Bebop Spoken There

Dominick "Domo" Branch: ''Most people say drummers can't write, they're just time-keepers only beating on things. But I have a very musical brain.'' (DownBeat February, 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

18288 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 18 years ago. 142 of them this year alone and, so far this month (Feb. 14), 42

From This Moment On ...

February

Thu 19: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £5.00. Subject: George Shearing Jazz Moments.

Fri 20: Alex Clarke w. Dean Stockdale Trio @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT! Clarke w. Dean Stockdale, Mick Shoulder, Abbie Finn.
Fri 20: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 20: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 20: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 20: Squabble @ Warkworth Memorial Hall. 7:00pm. Steve Chambers (organ); Jude Murphy (double bass, vocals); Sid White (drums).
Fri 20: Jive Aces @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 7:00pm (6:30pm doors).
Fri 20: Alex Clarke w. Dean Stockdale Trio @ Sunderland Minster. 7:30pm. Clarke w. Dean Stockdale, Mick Shoulder, Abbie Finn.

Sat 21: ???

Sun 22: Musicians Unlimited: Big Band Blast @ West Hartlepool RFC. 1:00-3:00pm . Free.
Sun 22: Joe Steels Group @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm. A Blue Patch album tour.
Sun 22: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 22: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 22: Harben Kay Quartet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 23: Joe Steels Group @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 1:00pm. A Blue Patch album tour.
Mon 23: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 24: Finn-Keeble Group @ Newcastle House Hotel, Rothbury. 7:30pm. £11.00.
Tue 24: Liam Oliver & Shayo Oshodi @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 26: Castillo Nuevo Orquesta @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £6.50.
Thu 26: Shalala @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £7.00 adv.
Thu 26: Mick Cantwell Band @ The Harbour View, Roker, Sunderland. 8:00pm. 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

Friday, May 06, 2016

Lewis Curry & Glenn Lambie @ St Nicholas Cathedral. May 6

Lewis Curry (keyboards & vocals) & Glenn Lambie (cajón)
(Review by Russell)
Lunchtime in the pews. 2015 graduates of Sage Gateshead and Newcastle University, Lewis Curry and Glenn Lambie played a short set in St Nicholas Cathedral to a small congregation of city visitors, city dwellers and assorted odd balls. A jazz set? No, but with Mr Tulip’s recent essay on Yes (no, please no!) finding a place on this jazz blog, there has to be a spot for two talented musicians finding their way on the north east’s vibrant music scene.
St Nicholas has to be one of the largest performance spaces on Tyneside. Placing two musicians in front of the altar, the architectural splendour of the cathedral could quite easily intimidate and inhibit. Lewis Curry sat at his Yamaha keyboard, singing songs, percussionist Glenn Lambie sat crouched over his beat box cajón. The duo played one song after another, pop hits of the day and yesterday and the decades before yesterday. From Coldplay to David Bowie to the Beach Boys, it comes as no surprise to learn the lads play at numerous venues as a duo or with the full band – the Lewis Curry Band.
The Killers’ Are We Human or Are We Dancer? Radiohead’s High and Dry and one of Holland-Dozier-Holland’s classics – How Sweet it is (to be Loved by You) – suggests a pad full of tunes will see Curry make a living on the cabaret/function circuit. And nowt wrong with that. Perhaps it was lost on most, but there was a beautiful juxtaposition the likes of which can only be by chance being in a place of worship; the Beach Boys’ God Only Knows, followed by Superstition. Throw in Bowie’s Life on Mars and the brethren could be forgiven for thinking someone was taking the proverbial.
Russell.

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