Bebop Spoken There

Gary Bartz: ''Charlie Parker was my introduction to the religion of music. And so he's always with me .'' - Downbeat November 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

17972 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 936 of them this year alone and, so far, 45 this month (Nov. 14).

From This Moment On ...

November

Sun 16: Jo Harrop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:30pm. Duo performance.
Sun 16: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 2:30pm. Free. ‘Jazz Sunday’ with special guest PETE TANTON.
Sun 16: Lorne Lofsky-Nigel Price Quartet @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm. Lofsky (guitar); Price (guitar); Jeremy Brown (double bass); Joel Barford (drums).
Sun 16: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 16: Lorne Lofsky-Nigel Price Quartet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Lofsky (guitar); Price (guitar); Jeremy Brown (double bass); Joel Barford (drums).

Mon 17: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club (1:00pm). Free.
Mon 17: Finn-Keeble Quartet @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £10.00.

Tue 18: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Alan Law, Paul Grainger, Abbie Finn.

Wed 19: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 19: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 19: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 20: Castillo Nuevo Orquesta @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £6.50.

Fri 21: Tom Remon & Tony Ormesher @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT! Guitar duo.
Fri 21: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 21: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 21: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 21: Castillo Nuevo Trio @ Hotel Gotham, Newcastle. 5:30pm.
Fri 21: Pete Tanton’s Chet Set @ Sunderland Minster. 7:30pm.
Fri 21: East Coast Swing Band @ 1856 Exchange, North Shields. 7:30pm.
Fri 21: Martin Speake Quartet @ Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm.

Sat 22: Make Music Seminar: Latin American Music vs. Music of Latin America @ Glasshouse, Gateshead. 1:00pm. Live performance feat. Jason Holcomb, Alix Shepherd, Carlos Luis Rivera.
Sat 22: Tim Kliphuis Trio @ Berwick Parish Church, Parade, Berwick. 2:00pm. £15.00. A Berwick Music Society concert promotion. Kliphuis (violin), Nigel Clark (guitar), Roy Percy (double bass).
Sat 22: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 22: Bywater Call @ Anarchy Brew Co., Newcastle. 7:00pm. £27.50. Soul/blues.
Sat 22: Paul Skerritt Big Band @ The Westovian Theatre, South Shields. 7:30pm.

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, February 29, 2016

CD Review: Andy Schumm & Enrico Tomasso - When LOUIS met BIX

(Review by Lance).
What enables Mike Durham's Classic Jazz Party to stand apart, and in many cases, above the rest, is the theming of each set. No easy task when programming 3 days of sessions that vary from 25 to 50 minutes. Incredibly, each year they manage it and this delightful disc a typical example of one of those imaginative scenarios.
Did Louis and Bix ever jam together? And if they did was it at the Sunset Café in Chicago or the Savoy Ballroom? All part of jazz folklore...
The above ensemble, drawn from the 2015 Jazz Party performers, got together in a studio across the river in South Shields to create this summit meeting.
Schumm as Bix and Tomasso as Louis are as natural for the roles as Olivier and Gielgud were for Hamlet and King Lear.
Nor are the supporting cast mere extras but star players in their own right. Seuffert, Allan, Larsen, Spats, Sked and Nick had appeared in a variety of guises over the Jazz Party weekend and they do the business here.
Once again Lake Records have come up trumps.
Ol' Man River; Milenberg Joys; Chloe; Mandy Make Up Your Mind; Who's It; Put 'Em Down Blues; Whispering; Manhattan; Skid-Dat-De-Dat; Bessie Couldn't Help It; Come On And Stomp, Stomp, Stomp; My Melancholy Baby; When She Came to Me; I'm Just Wild About Harry; The Baltimore.
Lance.
Andy "Bix" Schumm (cor); Enrico "Louis" Tomasso (tpt); Matthias Seurffert (clt/alt/ten); Alistair Allan (tmb); Morten Gunnar Larsen (pno); Thomas 'Spats' Langham (bjo/gtr); Malcolm Sked (bs); Nicholas D. Ball (dms).

2 comments :

Patti said...

It's a great review, Lance ...... can I just point out that the sets at the Jazz Party are mostly 50 mins, with the shorter ones at 25 mins! See for full details.

Lance said...

Correction made - I must get a new watch!

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