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Bebop Spoken There

Sullivan Fortner: ''I always judge it by the bass player: If the bass player is happy, it's going to be a good night". (DownBeat, February 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

17777 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 98 of them this year alone and, so far, 23 this month (Feb.8).

From This Moment On ...

February 2025

Sun 16: MOBO Song @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 12 noon. Free, performances on the concourse. Line-up inc. Jazz Attack (on stage time TBC) & Jambone (12:20pm).
Sun 16: Jason Isaacs @ STACK, Exchange Sq., Middlesbrough. 1:00-2:45pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sun 16: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 16: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 16: MOBO Awards Fringe 2025: BBC Introducing NE X MOBO Showcase @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 6:00pm. Free (ticketed). Line-up inc. Jambone, Knats, Rivkala, SwanNek.
Sun 16: The Shayo Experience @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 16: Gerry Richardson Quartet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. .

Mon 17: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 17: Matt Forster Quartet @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 1:00pm. £9.00. at the door; £8.20. (inc £0.20 bf) online, in advance.
Mon 17: Russ Morgan Quartet @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £10.00.

Tue 18: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Alan Law, Paul Grainger, John Hirst.

Wed 19: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 19: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 19: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 20: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, Holystone. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 20: James Birkett & Emma Fisk @ King’s Hall, Newcastle University. 1:15pm. Free.
Thu 20: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: Jazz Milestones - 1975.
Thu 20: Renegade Brass Band @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors).
Thu 20: Orange Claw Hammer + Peony @ The Globe, Newcastle.7:30pm. Orange Claw Hammer play Captain Beefheart.
Thu 20: Jeremy McMurray & the Pocket Jazz Orchestra @ Arc, Stockton. 8:00pm. Featuring special guest Zoë Gilby.

Fri 21: JazzMain @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 21: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 21: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 21: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 21: Joe Steels Trio @ The Pele, Corbridge. 7:00pm. £10.00. TBC.
Fri 21: Emma Rawicz w. Strictly Smokin’ Big Band @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm.

Sat 22: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 12:30-2:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 22: Jason Isaacs @ Seaburn STACK, Seaburn. 3:30pm-5:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 22: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 22: Mississippi MacDonald @ Claypath Deli, Durham. 7:00pm. Blues.
Sat 22: Lindsay Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ Old Cinema Laundrette, Durham. 7:45pm. £16.50. SOLD OUT!
Sat 22: Michael Woods @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Country blues guitar & vocals.

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, July 16, 2016

Gerry Richardson Quartet @ Gala Theatre, Durham - July 15

Gerry Richardson (organ/vocal); Rod Sinclair (guitar); Paul Smith (drums); Garry Linsley (alto).
(Review by Steve T/Photo courtesy of Paul Edis).
For the first time in ages, empty seats at the Gala, down to about seventy. Nothing whatsoever to do with the band but on-going traffic chaos in Durham and the holiday season with nothing on in August.
I turned up at the end of the second piece Everybody's Cryin' Mercy   having missed Mel Tormé’s Comin’ Home Baby, a big hit on the acid/Jazz dance scene championed by DJ Giles Peterson in the eighties and nineties.
Steve Kuhn’s Chicken Feathers to settle into and a bit of a panic when he seemed to omit Soul Shadows from the programme in favour of All About McGriff. His tribute to Jimmy McGriff - widely considered second only to Jimmy Smith on Hammond, though I prefer Larry Young at least to either - it actually reminded me of our own Alan Price, who both Richardson and Smith have worked with.
Relief when he introduced Soul Shadows as a history of jazz song by Crusader Joe Sample and long-term songwriting partner Will Jennings (Randy Crawford, BB King).
No mean feat to replicate the wonderfully distinctive, warm, soulful voice of Bill Withers but - excepting DJ Rogers - this was as good as you're gonna get, with a slight ellipsis in the chorus and Linley’s alto substituting for the (underrated, soulful, post-Trane) tenor of Wilton Felder superbly.
It was during Duke’s Just Squeeze Me I remembered we didn't have a bass, Richardson doing a grand job maintaining both parts keeping the bass simple without ever missing during comping and soloing.
African Sunset followed, another Richardson original, and all concerned, but particularly Sinclair, displayed real feel for West African music.
With time running out he jettisoned another original and Gil Scott Heron’s Lady Day and John Coltrane from the programme going straight to Jimmy Smith’s Back at the Chicken Shack. When I saw his Big Idea nine-piece a while back I felt they were a great dance band and once again it felt like people should be heading for a dancefloor. Perhaps if they play again I'll take Mrs T and kids and fulfil our obligation to humiliate the latter with our moves.
Soloing was great throughout from all concerned but Sinclair, occupying the blues end of North East Jazz guitarists, saved his most gut-bucket solo ‘til the last piece and the leader raised a rousing, roaring solo to bring it all to a close.
Another great set at the Gala on a Friday afternoon and a suitably enthusiastic and appreciative audience. 
Steve T. 

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