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Bebop Spoken There

Trevor Mires: ''My mum is a Dean Martin fan: I'm not, so I would grab my skateboard and get out of the house whenever I heard "Everybody Loves Somebody, Sometime." ". (Jazzwise, April 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

17957 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 278 of them this year alone and, so far, 34 this month (April 14).

From This Moment On ...

April 2025.

Thu 17: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: Only Six Standards.
Thu 17: Redwell @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

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: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 1:00-2:45pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Fri 18: Jason Isaacs @ STACK, Seaburn. 3:30-5:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.

Fri 18: Alexia Gardner @ Fika Gallery, Oldgate, Morpeth NE61 1LT. 7:00pm. Trio (Gardner, Alan Law, Jude Murphy).RESCHEDULED FOR JUNE 13

Fri 18: Sarah Jane Morris & Tony Remy: The Sisterhood @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. CANCELLED! 7:30pm (doors). £25.00.

Sat 19: Jason Isaacs @ STACK, Exchange Sq., Middlesbrough. 1:00-3:00pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 19: Joseph Carville Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 19: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 20: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 20: Salty Dog @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 20: Spilt Milk @ STACK, Exchange Sq., Middlesbrough. 7:00-9:00pm. Free. Nolan Brothers (vocal harmonies).
Sun 20: Tweed River Jazz Band @ The Barrels Ale House, Berwick-upon-Tweed. 7:00pm. Free.
Sun 20: C.A.L.I.E @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 21: Newcastle Record Fair @ Copthorne Hotel, Newcastle. 10:00am. Going in search of the Buddy Bolden cylinder…
Mon 21: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 22: Abbie Finn Trio @ Newcastle House Hotel, Rothbury. 7:30pm. Coquetdale Jazz.

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. CANCELLED!

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

Saturday, April 02, 2016

Pasadena Roof Orchestra @ The Customs House, South Shields - April 1

Duncan Galloway (vcl); Malcolm Baxter, David Ford (tpt); Adrian Fry (tmb); Robert Fowler; Andy Hooley, Oliver Wilby (reeds); Richard Busiakiewicz (pno);  David Berry (bs); Keith Stephen (gtr/bjo); Dominic Sales (dms).
(Review by Lance).
An evening of sheer fun-filled delight appreciated by a packed Customs House. That it was music popular before some were born or, more likely, after most were born didn't matter - it was timeless.
Tried and tested - lollipops - said one aficionado. Maybe, but it was done so professionally that I, for one, was prepared to close my eyes and imagine I was sipping cocktails and dancing with Jessie Matthews, at the Monseigneur Restaurant, to Lew Stone and his Orchestra or listening to Duke Ellington whilst swigging bathtub gin with Dutch Schultz at the Cotton Club.
Such was the impact the band had on me.
I'd only previously heard the PRO live on one occasion and that was perhaps 10/12 years ago at Keswick. The personnel may have changed over the years but the commitment to entertaining their audience without compromise remains.
Galloway (left) is the perfect frontman; singer, dancer, comic* he's Al Bowlly, Fred Astaire, Rudy Vallee and Tommy Trinder rolled into one.
Lots of features for the instrumentalists: Malcolm Baxter (Ain't Misbehavin'); Adrian Fry (I Gotta Right to Sing the Blues); Robert Fowler (Stealin' Apples); Oliver Wilby (Body and Soul); The pianist, did Galloway say Richard Evans? (no it was Busiakiewicz - see comment) gave us Honeysuckle Rose and Dominic Sales was featured on Drummin' Man.
I spoke to Dominic (at the right of the group photo)during the interval at the nearby Steamboat speakeasy little realising he was the same Dominic who operates the Jellymould Jazz record label. Jellymould moves in a more contemporary area than the PRO yet Sales is a drummer au fait with any genre as proved by his chorus on skulls during Drummin' Man.
The band within a band came down front for Dinah and, lo and behold, who should be on banjo but our own local hero Keith Stephen! Keith's solo near brought the house down. You can catch Keith again with the north-east's own '20s/'30s specialists, the New Century Ragtime Orchestra, at Caedmon Hall, Gateshead on May 20.
Yes, a good time was had by all and I left thinking that the out chorus on Fletcher Henderson's King Porter Stomp is still as exciting now as it was on the 1932 recording.
Photos.
Lance.
*(Galloway gag)
Two men facing a firing squad are asked if they have a last request.
The first man says, "I'd like to hear a record by the Pasadena Roof Orchestra."
The second man says, "Can I be shot first?"

2 comments :

Unknown said...

Hi Lance, Richard Busiakiewicz, my Polish pronounciation probably made it sound like Evans ;-) Thanks for the lovely review! best regards Duncan Galloway

Lance said...

Thanks Duncan - now corrected!

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