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Bebop Spoken There

Steve Coleman: ''If you don't keep learning, your mind slows down. Use it or lose it''. (DownBeat, January 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

17733 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 53 of them this year alone and, so far, 53 this month (Jan. 20).

From This Moment On ...

January 2025

Tue 21: ???

Wed 22: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 22: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 22: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 22: Pasadena Roof Orchestra @ Fire Station, Sunderland. 7:30pm.

Thu 23: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, Holystone. 1:00pm. Free. Fortnightly.
Thu 23: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: Obituaries 2024.
Thu 23: Jason Isaacs @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 4:30-6:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Thu 23: Pedal Point Trio @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Fri 24: Zoë Gilby Quartet @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 24: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 24: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 24: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 24: Creakin’ Bones & the Sunday Dinners @ Lindisfarne Social Club, Wallsend. 9:00pm. Admission: TBC. Jazz, blues , jump jive, rock ‘n’ roll.

Sat 25: Boys of Brass @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 3:30-5:30pm. Free.
Sat 25: New '58 Jazz Collective @ Jackson's Wharf, Hartlepool. 6:30pm (doors). Free. A Burns' Night event. Jazz, swing, funk, soul, blues etc.
Sat 25: Edison Herbert Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 25: Jack & Jay’s Songbook @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 26: Musicians Unlimited @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 26: Graham Hardy Eclectic Quartet @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm.
Sun 26: Ruth Lambert Trio @ The Juke Shed, Union Quay, North Shields. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 26: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 26: Jazz Jam Sandwich! @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 26: Tweed River Jazz Band @ Barrels Ale House, Berwick-upon-Tweed. 7:30pm. Free.
Sun 26: Gratkowski, Tramontana, Beresford, Affifi @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £12.00. JNE.
Sun 26: Jazz Jam @ Fabio’s, Saddler St., Durham. 8:00pm. Free. A Durham University Jazz Society promotion. All welcome.

Mon 27: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 28: ???

Wed 29: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 29: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 29: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).

Thu 30: Matters Unknown (aka Jonathan Enser, Nubiyan Twist) + support TBA @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 8:00pm (7:00pm doors). £12.22 (gig & food); £9:04 (gig only).
Thu 30: Soznak @ The Mill Tavern, Hebburn. 8:00pm. Free.
Thu 30: Struggle Buggy @ Harbour View, Roker, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Rhythm & blues.

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, April 18, 2016

GIJF: The Simon Spillett Quartet Play the Music of Tubby Hayes - Sage Gateshead. April 17

 Simon Spillett (ten); Steve Melling (pno); Alec Dankworth (bs); Miles Levin (dms).
(Review by Lance/Photos courtesy of Ken Drew).
We were still on a high from our trip back in time to the '30s and '40s with Café Society Swing when we entered the Tardis, a.k.a. The Northern Rock Foundation Hall or, for this weekend, The Jazz Lounge. This journey in time took us back to the '50s, '60s and early '70s and the life, times and music of Tubby Hayes.
This was done by showing the recently released documentary, A Man in a Hurry, followed by a live set from the Simon Spillett Quartet then a Q & A  with Spillett and the film's director, Lee Cogswell.
First things first.
The film - produced by Mark Baxter, a lifelong Hayes devotee, and Lee Cogswell I think had everyone enthralled. To me, it was further proof if such proof was needed, that Hayes was the all-time greatest British jazz musician and one of the few who could meet the Americans on a level playing field. The BBC footage of Tubby in full flight was tantalisingly short but surely served to send the believers to dig out the vinyl or the newly converted to head for the record store.
There were also many tributes paid to The Little Giant from, among others, Ronnie Scott, Spike Wells and, not surprisingly, tonight's saxophonist, Simon Spillett.
Spillett has long been an authority on jazz and his own biography of Tubby Hayes, The Long Shadow of the Little Giant, unquestionably the definitive work.
The fact that Spillett is himself a tenor player of formidable technique was proved in the set that followed  rubber-stamping his credentials.
The line-up was slightly different to that that was advertised in the programme with Steve Melling replacing John Critchenson and Miles Levin replacing Clark Tracey who in turn had replaced Spike Wells!
It didn't matter, from the opening bars of Royal Ascot we knew this was the real deal. Spillett soars through the changes at tempo de lick.  A Pint of Bitter (tune title not a demand) then a change of mood - Soria, a ballad to Tubby's second wife. Opus Ocean, The Serpent and then...Cherokee. If Spillett had been an astronaut he'd have been breakfasting on Mars by now and Slough is a fair distance from Gateshead!
Melling played brilliantly, Levin, son of a famous drummer, proved that talent can run in the family whilst Dankworth kept the Wavendon flag flying and, didn't blemish the family escutcheon - far from it - he excelled!
Next up, the Q & A session.
After the inevitable moment's silence, that usually seems like an hour when the audience are asked 'Any Questions? the questions came. A suitable end to an enjoyable evening.
But, overall, the night belonged to the late, great Tubby Hayes.
Lance.

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