Bebop Spoken There

Ethan Hawke (starring as Lorenz Hart in Blue Moon): ''Larry [Lorenz] Hart would be so happy that his music and his words and his poetry are still alive.'' - The Northern Echo 27 November 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

18000 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 964 of them this year alone and, so far, 73 this month (Nov. 24).

From This Moment On ...

DECEMBER 2025

Fri 05: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 05: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 05: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 05: Jazzy Xmas @ Redhills, Durham. 7:30-10:00pm. £10.00., £9.00., £8.00. Miners’ Hall, Flass St., Durham. Feat. Durham University Big Band & Durham University Jazz Orchestra.
Fri 05: Castillo Nuevo Trio @ Hotel Gotham, Newcastle. 5:30pm. Free.
Fri 05: Alligator Gumbo @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm. £16.96. Saltburn Jazz Xmas Party.

Sat 06: Sarah Spencer’s Transatlantic Band @ St Augustine’s Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm. £10.00.
Sat 06: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. £27.50. Tutor: Steve Glendinning. Minor Swing. Enrol at: learning@jazz.coop.
Sat 06: Jeff Hewer Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 06: NUJO Jazz Jam @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm (doors). £3.76 (inc. bf).
Sat 06: Kaberry Big Band @ The Seahorse, Whitley Bay. 7:30pm (7:00pm doors). £15.00. (inc. hot buffet). ‘Christmas 1945’. Kaberry Big Band, formerly Vermont Big Band.
Sat 06: Smokin’ Spitfires @ Platform 1, Bedlington. 7:30pm. £6.00. Rhythm & blues.
Sat 06: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00. Xmas Party with buffet.
Sat 06: The Jive Aces @ The Witham, Barnard Castle. 8:00pm. £22.00., £20.00.
Sat 06: Brass Fiesta @ Revoluçion de Cuba, Newcastle. 10:30pm. Free.

Sun 07: Ian Bosworth Quintet @ Chapel, Middlesbrough. 1:00pm. Free. Feat. special guest Donna Hewitt (sax, clarinet).
Sun 07: Finn-Keeble Group @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00pm. £10.00.
Sun 07: Sax Choir @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 07: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Skerritt w. backing tapes.
Sun 07: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 2:30pm. Free. Trio + Ruth Lambert.
Sun 07: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 07: Jason Isaacs Big Band @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 5:15pm (4:00pm doors). £21.50 (inc. bf).
Sun 07: Paul Skerritt @ 3 Stories, High St. West, Sunderland. 6:30pm. Skerritt w. backing tapes.
Sun 07: Lindsay Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Support set from Play More Jazz! course participants. Note earlier start.

Mon 08: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 09: Jazz Jam Sandwich @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm

Wed 10: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 10: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 10: Jam Session @ The Tannery, Hexham. 7:00pm. Free.
Wed 10: Mike Lindup Jazz Trio @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £26.50 (inc. bf). Lindup, Yolanda Charles (bass), John Sam (drums).
Wed 10: Bold Big Band @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £12.00.

Thu 11: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: West Coast (cool ) / Wordsearch (cool) Cool Jazz or ‘Cold’, ‘Cool’, ‘Hot’, ‘Warm’ in the title or lyrics.
Thu 11: George Robinson @ Prohibition Bar, Albert Road, Middlesbrough TS1 2RU. 7:00pm (doors). £5.42 (inc. bf). Vienna’s Voice charity evening featuring ’15 year old singing sensation the ‘Redcar Crooner’ George Robinson’. Over 35s only.
Thu 11: Paul Skerritt @ Chakh Dhoom, Jesmond, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Indian restaurant. Skerritt w. back tapes.
Thu 11: Ransom Van @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm.
Thu 11: Down for the Count Swing Orchestra @ Middlesbrough Town Hall. 7:30pm. £37.70 (inc. bf). ‘Swing into Xmas’.

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

Saturday, February 11, 2017

Alan Barnes with Paul Edis and Friends @ Opus 4 Jazz Club. Feb 10


 Alan Barnes (alto sax & clarinet), Paul Edis (piano), Francis Tulip (guitar), Mick Shoulder (double bass) & Russ Morgan (drums)
(Review by Russell/photos courtesy of Jerry)
The Traveller’s Rest doesn’t in anyway resemble the many iconic images of the New York skyline. A suburban public house in Darlington is a million miles from NYC. Thinking about it, it’s more like 3500 miles. This Friday evening the Coxhoe-based Sonnet 43 Brewery occupied one of the many hand pulls on the bar. A pint of Yellow Cab (an American style lager) was the obvious choice. Hey, bartender, gimme a pint of that Yellow Cab! Punters came in off the sidewalk…There’s a jazz gig here tonite, right? The bartender replied: Upstairs, take the stairs, no elevator.
Opus 4 Jazz Club convenes once a month in the no-elevator upstairs room at no.2 West Auckland Road. Tonight’s gig generated unprecedented interest necessitating reservations being taken days before Alan Barnes arrived to play a gig in the company of his friend, the fine pianist Paul Edis. At short notice Edis was to be late arriving in Darlington. To quote A Barnes: Paul has been taken of that rock and roll illness…money! What to do? Make a first call to a first class guitarist, that’s what. Francis Tulip, currently studying at Birmingham Conservatoire, made the trip north to dep for buck-chasing Edis (only kidding, Paul!). An explanation is due – an offer to open for Madeleine Peyroux at Sage Gateshead isn’t one to turn down, so Edis took the gig. You would, wouldn’t you? 
As Edis took to the stage in Gateshead, Alan Barnes and Francis Tulip decided to play some jazz. Rehearsal? No. Top and tail a couple of charts? No. Barnes knew Tulip could play (they shared the stand at last year’s Ushaw Durham Jazz Festival) and in the estimable company of Mick Shoulder (bass) and Russ Morgan (drums) this promised to be something special. On Green Dolphin Street for openers, Barnes leading the way, Tulip to follow. Darlington regulars knew all about A Barnes, now they now about F Tulip. The senior man suggested Donna Lee (your scribe scribbling WOW! and that’s before they played a note of it!). Barnes to Tulip: You’re tempo. Well, how about typical Donna Lee breakneck? Tulip set off at the speed of light, the killing tempo stretching bassist Mick Shoulder to the limit, drummer Morgan likewise. Barnes was up for it, bop alto paradise!
Bluesette with Barnes on clarinet was right up Mick Shoulder’s Manouche thoroughfare, the gig a delight, Paul Edis nowhere in sight. The interval: Edis arrives, just in time for the raffle. A quick set up and we were ready for more. East of the Sun and West of the Moon (Shoulder’s classy solo), a One Note Samba, with, as Barnes observed, many notes somewhere in the middle, and a fabulous Laura, normal order had been restored – Edis’ chordal contribution adding to Tulip’s. How High the Moon?, Body and Soul, this was the gig that just kept on giving.
Russell.                               
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