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Bebop Spoken There

Sullivan Fortner: ''I always judge it by the bass player: If the bass player is happy, it's going to be a good night". (DownBeat, February 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

17777 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 98 of them this year alone and, so far, 23 this month (Feb.8).

From This Moment On ...

February 2025

Sun 16: MOBO Song @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 12 noon. Free, performances on the concourse. Line-up inc. Jazz Attack (on stage time TBC) & Jambone (12:20pm).
Sun 16: Jason Isaacs @ STACK, Exchange Sq., Middlesbrough. 1:00-2:45pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sun 16: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 16: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 16: MOBO Awards Fringe 2025: BBC Introducing NE X MOBO Showcase @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 6:00pm. Free (ticketed). Line-up inc. Jambone, Knats, Rivkala, SwanNek.
Sun 16: The Shayo Experience @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 16: Gerry Richardson Quartet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. .

Mon 17: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 17: Matt Forster Quartet @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 1:00pm. £9.00. at the door; £8.20. (inc £0.20 bf) online, in advance.
Mon 17: Russ Morgan Quartet @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £10.00.

Tue 18: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Alan Law, Paul Grainger, John Hirst.

Wed 19: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 19: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 19: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 20: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, Holystone. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 20: James Birkett & Emma Fisk @ King’s Hall, Newcastle University. 1:15pm. Free.
Thu 20: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: Jazz Milestones - 1975.
Thu 20: Renegade Brass Band @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors).
Thu 20: Orange Claw Hammer + Peony @ The Globe, Newcastle.7:30pm. Orange Claw Hammer play Captain Beefheart.
Thu 20: Jeremy McMurray & the Pocket Jazz Orchestra @ Arc, Stockton. 8:00pm. Featuring special guest Zoë Gilby.

Fri 21: JazzMain @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 21: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 21: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 21: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 21: Joe Steels Trio @ The Pele, Corbridge. 7:00pm. £10.00. TBC.
Fri 21: Emma Rawicz w. Strictly Smokin’ Big Band @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm.

Sat 22: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 12:30-2:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 22: Jason Isaacs @ Seaburn STACK, Seaburn. 3:30pm-5:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 22: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 22: Mississippi MacDonald @ Claypath Deli, Durham. 7:00pm. Blues.
Sat 22: Lindsay Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ Old Cinema Laundrette, Durham. 7:45pm. £16.50. SOLD OUT!
Sat 22: Michael Woods @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Country blues guitar & vocals.

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, October 12, 2016

Ballet Black: Storyville - Northern Stage. October 11

(Review by Russell)
Some fifteen years ago Cassa Pancho founded Ballet Black. As Artistic Director, Pancho has nurtured the development of the London-based dance troupe, transforming it into the international touring company that it is today. Ballet Black’s dancers of black and Asian descent embrace the classical tradition, fusing it with contemporary, abstract forms. The company is currently touring Britain and, thankfully, a first visit to Northern Stage, Newcastle upon Tyne, was on the itinerary.
Last night’s performance (there is a second performance tonight, Wednesday 12 October) in Stage One at Northern Stage comprised three parts; two new pieces and a revival of the critically acclaimed Storyville. Set in 1920s New Orleans, Christopher Hampson’s tale of Nola, a wide-eyed farm girl lured by the bright lights of the Big Easy, examines enduring themes – ambition, love, the high-life, ill-advised dalliances with low-life characters. Set to the music of Kurt Weill (Walter Huston is heard singing Ulysses Africanus (Lost in the Stars), Eniko Szilagyi’s recordings, in French, of Je ne’taime pas and J’attends un navire evoke the period, and selections from the London Sinfonietta’s recording of  Threepenny Opera), Cira Robinson (Nola) gave a spell-binding performance of the naïve country girl who will, ultimately, be taken from us in a Mahogany Hall-swirling vortex of dollars and dimes, bar flies and bourbon, and Jelly Roll jazz.

Nola casts aside Sailor (Damien Johnson) in favour of Lulu White’s promises of jewels, liquor and good times. Sayaka Ichikawa (Lulu) is Nola’s nemesis; we know the outcome, we implore Nola to take a different path. Nola dances/drinks herself into oblivion. Ballet Black’s eight-strong troupe deservedly won several curtain calls.

Earlier, Cristaux (Arthur Pita, choreography) glittered as a duet piece featuring Robinson and Mthuthuzeli November dancing to an insistent clockwork jewelry box chiming theme by composer Steve Reich. South African November joined the company in 2015 and this energetic performance enthralled Newcastle’s informed dance audience. A second newly devised work – To Begin, Begin (Christopher Marney, choreography) – called upon six of the company’s dancers to interpret the dance maker’s vision. The score (composer Dustin O’Halloran) punctuated the troupe’s constantly shifting movements across the Stage One minimalist set.
Russell.
Ballet Black: Cira Robinson, Sayaka Ichikawa, Isabela Coracy, Marie-Astrid Mence, Damien Johnson, José Alves, Mthuthuzeli November, Jacob Wye                           

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