Bebop Spoken There

Donovan Haffner ('Best Newcomer' 2025 Parliamentary Jazz Awards): ''I got into jazz the first time I picked up a saxophone!" - Jazzwise Dec 25/Jan 26

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

18146 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 24 of them this year alone and, so far this month (Jan. 7), 24

From This Moment On ...

JANUARY 2026

Sat 10: Mark Toomey Quintet @ St Peter’s Church, Stockton-on-Tees. 7:30pm. £12.00. (inc. pie & peas). Tickets from: 07749 255038.

Sun 11: New ’58 Jazz Collective @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 11: Am Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 11: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 11: Eva Fox & the Sound Hounds @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 12: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 12: Saltburn Big Band @ Saltburn House Hotel. 7:00-9:00pm. Free.

Tue 13: Milne Glendinning Band @ Newcastle House Hotel, Rothbury. 7:30pm. £11.00. Coquetdale Jazz.
Tue 13: Jazz Jam Sandwich @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Wed 14: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 14: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 14: Jam Session @ The Tannery, Hexham. 7:00pm. Free.
Wed 14: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 15: Mark Toomey Quartet @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm. Free. Quartet + guest Paul Donnelly (guitar).

Fri 16: Giles Strong Quartet @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. £8.00. SOLD OUT!
Fri 16: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 16: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 16: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 16: Darlington Big Band @ The Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. Opus 4 Jazz Club.
Fri 16: Leeds City Stompers @ Billy Bootleggers, Newcastle. 9:00pm. Free.

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

Thursday, December 15, 2016

What the Dickens? A Jazz Christmas Carol!!!

That most Dickensian of characters Alan Barnes returns to Ushaw College this Saturday  to read from Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. The virtuoso reedsman will enjoy the company of several fellow British jazz musicians in this most seasonal of gigs. They will be playing Barnes’ music in a setting of Dickens’ much-loved perennial. Joining Barnes are the bona fide A-listers Bruce Adams, Mark Nightingale, Robert Fowler, Karen Sharp, Dave Newton, Simon Thorpe and Clark Tracey!

Far from playing Scrooge, Ushaw College is all but giving away this Christmas goodie. A line-up such as this should set you back £15, £20 perhaps. Oh, no it won’t! You can buy a ticket for the princely sum of SEVEN POUNDS. Don’t tell Ushaw College that this is the bargain of the year, simply book now, before there is a price hike! Phone 0191 334 5119, buy a ticket, then buy another one, they’re such a bargain. The concert starts at 7:30pm in the Exhibition Hall at Ushaw College, signposted from Neville’s Cross on the outskirts of Durham City, on Saturday 17 December. This year Christmas will be coming early!

Russell.
A Dickens Addendum
Just announced are the 2016 British Jazz Award winners. And, it just so happens, several of them will be at Ushaw College, Durham on Saturday (17 December). Alan Barnes will be presenting his A Jazz Christmas Carol with his star-studded octet which boasts award winners galore! Barnes himself takes the clarinet award, Mark Nightingale tops the 2016 trombone poll and Clark Tracey wins the best drummer category.
Trumpet ace Bruce Adams makes the top five, Karen Sharp and Robert Fowler are placed second and third in the tenor sax list, Simon Thorpe, bass, comes in at number four with a  famous name taking the honours - Dankworth, Alec. Pianist Dave Newton finishes runner up to Jason Rebello, and Alan Barnes and Karen Sharp placed third and fourth behind the organ wizard Ross Stanley in the Miscellaneous Instrument category (baritone saxophone being their ‘misc’ instrument).     
So, there will be award winners in every pew at Ushaw College this Saturday (17 Dec), it could be advisable to book your ticket now on 0191 334 5119.    
Russell.
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