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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

17719 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 39 of them this year alone and, so far, 39 this month (Jan. 15).

From This Moment On ...

January 2025

Wed 15: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 15: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 15: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 15: Hot Club of Heaton @ Elder Beer, Heaton, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘third Wednesday in the month’ session. TBC.

Thu 16: Pete Tanton & the Cuban Heels @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Fri 17: Lindsay Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 17: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 17: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 17: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 17: Joe Steels Trio w. Graham Hardy @ The Pele, Corbridge. 7:00pm. £10.00. (inc. a welcome drink & table reservation). Book at: www.drinks@thepele.co.uk. A ‘Jazz at the Pele’ promotion.
Fri 17: Russ Morgan Quartet @ Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. Opus 4 Jazz Club.
Fri 17: Redwell @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sat 18: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 18: Alter Ego + Jamie Toms/Graham Don Duo @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 7:30pm. £15.00. at the door; £14.35. (inc £0.35 bf) online, in advance.
Sat 18: Tweed River Jazz Band @ Repas 7 by Night, West St., Berwick TD15 1AS. 7:30pm. Free. Album launch gig.
Sat 18: Delta Prophets @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 19: Glenn Miller Orchestra UK @ Glasshouse, Gateshead. 3:00pm. ‘Glenn Miller & the Rat Pack Era’.
Sun 19: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 19: Spilt Milk @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 5:15-7:00pm. Free. Nolan Brothers (vocal harmonies).
Sun 19: Tenement Jazz Band @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 19: Nick Ross Orchestra @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 7:30pm.
Sun 19: Freight Train (Tobin/Noble/Clarvis) @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 20: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 21: ???

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

Friday, November 11, 2016

Mike Durham’s Classic Jazz Party @ The Village Hotel. Nov 6, evening

(Review by Russell/Photo courtesy of Patti Durham & Emrah Erken.)
The last lap. Three full days of jazz, non-stop from noon ’til late, later for those up for an early hours jam session, this year’s Classic Jazz Party drew to a close on Sunday evening with four concerts and yet another late night jam session.

Keith Nichols’ Ragtime Orchestra resplendent in evening wear played ragtime from the masters of the idiom – Scott Joplin to Jelly Roll Morton. Creole Bells – a ‘cakewalk’ said Nichols – circa 1900, Joseph Lamb’s Ethiopia and two pieces by Irving Berlin. The band revelled in the music put together by the authoritative Nichols, none more than the pianist on this session, Morten Gunnar Larsen. The Norwegian played two solo pieces including James P Johnson’s Daintiness Rag. Ragtime – and stride piano – can have a mesmerising effect and at the end of his two-tune recital Larsen rang his hands, smiling broadly as the audience applauded long and loud. Nichols invited tuba player Richard Pite to step out of the shadows to tackle Ragtime Tuba Player. As Pite (and tuba) made his way to the front of the stage he quipped: I’ve been looking forward to this! Mock terror soon dissipated as Pite demonstrated astounding facility on the instrument! Jelly Roll Morton’s The Perfect Rag encapsulated a wonderful hour with Keith Nichols’ Ragtime Orchestra.

Autumn 1924. Louis Armstrong joined Fletcher Henderson in New York. Claus Jacobi’s   Smack and Louis travelled with Louis from Chicago to his year-long stay with Fletcher Henderson in the Big Apple. Jacobi played bass saxophone on Carolina Stomp (trans. K. Nichols), Bent Persson’s muted solo on The Meanest Kind of Blues impressed with Jean-François Bonnel and Lars Frank offering first class support on clarinets. The trumpeter’s efforts on Sugarfoot Stomp met with the band’s approving chorus: Oh! Play That Thing! Rico Tomasso sang Everybody Loves My Baby, preceding a festival highlight: American cornet/trumpet star Andy Schumm standing tall as he played Shanghai Shuffle.

Bent’s Hot Jazz Trio plus Two heard more from the Swedish trumpet ace: Basin Street Blues, a swift Steamboat Stomp raised the roof and guitarist Jacob Ullberger featured on Bechet’s When the Sun Sets Down South.

The final concert of the 2016 Classic Jazz Party retained the winning formula of getting Keith Nichols and Josh Duffee together and asking them to come up with something a bit special. Duffee hails from one of the most evocative locations in the history of the music:  Davenport, Iowa. Nichols comes from Wanstead Flats…someone has to. No matter, they are masters of the music. Drummer Duffee knows his Jean Goldkette as well as most and that’s what we got. Red Nichols featured in the programme with the Jack Teagarden take on China Boy, there was some Chick Webb and a hot Don Redman arrangement for the Goldkette band of The Stampede. Trumpeters Rico Tomasso and Andy Schumm played a blinder on I’ll Be a Friend with Pleasure. First Tomasso, then Schumm with Bix’s actual solo! Maestro Nichols sang Hot Feet and for an encore the orchestra went to Copenhagen and back.

Sunday evening, eleven o’clock. All done…for some. Duke Heitger led a jam session in the hotel’s in-house Victory pub until the cows came home.
Mike Durham’s Classic Jazz Party was a huge success: three days (and nights) without a major hitch, full houses and lots of great jazz. And, the fantastic news is that next year’s festival has been confirmed. Those all important dates for your diary (next year’s festival will be one week earlier than usual) are…Friday 27-Sunday 29 October 2017.       

Russell.
Photo shows Patti Durham and Jonathon Holmes 'winding down' after a hectic weekend.

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