Bebop Spoken There

Dominick "Domo" Branch: ''Most people say drummers can't write, they're just time-keepers only beating on things. But I have a very musical brain.'' (DownBeat February, 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

18288 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 18 years ago. 142 of them this year alone and, so far this month (Feb. 14), 42

From This Moment On ...

February

Thu 19: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £5.00. Subject: George Shearing Jazz Moments.

Fri 20: Alex Clarke w. Dean Stockdale Trio @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT! Clarke w. Dean Stockdale, Mick Shoulder, Abbie Finn.
Fri 20: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 20: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 20: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 20: Squabble @ Warkworth Memorial Hall. 7:00pm. Steve Chambers (organ); Jude Murphy (double bass, vocals); Sid White (drums).
Fri 20: Jive Aces @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 7:00pm (6:30pm doors).
Fri 20: Alex Clarke w. Dean Stockdale Trio @ Sunderland Minster. 7:30pm. Clarke w. Dean Stockdale, Mick Shoulder, Abbie Finn.

Sat 21: ???

Sun 22: Musicians Unlimited: Big Band Blast @ West Hartlepool RFC. 1:00-3:00pm . Free.
Sun 22: Joe Steels Group @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm. A Blue Patch album tour.
Sun 22: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 22: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 22: Harben Kay Quartet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 23: Joe Steels Group @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 1:00pm. A Blue Patch album tour.
Mon 23: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 24: Finn-Keeble Group @ Newcastle House Hotel, Rothbury. 7:30pm. £11.00.
Tue 24: Liam Oliver & Shayo Oshodi @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 26: Castillo Nuevo Orquesta @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £6.50.
Thu 26: Shalala @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £7.00 adv.
Thu 26: Mick Cantwell Band @ The Harbour View, Roker, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Blues.

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

Sunday, November 06, 2016

Big Muddy @ The Globe Jazz Bar on Bonfire Night

(Review by Ann Alex/photo from archives)
We didn’t need fireworks at the Globe as we had our own in musical form. The horns struck up for a prompt start, soon followed by the whole band doing a couple of tunes that I should have known the names of, good and lively anyway. Jude came on with a rollicking version of Black Velvet, a recent song which sounded so good that it could have been written ages ago, as she explained. And Jude was on top form, spirited, raunchy singing, looking so cool in long black boots and black peaked cap, black and white short skirt and top. (The men were mostly clad in black tops and jeans, I never just describe women’s attire, that’s against Feminist rules).

Brubeck’s Broadway Bossa, not often played, had the brass in harmony and Dave on shaker;  then Dave sang Don’t Get Around Much anymore, a slow, bluesy, speakeasy version led by muted cornet  and Dave asking people to join in, as if it was a folk club, said Jude. No-one did. Jude then told us that I Wish I Could Shimmy Like My Sister Kate, which apparently is not just about a dance, then Gordon played clarinet on a Dixieland number. Fine Brown Frame, sang Jude, and she didn’t mean a picture frame, quite a night for double meanings as she pointed out. This included a distinctive muted trombone solo. To round off the first set, we were treated to a Blues Brothers tune and Dave enthusiastically telling us about Mustang Sally.
A short flute intro heralded the second set which included Come Home Baby; Stolen Moments, with a very smooth trombone and Dave on vocals; Herbie Hancock’s Canteloupe Island with Gordon beating it out on claves. A sad, Got To Get Better, sang with feeling by Jude; Horace Silver’s Song For My Father, actually written for his father; Dave singing a spirited Georgia on my Mind (Hoagy Carmichael); then Gordon struck up on the vocal of Big Noise (From Winetka?), with jungle-like drums and – at last - a skilled bass guitar solo. A great evening’s performance was rounded off with Dave singing Silver’s The Preacher, which is, as we all know, based on the chords of Show Me the Way to Go Home. So home I went, well content after a great night of music.

Ann Alex     
Jude Murphy (vocals, bass guitar, flute); Dave Weisser  (vocals, cornet, shaker); Gordon Brown (alto sax, clarinet, claves); John Haylock (baritone sax); Nigel Robson (piano, trombone); Lionel Hehir (guitar); Stu Holiday (drums).

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