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Bebop Spoken There

George Porter Jr.: ''To me, syncopation is like jazz. It wasn't meant for the masses. It was meant just for a hip few". (DownBeat, May 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

18043 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 364 of them this year alone and, so far, 42 this month (May 15).

From This Moment On ...

MAY 2025

Mon 19: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 19: Lewis Watson Quartet @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £10.00.

Tue 20: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Stu Collingwood, Paul Grainger, Bailey Rudd.
Tue 20: Alexia Gardner Quintet @ Pleased to Meet You, Bridge St., Morpeth NE61 1ND. 8:00pm.

Wed 21: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 21: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public). b Wed 21: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 22: Nuevo Castillo Orquesta @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £5.00.
Thu 22: Anna Reay & Deon Krishnan @ STACK, Exchange Sq., Middlesbrough. 7:30-9:15pm. Free.
Thu 22: Pedal Point Trio @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Fri 23: Dean Stockdale Quartet @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. ‘Celebrating Oscar’.
Fri 23: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 23: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 23: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 23: Anna Reay & Deon Krishnan @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 4:00-6:00pm. Free.
Fri 23: Joe Steels Group @ The Pele, Corbridge. 7:00pm. £10.00. + £1.55. bf. A Northumberland Jazz Festival fringe event.
Fri 23: Spilt Milk @ STACK, Exchange Sq., Middlesbrough. 7:00-9:00pm. Free. Nolan Brothers (vocal harmonies).
Fri 23: Gaz Hughes Quartet @ Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm.
Fri 23: Strictly Smokin’ Big Band @ The Witham, Barnard Castle. 8:00pm. £19.00.; £17.00. ‘Time After Time’.

Sat 24: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 12:30-2:15pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 24: Tyne Valley Big Band @ Bywell Hall, Stocksfield. 1:30pm. Northumberland County Show.
Sat 24: Jason Isaacs @ STACK, Seaburn. 3:30-5:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 24: Ray Stubbs R&B All Stars @ The Peacock, Sunderland. 6:00pm.
Sat 24: Dean Stockdale Quartet + Mingus Sings @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 7:00pm. Admission: see website: www.queenshall.co.uk. Stockdale (piano); Tim Williams (guitar); Gavin Barras (double bass); Gaz Hughes (drums) + Mingus Sings: Sara Oschlag (vocals); Alan Barnes (reeds); Tim Lapthorn (piano); Arnie Somogyi (double bass); Clark Tracey (drums). A Northumberland Jazz Festival event.
Sat 24: Joseph Carville Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 24: Saltburn Big Band @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm. £12.00.
Sat 24: NUJO Jazz Jam @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 8:00pm (7:00pm doors). £3.00. + bf.
Sat 24: Papa G’s Troves @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 25: Zoë Gilby & Andy Champion: Bandstand Sessions @ The Sele, Hexham. 12 noon. Free. A Northumberland Jazz Festival event.
Sun 25: Musicians Unlimited @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 25: Northern Monkey Brass Band @ Spanish City Plaza (outdoor stage). 1:00pm. Free. A Whitley Bay Carnival event.
Sun 25: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 25: Catriona Bourne Quartet @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm. Admission: see website: www.queenshall.co.uk. Bourne (harp), Francis Tulip (guitar), James Owston (double bass), Joe Bainbridge (drums). A Northumberland Jazz Festival event.
Sun 25: Ruth Lambert Trio @ Juke Shed, North Shields. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 25: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 25: Struggle Buggy @ The Tyne Bar, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. Blues.
Sun 25: Joe Steels Group + Norma Winstone (vocals); Nikki Iles (piano); Mike Walker (guitar); Steve Watts (double bass). 7:00pm. Admission: see website: www.queenshall.co.uk. Steels (guitar); Ferg Kilsby (trumpet, flugelhorn); Ben Lawrence (piano); Paul Susans (double bass); John Hirst (drums). A Northumberland Jazz Festival event.
Sun 25: Jazz Jam Sandwich! @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 25: Xhosa Cole/Neil Charles/Mark Sanders @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A JNE promotion. Note: Xhosa Cole replaces Nicole Mitchell.

