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Bebop Spoken There

Steve Coleman: ''If you don't keep learning, your mind slows down. Use it or lose it''. (DownBeat, January 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

17733 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 53 of them this year alone and, so far, 53 this month (Jan. 20).

From This Moment On ...

January 2025

Tue 21: ???

Wed 22: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 22: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 22: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 22: Pasadena Roof Orchestra @ Fire Station, Sunderland. 7:30pm.

Thu 23: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, Holystone. 1:00pm. Free. Fortnightly.
Thu 23: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: Obituaries 2024.
Thu 23: Jason Isaacs @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 4:30-6:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Thu 23: Pedal Point Trio @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Fri 24: Zoë Gilby Quartet @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 24: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 24: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 24: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 24: Creakin’ Bones & the Sunday Dinners @ Lindisfarne Social Club, Wallsend. 9:00pm. Admission: TBC. Jazz, blues , jump jive, rock ‘n’ roll.

Sat 25: Boys of Brass @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 3:30-5:30pm. Free.
Sat 25: New '58 Jazz Collective @ Jackson's Wharf, Hartlepool. 6:30pm (doors). Free. A Burns' Night event. Jazz, swing, funk, soul, blues etc.
Sat 25: Edison Herbert Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 25: Jack & Jay’s Songbook @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 26: Musicians Unlimited @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 26: Graham Hardy Eclectic Quartet @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm.
Sun 26: Ruth Lambert Trio @ The Juke Shed, Union Quay, North Shields. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 26: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 26: Jazz Jam Sandwich! @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 26: Tweed River Jazz Band @ Barrels Ale House, Berwick-upon-Tweed. 7:30pm. Free.
Sun 26: Gratkowski, Tramontana, Beresford, Affifi @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £12.00. JNE.
Sun 26: Jazz Jam @ Fabio’s, Saddler St., Durham. 8:00pm. Free. A Durham University Jazz Society promotion. All welcome.

Mon 27: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 28: ???

Wed 29: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 29: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 29: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).

Thu 30: Matters Unknown (aka Jonathan Enser, Nubiyan Twist) + support TBA @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 8:00pm (7:00pm doors). £12.22 (gig & food); £9:04 (gig only).
Thu 30: Soznak @ The Mill Tavern, Hebburn. 8:00pm. Free.
Thu 30: Struggle Buggy @ Harbour View, Roker, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Rhythm & 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

Thursday, July 28, 2016

R.I.P Grahame Shepherd

Colin Aitchison has sent me the sad news that sax player and clarinettist Grahame Shepherd has died in Spain.
Grahame, who studied at Newcastle's College of Arts and Technology in the 1970s played baritone with the Newcastle Big Band as well as clarinet with the Phoenix Jazzmen. He and Colin also played summer seasons with the Steve Stephenson Show Band. There's also a YouTube clip of him playing in more recent years with a Pink Floyd tribute band.
I don't know much more at present so will be grateful for any further information.
A fine player who will be sadly missed by all who knew him.
Lance

8 comments :

Steve Andrews said...

Shocked and saddened to hear this. Grahame and I were around the same age and played together many times in the early '70's, notably at the sessions at the Gosforth Hotel. He was a great saxophone player and a good jazzman (which doesn't necessarily follow), particularly on tenor, so he and I had a bit of friendly competition going there. Sad news.

Cormac Loane said...

I was very sad to hear of Graham Sheppard's untimely death. I sat alongside Graham in the Newcastle Big Band sax section from about 1972 to 1974 and we took part together in the Big Band's visit to the Pau Jazz Festival in France round that time. Graham was a good friend and a great saxophone player, but I particularly remember the fluency of his clarinet playing which owed a lot to his mentor Sid Phillips, with whom he studied in London before moving to the North-East. I recollect sitting in with a mainstream jazz group which Graham co-led with saxophonist Nigel Stanger at the Gosforth Hotel on Wednesday evenings - perhaps this is the group that Steve Andrews recalls. (If I remember correctly, the band was called Splinters, because it was a splinter group from the Big Band). I was very much indebted to Graham for furthering my career as a young musician because, as a teenager, he frequently invited me to deputise for him in the Bavarian Bierkeller Band at the Hofbrauhaus on Waterloo Street, thus giving me the opportunity to play next to the great trumpet player, Bobby Carr. Graham was a great guy and a great musician who will be sadly missed.

Gordon Solomon said...

Thanks for letting me know about Graham, very sad. Graham played with the Phoenix Jazzmen for a couple of years before leaving to join the house Oompah Band at the Hofbrauhause Club in Waterloo Street. He was an excellent musician and played clarinet and tenor sax with the band, - I think he also played baritone in the Newcastle Big Band. The Phoenix line-up at that time was Don Eddy on drums, Gordon "Sting" Sumner bass, John Hedley guitar, Graham on reeds, Ronnie Young trumpet and vocals and myself on trombone. I remember this band produced a really big sound and looking at the rhythm section I'm not surprised! I'm sure Graham will be sadly missed.

Gordon Solomon.

Unknown said...

We played with Grahame every week for the last five years here in Spain, such a fantastic and soulful musician who played with an ocean of feeling on his tenor and flute. We will always cherish his memory. RIP dear Grahame.
Rudy
JAZZIFY band

Sting said...

I worked with Grahame in the Newcastle Big Band and The Phoenix Jazzmen in the mid seventies. He was a consummate musician and a gentleman. I bought a Baritone sax from him, which led to me being evicted from my flat after a complaint from the noise abatement society, or they may have been music lovers. Rest in Peace Grahame, I'm proud to have known you. Love,
Sting.

John Hedley said...

College mate, band mate, loved his playing, modest to a fault and a decent man. I'm listening to The Phoenix Jazzmen's biggest hit record: Beale Street Blues. Graham, what a gem. Great to have known you mate.
John Hedley

Colin Scott said...

A native of Edinburgh, now in Wisconsin, I attended College in Newcastle with Grahame back in the early/mid 70's. He was a good guy, and a much better musician than I could ever be. I am so sad to hear of his death. Unfortunately, a few guys I knew at
the College in Newcastle have already departed. It is all very depressing. Do you happen to have an email address for Colin Aitchison? He was in Hong Kong last I heard. He was also at college with Grahame and I all those years ago. God, I feel old.

Lance said...

Colin, I'll email you Colin Aitchison's address.

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