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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

17755 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 76 of them this year alone and, so far, 1 this month (Feb.1).

From This Moment On ...

February 2025

Sat 08: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 12:30-2:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 08: Jason Isaacs @ Seaburn STACK, Seaburn. 3:30-5:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 08: Milne Glendinning Band @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 08: Lewis Watson Quartet @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 7:30pm. £15.00. at the door; £14.35. (inc £0.35 bf) online, in advance.
Sat 08: Anth Purdy @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. ‘Swing Jazz Guitar’.
Sat 08: NUJO Jazz Jam @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A Newcastle University Jazz Orchestra event. All welcome.

Sun 09: The New ’58 Jazz Collective @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 09: Am Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 09: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 09: Glenn Miller & Big Band Spectacular @ The Forum, Billingham. 3:00pm.
Sun 09: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 09: Tom Remon & Mark Williams @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 09: Rod Oughton’s Tomorrow’s New Quartet with Ben van Helder @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Line-up inc. Deschanel Gordon.
Sun 09: Jazz Jam @ Fabio’s, Saddler St., Durham. 8:00pm. Free. A Durham University Jazz Society promotion. All welcome.

Mon 10: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 11: Steve Summers Quintet @ Newcastle House Hotel, Rothbury. 7:30pm.

Wed 12: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 12: Jam session @ The Tannery, Gilesgate, Hexham. 7:00-9:00pm. Free.
Wed 12: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 12: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 13: Student Performances @ King’s Hall, Newcastle University. 4:00pm. Free. Inc. Olly Styles (tenor sax).
Thu 13: MOBO Awards Fringe 2025: Artist Showcase @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 7:00pm. Free (ticketed). Line-up inc. Hannabiell & Midnight Blue.
Thu 13: Indigo Jazz Voices @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:45pm. £5.00.

Fri 14: John Rowland Trio @ Jesmond Library, Newcastle. 12:30-1:30pm. £5.00. at the door. New second Friday in the month concert series.
Fri 14: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 14: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 14: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 14: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 4:00-6:00pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Fri 14: Archipelago + Anna Tempest @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm. £12.00., £10.00., £8.00.
Fri 14: Paul Jones & Dave Kelly @ Alnwick Playhouse. 7:30pm. Rhythm & blues.
Fri 14: Alexia Gardner Quintet @ The White Room, Stanley. 7:45pm.
Fri 14: Jazz Sabbath @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm.

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

Monday, November 21, 2016

Peter Gilligan Quartet @ Black Bull, Blaydon. Nov 20

 Peter Gilligan (keyboards), Roly Veitch (guitar & vocals), Paul Grainger (double bass) & Rob Walker (drums)
(Review by Russell/Photos courtesy of Minnie Fraser and Russell)
At short notice Peter Gilligan stepped into the breach to replace the previously advertised attraction. Blaydon Jazz Club is known as a bastion of the Great American Songbook and pianist Gilligan is well acquainted with it. Working with club promoter Roly Veitch there was never any doubt they would come up with a set list to win the approval of the Bridge Street audience.
On a cold November Sunday evening, the competing attraction of this year’s BBC Sports Personality of the Year – it’s a foregone conclusion! – dispatching Novak Djokovic at the ATP World Tour Finals on BBC television and Christmas just around the corner, it was a heartening sight to see familiar faces making the effort, determined to Keep Music Live as the Musicians’ Union would have it.
Johnny Green’s Out of Nowhere opened the programme. The standard set, Messrs Veitch, Gilligan, Grainger and Walker maintained it throughout the evening. Gilligan’s long time bassist Paul Grainger, at the best of times in cruise control, had this one in the pocket and the presence of the versatile Rob Walker ensured a GAS booker’s delight. A first vocal of the evening came Veitch’s way on East of the Sun with sympathetic support from PG, PG and RW, piano, bass and drums respectively. Charlie Haden’s Our Spanish Love Song – a  post-GASbook modern standard – impressed Veitch. This was, perhaps, the first time that the Black Bull had heard the revered bassist/composer’s tune. It sat nicely with all.

Jerome Kern’s Long Ago and Far Away with lyrics by Ira Gershwin afforded Roly Veitch a second opportunity to sing, once again with simpatico accompaniment. Sonora featured Veitch the guitarist; soloist and quartet excelling. Veitch suggested the composer was one of the under-rated talents in jazz history – the name, Hampton Hawes. Bop trumpeter and composer Kenny Dorham’s Blue Bossa heard solos from all four musicians with a master class in hand drumming by Rob Walker, a fitting finale to a most enjoyable first set.

I Remember April (comp. Gene de Paul) picked up where the quartet left off: an effortless – or so it seemed! – reading of a classic number with guitarist Veitch taking it home. Ray Noble’s The Touch of Your Lips heard Veitch the vocalist, with pianist Gilligan fleetingly quoting The Surrey with the Fringe on Top. Roly Veitch admires fellow guitarist Jim Hall and alluded to a similarity in structure of  the great American’s Waltz New and Some Day My Price Will Come. Two compositions, a shared chord progression, a ‘contrafact’ as any musician would recognise.

A bossa Flamingo then Sam Rivers’ Beatrice a vehicle for Peter Gilligan, with a fine solo from Paul Grainger and, before we knew it, time to go, but not before a double-time take on All God’s Children Got Rhythm.
 Next month – December 18 – it’s Roly Veitch, Paul Grainger and David Francis (drums) with guests James Birkett (guitar) and Goodman clarinet virtuoso George MacDonald.
Russell.

1 comment :

Anonymous said...

Very nice to hear The Musician,s Union to get a mention.
Raymond Newton Double Bass/ Cello/ Bass Guitar

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