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Bebop Spoken There

Steve Coleman: ''If you don't keep learning, your mind slows down. Use it or lose it''. (DownBeat, January 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

17733 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 53 of them this year alone and, so far, 53 this month (Jan. 20).

From This Moment On ...

January 2025

Wed 22: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 22: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 22: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 22: Pasadena Roof Orchestra @ Fire Station, Sunderland. 7:30pm.

Thu 23: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, Holystone. 1:00pm. Free. Fortnightly.
Thu 23: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: Obituaries 2024.
Thu 23: Jason Isaacs @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 4:30-6:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Thu 23: Pedal Point Trio @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Fri 24: Zoë Gilby Quartet @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 24: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 24: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 24: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 24: Creakin’ Bones & the Sunday Dinners @ Lindisfarne Social Club, Wallsend. 9:00pm. Admission: TBC. Jazz, blues , jump jive, rock ‘n’ roll.

Sat 25: Boys of Brass @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 3:30-5:30pm. Free.
Sat 25: New '58 Jazz Collective @ Jackson's Wharf, Hartlepool. 6:30pm (doors). Free. A Burns' Night event. Jazz, swing, funk, soul, blues etc.
Sat 25: Edison Herbert Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 25: Red Kites Jazz @ Parish Hall, St Barnabas’ Church, Rowlands Gill. 7:30pm. £10.00. BYOB (tea & coffee available), raffle. Proceeds to St Barnabas’ Church. Performance feat. Shayo (vocals).
Sat 25: Jack & Jay’s Songbook @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 26: Musicians Unlimited @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 26: Graham Hardy Eclectic Quartet @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm.
Sun 26: Ruth Lambert Trio @ The Juke Shed, Union Quay, North Shields. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 26: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 26: Jazz Jam Sandwich! @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 26: Tweed River Jazz Band @ Barrels Ale House, Berwick-upon-Tweed. 7:30pm. Free.
Sun 26: Gratkowski, Tramontana, Beresford, Affifi @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £12.00. JNE.
Sun 26: Jazz Jam @ Fabio’s, Saddler St., Durham. 8:00pm. Free. A Durham University Jazz Society promotion. All welcome.

Mon 27: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 28: ???

Wed 29: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 29: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 29: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).

Thu 30: Matters Unknown (aka Jonathan Enser, Nubiyan Twist) + support TBA @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 8:00pm (7:00pm doors). £12.22 (gig & food); £9:04 (gig only).
Thu 30: Soznak @ The Mill Tavern, Hebburn. 8:00pm. Free.
Thu 30: Struggle Buggy @ Harbour View, Roker, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Rhythm & blues.

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 25, 2017

Mo Scott Band @ The Jazz Café - February 24

Mo Scott (vocals); Dave Dryden (guitar); Neil Harland (bass guitar); Paul Smith (drums).
(Review by Lance/Photo courtesy of Mike Tilley).
Jazz gig? Rock gig? Blues gig?
Yes to all three!
The genres drew from each other and merged.
Mo shouts the blues like a woman 3 times her size (to be a blues mama you've gotta tip the scales at, at least, 20 stone) but she can also sing a ballad like the slender chick that she is and when it comes to rockin', Mo's your first call for a Saturday Night Fish Fry.
Well, as it was only Friday, there weren't no fish frying but there was a whole lot of cookin' on stage.
It had been awhile since I'd last heard Mo and, I suppose I felt a bit blasé about the whole affair. Lots of time spent setting up. Jacks plugged in here, others unplugged there. Where was the roadie? the sound engineer? the singer?
Mo was all three!
The Empress T-Bone Walkered us with Let Your Hair Down Baby before going into Hound Dog. The engine room were firing on all cylinders, Dave Dryden, a new name to me, - well he would be, he's from Stokesley which is somewhere south of Stockton but, alternating between red Strat and white Strat, he did his hometown proud - perhaps, one day they'll put up a blue(s) plaque in his honour, Neil Harland is a familiar and formidable figure across the music scene and never more so than when wielding his 1962 Fender Jazz back of Mo.
Paul Smith personifies power drumming. Big band, small band, any band, he drives it like few can.
Ry Cooder's Don't Make Your Move Too Soon; a frenetic version of Fever; Billie Holiday; Nina Simone; Stevie Ray Vaughan and Muddy Waters coupled with a sizzling instrumental brought the first set to a close. The room was full and we all knew why - class!
It's not just the voice - and what a voice! - it's also the stage presence, the terpsichorean-like movements of her hands, and the ability to work a room.
Sadly, because of the later start, I only caught a couple of numbers in the second set. Russell tells me The Good Times Rolled until 11:40pm by which time I was saying farewell to the number 27. It had been a good old wagon...
It had also been quite a night.
Lance.

4 comments :

Jude Murphy (on F/b) said...

Gutted to have missed Mo, hope she's back there soon.

Pam Young (on F/b) said...

It was a fabulous night Mo on top of her game, love that girl. The guys were pretty amazing too. Great night.

Hilary Say (on F/b) said...

It was a great night...x

Patti D (on F/b) said...

Oh yes - rocking, stomping, bluesy ...... fabulous!

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