Bebop Spoken There

Emma Rawicz: "In a couple of years I've gone from being a normal university student to suddenly being on international stages." DownBeat January 2026.

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

18219 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 73 of them this year alone and, so far this month (Jan. 24), 73

From This Moment On ...

JANUARY 2026

Fri 30: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 30: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 30: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 30: Castillo Nuevo Trio @ Hotel Gotham, Newcastle. 5:30pm. Free.
Fri 30: Pete Roth Trio @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). Feat. Bill Bruford.
Fri 30: Jive Aces @ Alnwick Playhouse. 7:30pm.
Fri 30: Tweed River Jazz Band @ Northern Edge Coffee, Silver St., Berwick. 7:00pm.
Fri 30: Dan Coulthurst Quintet @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 7:30pm (7:00pm doors). £10.00 + £1.00. bf (www.wegottickets.com). Coulthurst (trumpet); Joel Steadman (bass clarinet, flute); Nico Widdowson (piano); Fergus Quill (double bass); Theo Goss (drums).

Sat 31: Darling Dollies @ St George’s Church, Jesmond, Newcastle. 3:00pm. £10.00. Vocal trio.
Sat 31: Brass Fiesta @ Revoluçion de Cuba, Newcastle. 10:30pm. Free.

FEBRUARY 2026

Sun 01: Smokin’ Spitfires @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:45pm. £10.00.
Sun 01: Ian Bosworth Quintet @ Chapel, Middlesbrough. 1:00pm. Free. Quintet + guest Bill Watson (trumpet, flugelhorn).
Sun 01: Sax Choir @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 01: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 01: Annie & the Caldwells @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £25.00. adv. Gospel/soul.
Sun 01: Jive Aces @ Alnwick Playhouse. 7:30pm.
Sun 01: Olly Styles Experience + Jenny Baker @ the Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 02: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 02: Saltburn Big Band @ Saltburn House Hotel. 7:00-9:00pm. Free.

Tue 03: Customs House Big Band @ The Masonic Hall, Ferryhill. 7:30pm. Free.
Tue 03: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Joe Steels, Paul Grainger, Abbie Finn.

Wed 04: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 04: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 04: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 05: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £5.00. Subject:Times of the Day & Trios.
Thu 05: Jeremy McMurray’s Pocket Jazz Orchestra @ Arc, Stockton. 8:00pm. Special guest Emma Wilson.
Thu 05: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm.

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, September 14, 2016

More Quotes From Simon Spillett

"There are techniques involved in the making of the music of which the average critic is often unaware."
Rahsaan Roland Kirk, sleeve notes to Ben Webster: 'Webster's Dictionary' (Philips 1970).

"Unfortunately, the fan of yesterday's jazz often becomes an opponent of today's."
Graham Collier, 'Inside Jazz' (Quartet Books, 1973)

"Hardly any of them would know a good jazz chorus if it fell on them. They have learned, parrot-fashion, the litany of American star names and that is that."
Benny Green on British record producers, 'Scene' magazine, October 5th 1962

"Putting live modern jazz across in this country has been like trying to sell balloons in a cemetery."
Peter Clayton, 'Sunday Telegraph', August 30th 1964
"I'm always suspicious of a man in a clean trench coat. Watch for it - nine times out of ten, he's a square."
Cannonball Adderley, sleeve notes to 'Cannonball Adderley Quintet in Chicago' (Mercury, 1960)

"The avant-garde cannot expect basic stylistic changes to develop among mature players through artificial stimuli; for the hysterical cry for change tends to give sanctuary to charlatans."
Cannonball Adderley, sleeve notes to 'The Young Lions' (VeeJay) 1960

"He is the most unimaginative tenorist I have heard this year. His improvisations seem to be solely based on unusual noises (one can hardly describe them as sounds) placed in the most awkward places."
John Martin, review of Wayne Shorter on Wynton Kelly's Kelly Great LP, 
Jazz News May 24th 1961


"He was interested in non-chordal playing, and I had cut my teeth on that stuff. He later sent me a letter which included 30 dollars for each lesson, and thanked me."
Ornette Coleman on John Coltrane studying with him during 1960, quoted in sleeve notes to CD reissue of John Coltrane/Don Cherry: 'The Avant-Garde' (issued in 2000)

"Please take that off - discontinue that. I have one word for that - tragedy."
Eddie 'Lockjaw' Davis, listening to Archie Shepp's recording of 'In A Sentimental Mood', Blindfold Test, DownBeat, 1967

"Great jazz playing is that which is still listenable after the style has ceased to be modern."
Ronnie Scott, Daily Dispatch Jazz Book, 1954

1 comment :

Nick Gould said...

Excellent quotes, must check out Archie Shepp Sentimental Mood

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