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Bebop Spoken There

George Porter Jr.: ''To me, syncopation is like jazz. It wasn't meant for the masses. It was meant just for a hip few". (DownBeat, May 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

18069 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 390 of them this year alone and, so far, 68 this month (May 222).

From This Moment On ...

MAY 2025

Sat 24: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 12:30-2:15pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 24: Tyne Valley Big Band @ Bywell Hall, Stocksfield. 1:30pm. Northumberland County Show.
Sat 24: Jason Isaacs @ STACK, Seaburn. 3:30-5:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 24: Ray Stubbs R&B All Stars @ The Peacock, Sunderland. 6:00pm.
Sat 24: Dean Stockdale Quartet + Mingus Sings @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 7:00pm. Admission: see website: www.queenshall.co.uk. Stockdale (piano); Tim Williams (guitar); Gavin Barras (double bass); Gaz Hughes (drums) + Mingus Sings: Sara Oschlag (vocals); Alan Barnes (reeds); Tim Lapthorn (piano); Arnie Somogyi (double bass); Clark Tracey (drums). A Northumberland Jazz Festival event.
Sat 24: Joseph Carville Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 24: Saltburn Big Band @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm. £12.00.
Sat 24: NUJO Jazz Jam @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 8:00pm (7:00pm doors). £3.00. + bf.
Sat 24: Papa G’s Troves @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 25: Northern Monkey Brass Band @ Spanish City Plaza (outdoor stage). 11:30am & 1:00pm. Free. A Whitley Bay Carnival event.
Sun 25: Zoë Gilby & Andy Champion: Bandstand Sessions @ The Sele, Hexham. 12 noon. Free. A Northumberland Jazz Festival event.
Sun 25: Musicians Unlimited @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 25: Ruth Lambert Trio @ Juke Shed, North Shields. 1:30pm. Free.
Sun 25: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 25: Catriona Bourne Quartet @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm. Admission: see website: www.queenshall.co.uk. Bourne (harp), Francis Tulip (guitar), James Owston (double bass), Joe Bainbridge (drums). A Northumberland Jazz Festival event.
Sun 25: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 25: Struggle Buggy @ The Tyne Bar, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. Blues.
Sun 25: Joe Steels Group + Norma Winstone (vocals); Nikki Iles (piano); Mike Walker (guitar); Steve Watts (double bass). 7:00pm. Admission: see website: www.queenshall.co.uk. Steels (guitar); Ferg Kilsby (trumpet, flugelhorn); Ben Lawrence (piano); Paul Susans (double bass); John Hirst (drums). A Northumberland Jazz Festival event.
Sun 25: Jazz Jam Sandwich! @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 25: Xhosa Cole/Neil Charles/Mark Sanders @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A JNE promotion. Note: Xhosa Cole replaces Nicole Mitchell.

Mon 26: Catriona Bourne Quartet @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 1:00pm. £9.00. at the door; £8.20. (inc £0.20 bf) online, in advance.
Mon 26: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 27: Bold Big Band @ Newcastle Arts Centre, Newcastle. 7:00pm (doors). £12.00. & £10.00.
Tue 27: Alexia Gardner Quintet @ Newcastle House Hotel, Front St., Rothbury NE65 7UT.7:30pm. £12.00.; £10.00. adv. from Tully’s (opp. venue).

Wed 28: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 28: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 28: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 29: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: That’s the Blues, Dad.
Thu 29: Nova.sol + Mikoudi @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Thu 29: Front Porch Three @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Americana, blues etc.

p>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: Rivkala @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Fri 30: Ian Millar & Dominic Spencer @ Middleton & Tonbridge Village Hall. 7:30pm.

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

Tuesday, November 08, 2016

Mike Durham’s Classic Jazz Party @ The Village Hotel. Nov 4, evening

(Review by Russell/photo courtesy of Patti Durham & Emrah Erken)
After dinner, Hot Strings guitarists Martin Wheatley and Spats Langham entertained the audience with their typically understated, largely unamplified, duo set. Diners returned to the concert hall, claimed their allocated table for the evening, and readied themselves for Keith Nichols’ command: Stomp off, Let’s go! The American big guns sat alongside the European reeds section; Bix’s man, Andy Schumm and Duke Heitger, trumpets, with Jim Fryer, trombone, making his debut at the Village Hotel, added lustre to the occasion. The reeds – the versatile Robert Fowler, the excellent Richard Exall and the impressive young Norwegian Lars Frank – demonstrated that the music of 20s Chicago has long-since been assimilated by musicians this side of the Atlantic. A busy Spats Langham returned to the engine room to knock out the rhythm (guitar and banjo) with sousaphone master Mr Phil Rutherford and the amazing Nick Ball, percussion. Nichols, in good humour, cracked his usual quota of one-liners in between directing from the Kawai piano, finding time to take a swipe at Earl Hines, no less! It was, of course, self-deprecating, jocular fun, cursing the piano great for leaving a difficult legacy to uphold. It should be noted Mr Keith Nichols acquitted himself admirably. Later vocalist Mellow Baku (pictured) joined the orchestra. More of Ms Baku later.
Annette Hanshaw sang for half an hour in the company of piano accompanist Mr Martin Litton. Our vocalist was, of course, Ms Janice Day. A small combo setting of Emma Fisk, Martin Wheatley, bassist Malcolm Sked and urbane reedsman Jean-Francois Bonnel gave Hanshaw/Day the opportunity to shine, singing You’re the Cream in My Coffee (of which Day informed the full house that Marlene Deitrich sang the number screen testing for The Blue Angel), Button Up Tour Overcoat and Am I Blue?

The New Orleans Wanderers arrived on North Tyneside without Louis Armstrong. Bent Persson, cornet, took the part of Louis’ dep George Mitchell (contractual arrangements in 1926 excluded Armstrong from a studio recording date) in what was, effectively, the Hot Five. The participation of Thomas Winteler, reeds, underscored the historical accuracy of the Chicago session of ninety years ago. Bent Persson’s set drew on the arranger’s talents of Claus Jacobi and Graham Hughes' passable take on Kid Ory in playing a great set with tunes including Gatemouth and a hot Too Tough.

Friday’s closing set presented The Music of Alex Hill. Pianist, composer and arranger, in 2016 Hill is an almost forgotten figure. Leonard Feather described Alex Hill thus: One of the better and less recognized arrangers of the early swing era. Menno Daams’ one hour review of Hill’s all-too-short career (Hill was dead at thirty) featured Rico Tomasso and Duke Heitger, trumpets, Frenchmen Jean-François Bonnel and Henri Lemaire, the larger than life Richard Pite, drums and the most impressive David Boeddinghaus (piano). I’m Crazy About My Baby set the bar high, yet greater heights were achieved tune after tune.      
A superb end to events in the concert hall. A jam session followed into the small hours in the adjoining Victory pub. 
Russell.                

2 comments :

Anonymous said...

Another fab day and evening - jazz heaven!
The photo credit should read Emrah Erken, by the way.

Lance said...

Apologies - now corrected.

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