Total Pageviews

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

17744 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 64 of them this year alone and, so far, 64 this month (Jan. 26).

From This Moment On ...

January 2025

Mon 27: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 27: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 6:30pm. 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.

Fri 31: Alan Barnes Quartet @ The Old Library, Auckland Castle, Bishop Auckland. 12 noon-2:00pm (two sets). £12.00. admission (card or cash at the door). Barnes (alto sax, baritone sax, clarinet); Alan Law (piano); Mick Shoulder (double bass); Tim Johnston (drums). Note change of venue, no longer at Mrs M’s as advertised, the concert will be in the Old Library (Bishop Auckland Jazz’s regular venue). Important! It’s a ‘BYOB’ arrangement - ie bring your own booze (and/or tea, coffee, soft drinks).
Fri 31: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 31: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 31: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 31: Café Orkestar @ Café Under the Spire, Gateshead. 6:00pm. ‘Klezmer, Gypsy Jazz, Balkan & More!’.
Fri 31: Nothing in Rambling @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. £10.00. + bf. Country blues duo.
Fri 31 Zoë Gilby Quartet @ Wylam Institute. 7:30pm (7:00pm doors). £15.00. + £1.50. bf.
Fri 31: Creakin’ Bones & the Sunday Dinners @ White Room, Stanley. 7:45pm. £10.00 + bf. Jazz, blues , jump jive, rock ‘n’ roll.
Fri 31: Alan Barnes Quartet @ The Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. £15.00 Barnes (alto sax, baritone sax, clarinet); Alan Law (piano); Mick Shoulder (double bass); Tim Johnston (drums).
Fri 31: SwanNek + Rivkala @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 8:00pm. SwanNek’s new single launch gig. Pilgrim, formerly Hoochie Coochie.

February 2025

Sat 01: Alan Barnes & John Hallam with the Tom Kincaid Trio @ St Augustine’s Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm. £10.00.
Sat 01: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. £25.00. Tutor: Steve Glendinning - Cy Coleman’s Witchcraft. Enrol at: learning@jazz.coop.
Sat 01: Darling Dollies @ St George’s Church, Jesmond, Newcastle. 3:00pm. £10.00. Vocal trio.
Sat 01: Jason Isaacs @ STACK, Exchange Sq., Middlesbrough. 3:30-5:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 01: Jeff Hewer Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 01: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00.
Sat 01: Rockin’ Turner Brothers @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Western swing etc.

Sun 02: Smokin’ Spitfires @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:45pm. £7.50.
Sun 02: Lewis Watson Quartet @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00pm. £10.00.
Sun 02: Sax Choir @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free (donations).
Sun 02: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 02: Spilt Milk @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 5:15-7:00pm. Free. Nolan Brothers (vocal harmonies).
Sun 02: Jive Aces @ The Fire Station, Sunderland. 7:00pm. Sun 02: John Pope + Andy Champion + Ian Paterson @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. ‘Subterranean Explorations 1’. Three (half hour) solo bass sets.
Sun 02: Jazz Jam @ Fabio’s, Saddler St., Durham. 8:00pm. Free. A Durham University Jazz Society promotion. All welcome.

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

Preview: Lancaster Jazz Festival - September 16-18.

(Preview by Steve T).
I think it was two years ago when FDT and I made it down for the Saturday sessions at Lancaster and what a fantastic day we had.
Bone maestro Rollins brought his Velocity Trio to the Round with miraculous Hammond monster Ross Stanley and brilliant drummer Pedro Segundo, but, in the Square, we got Paul Edis and his Sextet and the Starlight Quartet, who I've seen a couple of times and they're terrific too. 
Each of the three days begins with a Jazz Breakfast from 10am to noon at Robert Gillows, with music from guitarist Jon Moore and/or pianist/singer Sue Parish and the food is free, though donations are welcome.
On Friday evening the Festival shifts to the Lancaster Brewery which sounds like a fine venue for some live Jazz.
Phil Meadows leads the LRGC Big Band of local young musicians. Meadows, you may recall, composed Life Cycles performed by Jambone, Zoe Gilby and the Royal Northern Sinfonia at GIJF this year.
This is followed by Entropi, a standard quintet with a futuristic outlook making a name in recent times before Meadows returns with his trio to end a night with the pairing of electronics and acoustic bass promising an evening of contrasts.
Saturday is extremely busy with something going on somewhere from 10am ‘til midnight. The introduction of another venue means there are no breaks for band setups and, alternating between Sun Square, a covered stage in a pedestrian area surrounded by cafes, pubs and shops, and the Hall, which I don't know. There's a performance by local school children, expert advice on how to have a career in Jazz and still pay the bills (complete with free food), a harp trio, a bass led quintet from Leeds featuring guitar and tenor, a guitar led quintet mixing Jazz and Gamelan, a guitar/alto quartet featuring members of Melt Yourself Down, Led Bib, Beats and Pieces and Mars Project, a brand new trio from the Toon called F-C-T and a Jazz/electronic sextet from Leeds.
Headlining is Artist in Residence, London-based saxophonist, Cath Roberts with a specially commissioned one-off event featuring her regular quintet and special guests from around Europe and preceded by a Q and A session. This is one of only two events with a cover charge and is in the fabulous Round Theatre, one of the most intimate I've ever been to which puts the musicians right in with the audience.
The Jam Session, if it's the same, is in the pub next door which was most memorable for an elderly gentleman with a square yard of tile he used for tap-dancing, which is exactly the sort of thing that these things are all about.
What could be better after a Jazz Breakfast than our very own Geordie lass Zoe Gilby, with husband Andy Champion on bass, Mark Williams on guitar and Richard Brown on drums?
They're followed by a Lancaster-based Norwegian cellist, another Toon band making a name for themselves, Archipelago, a reeds trio, a piano trio with a penchant for hip-hop and a trumpet/tenor quartet suggestive of Sonny Rollins and John Zorn, which sounds absolutely amazing.
On Sunday afternoon, in the only other gig with a cover charge, nearby Kendal Brewery Arts Centre plays host to one of the current giants of American Jazz, Terrence Blanchard, who lit up GIJF with his electric band E-collective in the spring. This promises to be equally compulsive featuring emerging musicians and instruments unusual in Jazz including French horn, oboe and tuba.
Lancaster is a lovely city if you haven't been, a bit like Durham without the enormous Cathedral, like York I suppose, and there is loads going on with something for everyone with an interest in Jazz or experimental and innovative music in general.
Further details.
Steve T.

No comments :

Blog Archive