice: Dad, close the door.
The Saturday night Jazz Café crowd comprised the usual faces, the new and the transient. They were treated to – Humph would have concurred – the best of jazz. Determined to go out on a snorter, Dennis and Stockdale left them trailing in their wake on Au Privave. An insistent audience won an encore. Dennis’ lip was surely in danger of giving out. Superb playing all night, he and Stockdale took it down on There is no Greater Love.       
Russell.                      

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