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Bebop Spoken There

Trevor Mires: ''My mum is a Dean Martin fan: I'm not, so I would grab my skateboard and get out of the house whenever I heard "Everybody Loves Somebody, Sometime." ". (Jazzwise, 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

17957 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 278 of them this year alone and, so far, 34 this month (April 14).

From This Moment On ...

April 2025.

Sun 20: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 20: Salty Dog @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 20: Spilt Milk @ STACK, Exchange Sq., Middlesbrough. 7:00-9:00pm. Free. Nolan Brothers (vocal harmonies).
Sun 20: Tweed River Jazz Band @ The Barrels Ale House, Berwick-upon-Tweed. 7:00pm. Free.
Sun 20: C.A.L.I.E @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 21: Newcastle Record Fair @ Copthorne Hotel, Newcastle. 10:00am. Going in search of the Buddy Bolden cylinder…
Mon 21: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 22: Abbie Finn Trio @ Newcastle House Hotel, Rothbury. 7:30pm. Coquetdale Jazz.

Wed 23: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 23: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 23: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. CANCELLED!

Thu 24: Mary Coughlan @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm. £33.80. Blues, jazz etc.
Thu 24: Darlington Big Band @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm.

Fri 25: Vasilis Xenopoulos & Paul Edis @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT! Duo performance.
Fri 25: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 25: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 25: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 25: Andrea Vicari Trio @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. £8.00. Vicari (piano); Andy Champion (double bass); Russ Morgan (drums).
Fri 25: Jason Isaacs @ STACK, Exchange Sq., Middlesbrough. 4:00-6:00pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Fri 25: Red Kites Jazz @ Land of Oak & Iron, Winlaton Mill. 6:00-9:00pm. Free.
Fri 25: Vasilis Xenopoulos & Paul Edis @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 7:30pm. £15.00. at the door; £14.35. (inc £0.35 bf) online, in advance.
Fri 25: Struggle Buggy @ The White Room, Stanley. 7:45pm. Rhythm & blues.
Fri 25: Paul Skerritt Big Band @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm. £20.30., £18.00. All-star big band.
Fri 25: Andrea Vicari Trio @ Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. Vicari (piano); Andy Champion (double bass); Russ Morgan (drums). An Opus 4 Jazz Club event.

Sat 26: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 26: Vasilis Xenopoulos & Paul Edis @ Elvet Methodist Church, Durham. 7:30pm. Tickets: £12.00. + bf. Duo performance.
Sat 26: Neil Cowley Trio @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm. £22.50.
Sat 26: Pete Tanton & the Cuban Heels @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

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

Wednesday, August 31, 2016

Northern Monkey Brass Band @ Ushaw Durham Jazz Festival. August 26

(Review by Russell/Photos courtesy of John Marlor)
A Buddy Bolden blast heralded a new jazz festival in County Durham. New Orleans, Louisiana to Ushaw College, Durham. Jazz, a common language, the music lives on!     
The inaugural Ushaw Durham Jazz Festival started in true festival style with Graham Hardy’s Northern Monkey Brass Band. The Tyneside-based trumpeter sat high in the gods of the Exhibition Hall – the site of a chapel dating from the early 1800s – poised,   ready to declare the inaugural Ushaw Durham Jazz Festival well and truly ‘open’.      
The Exhibition Hall, a theatre for all kinds of performances, welcomed the first of the weekend’s festival goers to Ushaw College. Once seated, Hardy blew the first notes, a host of heads turned, looking up at ‘Buddy Bolden’ Hardy. Fellow trumpeter Alastair Lord, to Hardy’s right, replied, piercing sunbeams streaming through the stained glass windows behind him. Trombone and tuba, awaiting the call in the stone floor corridor, joined the procession to the stage. The Northern Monkey Brass Band, respectful of the heritage, yet of today, mixed it up with theme tunes known to all: The A Team and Star Wars. The region’s heritage took its place alongside N’Awlins with Hardy announcing the band would ‘New Orleans it up’ on an original take of Waters of Tyne. Second line respect and abandon.
The all-action ’bone man David Gray gave it a blast on Monkey Blood with the depping Rob Walker enjoying himself with just a snare drum to hit, getting into the spirit with an always encouraging Brendan Murphy accenting this way, then that, on bass drum.
Band leader Hardy arranged St James’ Infirmary Blues. The band marched out and along the corridors of Ushaw College. The audience could do but one thing…join them! In the absence of a parade marshall, this was a DIY affair. Ushaw reverberated to the Northern Monkey sound, long-gone senior clergy looking down (dis?) approvingly from their gilt-framed portraits hanging from the erstwhile seminary walls. One wag was heard to say: It’s a lang walk!  On returning to the hall David Gray and tenor man Jamie Toms ripped into the band’s finale: Superstition. A fine start to the first Ushaw Durham Jazz Festival.
Russell.      
Graham Hardy (trumpet), Alastair Lord (trumpet), Jamie Toms (tenor saxophone),
David Gray (trombone), Mark Ferris (trombone), Phil Rosier (tuba), Rob Walker (snare drum) & Brendan Murphy (bass drum)        
at

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