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

Thursday, June 09, 2016

Ian Shaw on The Theory of Joy

(Interview by Russell)
Welsh-born world class vocalist Ian Shaw appears at Sage Gateshead on Wednesday (June 15) singing tunes from his new CD The Theory of Joy. An award-winning man of many talents – composer, singer, pianist, producer – Shaw shares his thoughts on recording, touring and other matters.

Hi Ian, it’s good of you to take time to talk to Bebop Spoken Here.

The Theory of Joy tour calls in at Sage Gateshead next week, Wednesday 15th June. When did you start to put the album together, and were Barry Green, Mick Hutton and David Ohm on board early on?

The Theory of Joy was a gathered set of new arrangements which I gigged and tried out with the trio…so really had a chance to get the right ones forward! The trio is a solid unit...made of friendship and musical trust.
Claire Martin produced the new album. How did Claire’s involvement come about?

Claire was the natural choice. She knows me inside out and we’ve always trusted each other’s ears and taste.

You have worked as a producer. Has the experience proved to be useful with regard to shaping your own subsequent recordings?

I don’t listen to my recordings so not sure if I can effect an objective listening distance. My production work is so much easier as it's someone else’s precious work (and paid!).

You were up here in April to perform at the Gateshead International Jazz Festival.
As always, you went down a storm. You sang My Brother – it was spellbinding stuff.
Were you aware at the time that you had the audience in the palm of your hand?

I loved playing the festival. I often find it easier to be intimate if I’m solo.

Going way back….Lazy Blue Eyes (1990) with Carol Grimes featured gems from the Great American Songbook plus the title track which you wrote. Subsequent releases have drawn on original material and more contemporary popular songs. Therefore,  with a wealth of material to choose from has it become all the more difficult to select songs, and indeed, discard songs? Was this the case with The Theory of Joy

There is always a wealth of other people’s songs…It’s a simple case of you find a great restaurant…is it the Crustacea or the salad bar you breathlessly aim for? I do need to be more prolific…but I have to be 100 percent convinced of my own writing. The idea for an album that had a load of songs that seemed to present hope and happiness but with a darker background appealed to me.
    
You are known for your frequent visits to Calais, helping, as best you can, refugees stranded/abandoned in the so-called ‘Jungle’. Are you optimistic or pessimistic that politicians will suddenly discover a collective humanitarian streak?

I’m optimistic (more cautiously hopeful) that, given the amount of missing kids and vulnerable young families we are seemingly not responsible for, in or out of EU (!!)…surely badgering politicians (we did it alongside Calais Action, a superb politically motivated NGO…) is the only way…we also took France to court over kids in the jungle and sanitation…and won…ish. Freshwater pumps and gravel happened. The Dubs amendment was re-visited a second time…and the motion was yayed. It’s of course, because of scant governmental intervention, taking forever to become a local reality.

Perhaps a ‘Side by Side’ fundraising gig could work here on Tyneside?

A Side by Side fundraiser would be fantastic. Please make a persuasive call! I will too.

Finally, on a lighter note…
   
Do you enjoy being on the road? Looking at your itinerary…Tuesday London, up to Gateshead Wednesday, Hamburg Thursday, Minsk Saturday and York Sunday!            

Being on the road? As the prostitute said…“It’s not the work, it’s the stairs”

Thanks for your time Ian. We’ll see you at Sage Gateshead on the 15th.
Russell.

Ian Shaw and The Theory of Joy Trio play Sage Gateshead on Wednesday 15 June in Sage Two, 8:00pm. To be sure of your seat contact Sage Gateshead’s ticket office on 0191 433 4661.     

      

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