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Bebop Spoken There

Stan Woodward: ''We're part of the British jazz scene, but we don't play London jazz. We play Newcastle jazz. The Knats album represents many things, but most importantly that Newcastle isn't overlooked". (DownBeat, April 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

17904 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 225 of them this year alone and, so far, 72 this month (March 24).

From This Moment On ...

MARCH 2025.

Wed 26: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 26: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 26: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 27: Hannabiell & Midnight Blue @ King’s Hall, Newcastle University. 1:15pm. Free.
Thu 27: Michael Littlefield & Scott Taylor @ The Harbour View, Roker, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Superb blues duo.

Fri 28: Giles Strong Quartet @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. £8.00 SOLD OUT!.
Fri 28: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 28: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 28: Spilt Milk @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 7:00-9:00pm. Free. Nolan Brothers (vocal harmonies).
Fri 28: Castillo Nuevo Orquesta @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £8.00.
Fri 28: Pete Tanton’s Chet Set @ Old Cinema Laundrette, Durham. 7:45pm.
Fri 28: Sue Ferris Quintet @ Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. £10.00. Opus 4 Jazz Club.
Fri 28: Mostly Moonlight @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Fri 28: Juliana Day & Manon McCoy @ Cumberland Arms, Byker, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £12.00.; £10.00. advance. JNE.

Sat 29: Edison Herbert Trio @ The Vault, Darlington 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 29: Doris Day Story @ Phoenix Theatre, Blyth. 7:30pm.
Sat 29: Squabble! @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 30: Jan Spencelayh & Dave Archbold @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 30: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 30: Jamil Sheriff Trio w. Nadim Teimoori @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm.
Sun 30: Ruth Lambert Trio @ The Juke Shed, Union Quay, North Shields. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 30: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 30: Jazz Jam Sandwich! @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 30: Jamil Sheriff Trio w. Nadim Teimoori @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 31: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

APRIL 2025

Tue 01: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Joe Steels, Paul Grainger, Mark Robertson.
Tue 01: Customs House Big Band @ The Masonic Hall, North St., Ferryhill DL17 8HX. 7:30pm. Free.

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 23, 2016

Summertyne Americana July 22

 (Review by Russell)
For once the sun shone and Summertyne Americana lived up to its name. The revolving East Door at Sage Gateshead was just that – ever-revolving with ten gallon Stetsons and gaudy Hawaiian shirts parading their sartorial elegance. The Jumpin’ Hot Club open-air stage pitched on Performance Square hosted one turn after another – alt country, blues, hokum, in essence all things Americana.
Two stand-out sets were circled in the diary months ago and they lived up to expectation and more. First up, the veteran Hokum Hotshots followed by blues singer Teresa Watson.
Hokum Hotshots: Jim Murray (guitars, mandolin & vocals) and Pete Mason (guitars, ukulele, washboard, kazoo & vocals)
Jim Murray and Pete Mason play the blues. They play tunes of the Dust Bowl and its old timey forebears; an Appalachian folk tune, a Cajun jig, a Deep South gumbo. Shieldsmen Murray and Mason do it with panache, it’s as though they aren’t trying. They’re students of the genre, they’ve played the music for years, they’ve got the patter and an in-the-head set list as long as a ‘gator in the Mississippi.
Between sets the Red Arrows screamed overhead heading north east, then, banking left in formation, swooped low to Newcastle International Airport, their base prior to an evening appointment down the coast at Sunderland International Air Show. Bizarrely, some Sage rednecks burst into a round of applause. A long queue formed at the pop-up bar of one of the region’s micro breweries (a pint in a plastic glass at £4.00.). A neighbouring stall did its best to entice the hordes with the offer of burger, fries and soda – yours for £8.00. The under-unoccupied burger flipper had plenty of time to listen to the music.

Teresa Watson Blues Band: Teresa Watson (vocals), Johnny Whitehill (guitar), Paul
Donaldson (keyboards), John Morgan (bass) & Barry Race (drums)
A couple of years ago Teresa Watson went along to Summertyne Americana as a punter. A lady in self-imposed retirement, Watson decided she would like to be up there on stage – the roar of the greasepaint and smell of the crowd, and all that – and now in 2016, here she was, belting out the blues once more. Reunited with some of the best bluesmen on the scene, Watson was delighted to play ‘this little festival’. Our vocalist’s joined-at-the-hip bass and drums team – John Morgan and Barry Race – laid the foundations for a Johnny Whitehill guitar master class. The Northumbrian doesn’t strike a pose, his vintage Gibson Les Paul does the talking. Peter Green an obvious influence, referencing Chicago heroes, Whitehill’s encyclopedic knowledge of the genre makes him a guitarist’s guitarist. Teresa Watson is a Love Me Like a Man woman, happiest when she is telling you how it was and how it could be, the lot of a blues woman.

Americana at Sage Gateshead is an occasion. Outdoor, in door – on the concourse and in the halls – you’re never more than a few paces from bumping into a dude with a Stetson. Do take time to view the photographic exhibition outside Sage One and Sage Two. Sage in association with Amber is showing The Preacher and his Congregation. Side Gallery across the river in Newcastle is currently closed for major renovation works. Americana has taken the opportunity to loan James Perry Walker’s photographs of Reverend Louis Cole and his congregation shot on location in 1970s rural Mississippi and Tennessee. The Newcastle gallery reopens on October 1st, this Gateshead exhibition is a rare opportunity to view an important part of the documentary collection before it is returned to the vaults.
Russell.                 

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