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Bebop Spoken There

Trevor Mires: ''My mum is a Dean Martin fan: I'm not, so I would grab my skateboard and get out of the house whenever I heard "Everybody Loves Somebody, Sometime." ". (Jazzwise, April 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

17957 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 278 of them this year alone and, so far, 34 this month (April 14).

From This Moment On ...

April 2025.

Wed 16: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 16: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 16: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. CANCELLED!

Thu 17: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: Only Six Standards.
Thu 17: Redwell @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Fri 18: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 18: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 18: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 18: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 1:00-2:45pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Fri 18: Jason Isaacs @ STACK, Seaburn. 3:30-5:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.

Fri 18: Alexia Gardner @ Fika Gallery, Oldgate, Morpeth NE61 1LT. 7:00pm. Trio (Gardner, Alan Law, Jude Murphy).RESCHEDULED FOR JUNE 13

Fri 18: Sarah Jane Morris & Tony Remy: The Sisterhood @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £25.00.

Sat 19: Jason Isaacs @ STACK, Exchange Sq., Middlesbrough. 1:00-3:00pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 19: Joseph Carville Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 19: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 20: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 20: Salty Dog @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 20: Spilt Milk @ STACK, Exchange Sq., Middlesbrough. 7:00-9:00pm. Free. Nolan Brothers (vocal harmonies).
Sun 20: Tweed River Jazz Band @ The Barrels Ale House, Berwick-upon-Tweed. 7:00pm. Free.
Sun 20: C.A.L.I.E @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 21: Newcastle Record Fair @ Copthorne Hotel, Newcastle. 10:00am. Going in search of the Buddy Bolden cylinder…
Mon 21: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 22: Abbie Finn Trio @ Newcastle House Hotel, Rothbury. 7:30pm. Coquetdale Jazz.

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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