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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

17655 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 929 of them this year alone and, so far, 74 this month (Dec. 31).

From This Moment On ...

January 2025

Mon 06: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 07: Customs House Big Band @ The Masonic Hall, North St., Ferryhill DL17 8HX. 7:00pm. Free.

Wed 08: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 08: The Tannery Jam Session @ The Tannery, Gilesgate, Hexham. 7:00-9:00pm. Free.
Wed 08: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 08: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).

Thu 09: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: John H Hammond.
Thu 09: FILM: Soundtrack to a Coup D’Etat @ Tyneside Cinema, Newcastle. 2:35pm. Documentary (dir. Johan Grimonprez) ‘about jazz, (de)colonial history and activism featuring Louis Armstrong, Nina Simone and Dizzy Gillespie’.
Thu 09: Happy Tuesdays @ Ye Olde Cross, Ryton. 7:30pm. Free.
Thu 09: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. Ragtime piano. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 09: Mark Toomey Quartet @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm. Free. A Tees Hot Club promotion. The session now monthly, next one Thursday 2nd Feb, then first Thursday in the month thereafter.

Fri 10: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 10: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 10: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 10: Joe Steels Trio @ The Pele, Corbridge. 7:00pm. Free.

Sat 11: Jason Isaacs @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 12:30-2:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 11: Under the Wellie @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 12: The New ’58 Jazz Collective @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 12: Am Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 12: King Bees @ The Tyne Bar, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. Superb Chicago blues band.
Sun 12: Dave Bottomley @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Country blues guitar.
Sun 12: Jack Pearce Quintet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 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

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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