Total Pageviews

Bebop Spoken There

John McLaughlin: '' A Love Supreme coincided with my search for meaning in life". (DownBeat, March 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

17838 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 159of them this year alone and, so far, 6 this month (March 3).

From This Moment On ...

MARCH 2025.

Sat 08: Jamie Taylor, Graham Harvey, Andy Champion @ Divinity House Concert Hall, Palace Green Music Dept., Durham University. 7:00-9:00pm (6:30pm doors). £7.50. (£6.00. DUJS member). ‘An Evening of Jazz’. Later in the evening the trio will be joined by Freddie Krone, drums (Durham Uni final year music student).
Sat 08: Milne Glendinning Band @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 08: Lagos to Longbenton @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Afrobeat, jazz-fusion.

Sun 09: The New ’58 Jazz Collective @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 09: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 09: Am Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 09: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 09: Wokitoki @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Tom Atkinson (drums, guitar); Sue Ferris (sax, flute); Jude Murphy (bass guitar, flute). Jazz standards, bebop, free jazz, Latin & more. Upstairs.
Sun 09: Eva Fox & the Jazz Guys @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Downstairs.
Sun 09: Zhenya Strigalev’s 2025 Quartet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 10: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club.

Tues 11: Solea @ Earthlings, the Healing Café, 94 Buckingham St., Newcastle, NE4 5QR. 7:00-8:45pm. Food available if ordered before 6:30pm. New band: Johannes Dalhuijsen (tenor sax, bass clarinet); Richard Herdman (guitar); Nick Bagnall (bass guitar); John Hirst (drums).
Tue 11: Giles Strong Quartet @ Newcastle House Hotel, Rothbury. 7:30pm.

Wed 12: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 12: Jam session @ The Tannery, Gilesgate, Hexham. 7:00-9:00pm. Free.
Wed 12: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 12: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 13: The Exu + Matt Cliffe @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Thu 13: Oh La La! @ Allendale Village Hall, Northumberland. 7:30pm. £12.00.; £6.00. child. Fifi La Mer (accordion, vocals), Oliver Wilby (reeds).
Thu 13: Fiona Finden’s Jazz Express @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Fri 14: Pete Tanton’s Chet Set @ Auckland Castle, Bishop Auckland. 1:00pm. £8.00.
Fri 14: Paul Taylor @ Jesmond Library, Newcastle. 1:00-2:00pm. £5.00. at the door. Second Friday in the month lunchtime concert series.
Fri 14: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 14: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 14: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 14: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 4:00-6:00pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Fri 14: Brass Funkeys + Dilutey Juice @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm. £12.00., £10.00., £8.00.
Fri 14: Oh La La! @ Edmundbyers Village Hall, Co. Durham. 7:30pm. £12.00.; £10.00. (additional £5.00. supper option, ordered in advance). Fifi La Mer (accordion, vocals), Oliver Wilby (reeds).
Fri 14: The Collective @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £8.50.
Fri 14: Bridget Metcalfe Quintet @ St George’s Venue, Park Road, Hartlepool. 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

Saturday, June 18, 2016

A Tyne Valley Summer-ish Concert @ The Phoenix, Hexham. June 16

Tyne Valley Jazz Ensemble, Tyne Valley Youth Big Band & Tyne Valley Big Band
(Review by Russell/photo from band's website)
Advertised cautiously/prophetically as a ‘summer-ish’ end of term party, Dave Hignett’s
amazing assembly of big bands gathered at rehearsal HQ to give a public performance in preparation for several forthcoming prestigious concert dates. The ‘ish’ weather forecast proved to be accurate as Hexham was, at best, ‘cloudy but dry’.
Three competing events in spitting distance of one another fought it out for an audience – Hexham Abbey hosted an EU in/out ‘You decide’ debate, Queen’s Hall screened Cinema Paradiso as part of the Wild Skies Film Festival, and the Phoenix Bar and Club offered a triple bill of big bands. Many Tyne Valley residents voted BIG BAND JAZZ!!!
The Phoenix Club on Chisholm Place was a hive of activity: the indefatigable Hignett ran around doing three things at once: putting out music stands, setting up the PA and finding the time to talk to all and sundry. An audience arrived: supportive parents, siblings, proud grand parents. The junior band, the Tyne Valley Jazz Ensemble, looking the part in black t-shirts (kindly sponsored by a local business) with red lettering telling you they’re proud to be the Tyne Valley Jazz Ensemble, took to the stand first. A band big in number (seven trumpets, two trombones, four saxophones and a piano, bass and drums rhythm section), a band big on talent, an upbeat, varied set list met with much applause. A Marcus Miller number – Maputo – surprised, then Uncle Milo’s Shadow, Horace Silver’s The Preacher, all good stuff giving all in the band the chance to show what they could do. A young man in the trumpet section – height approx 3’6” in old money, age approx 10 – will make it as a trumpet player…if that’s what he wants to do. Similarly, a scarily good drummer is just a few short years from being an A-lister on the scene. Every solo, by every performer, met with applause. The set flew…Pass the Peas, then a calypso, closing with Lady Madonna.

The Tyne Valley Youth Big Band is to lose three or four members from the ranks. Exams finished, they’re heading off to university. It is the way with ensembles such as this. The band’s rip-roaring set list ticked all the boxes: the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, the Young Blood Brass Band’s arrangement of Rufus and Chaka Khan’s chart hit Ain’t Nobody, the sing-along Sweet Dreams, a cracking Mission Impossible and a Dave Hignett favourite – Chuck Mangione’s Children of Sanchez. A band of award-winning musicians, a trumpet player of Grade 8 (Merit) ability, a band with bundles of enthusiasm, Tyne Valley Youth Big Band is developing the stars of tomorrow.

The big boys and girls – the Tyne Valley Big Band – wound up the evening with a set of their own. In the Mood (don’t groan, this was the Doc Severinsen arrangement), Quincy Jones’ Soul Bossa Nova (Hignett quipped he put it in the set because the band needed to work on it!), the Heathian Hot Toddy (a favourite of, and feature for, baritone man John Knapton), the ensemble wasted no time, rattling through the numbers. The band’s saxes were on form – Andrea DeVere (tenor) and Kelly Rose (alto) trading, Alexis Cairns on alto. The Average White Band’s Pick up the Pieces is an ideal tune one for a band like this – the option is there to go round and round and round. Barbara Hignett belted out a fun Minnie the Moocher with audience participation encouraged/obligatory. Hayburner
vied for the tune of the night accolade. Excellent ensemble work, a big band at its best.
A Tower of Power number (Attitude Dance) and top of the kitsch list, MacArthur Park (Maynard Ferguson’s arrangement), sent the band into overdrive. A late arriving Alistair Lord made up for lost time making a fabulous contribution on trumpet and flugelhorn. A very late arriving David Gray squeezed into the trombone section and played as only he can – that’s with full on commitment. Talking of commitment, for the record it should be noted that Niall Armstrong and Peter Drake gave their services sitting in the sections of the junior ensemble.

The Tyne Valley Big Band can be heard at this weekend’s Tynedale Beer Festival. A big marquee stands on the pitch at Tynedale Rugby Club. It’ll cost you £12.00. to get in, the beer is reasonably priced, and if you are reasonably sober at four o’clock on Saturday you will hear – and remember listening to – a fantastic community big band.  
Russell.


                                            

No comments :

Blog Archive