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Bebop Spoken There

Stan Woodward: ''We're part of the British jazz scene, but we don't play London jazz. We play Newcastle jazz. The Knats album represents many things, but most importantly that Newcastle isn't overlooked". (DownBeat, 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

17923 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 244 of them this year alone and, so far, 91 this month (March 31).

From This Moment On ...

April 2025.

Thu 03: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: Women in Jazz.
Thu 03: Eva Fox & the Jazz Guys @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 03: New ’58 Jazz Collective @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm. Free. A Tees Hot Club promotion. First Thursday in the month.

Fri 04: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 04: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 04: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 04: Ruth Lambert Quartet @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm. £12.00.
Fri 04: Tom McGuire & the Brassholes @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £20.00.
Fri 04: Nicolas Meier’s Infinity Group + Spirit of Jeff Beck @ The Forum, Darlington. 7:30pm.

Sat 05: Tenement Jazz Band @ St Augustine’s Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm. £10.00.
Sat 05: Sleep Suppressor @ Head of Steam, Newcastle. 5:30-6:00pm.
Sat 05: King Bees @ Billy Bootlegger’s, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 6:00pm. Free.
Sat 05: Raymond MacDonald & Jer Reid @ Lubber Fiend, Newcastle. 6:00-9:30pm. £7.72., £1.00. (minimum donation). MacDonald & Reid + Objections + Yotuns.
Sat 05: Jeff Hewer Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 05: Kamasi Washington @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 7:30pm. £33.00.
Sat 05: Vermont Big Band @ The Seahorse, Whitley Bay. 7:30pm. Tickets: £10.00 (from the venue).
Sat 05: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00.

Sun 06: Smokin’ Spitfires @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:45pm. £7.50.
Sun 06: Learning & Participation Showcase @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm (1:00pm doors). Free. Featuring participants from Play More Jazz! Play More Folk! Blue Jam Singers & more.
Sun 06: Joe Steels Group @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00pm. £10.00. Ferg Kilsby, Joe Steels, Ben Lawrence, Paul Susans, John Hirst.
Sun 06: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 06: Paul Skerritt @ The Hooch, Quayside, Newcastle. 6:00pm.
Sun 06: Leeway @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 07: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 08: ???

Wed 09: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 09: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 09: Tannery jam session @ The Tannery, Hexham. 7:00pm.
Wed 09: Anatole Muster Trio @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £17.50., £12.50. concs.
Wed 09: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. CANCELLED?

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

Tuesday, April 04, 2017

GIJF Day 2: Miles Mosley @ Sage Gateshead - April 1

Miles Mosley (Bass/vocals); Dontae Winslow (trumpet); Ryan Porter (trombone); Cameron Graves (keys); Tony Austin (drums).
(Review by Steve T).
Hot-footed it from Dundee via North Bitchburn to get to this and I'm sticking to my guns that it was the real coup of the festival. When Kamasi's in Sage One and Kendrick, Lotus and Thundercat are at Metro Radio Arena, we'll be saying we saw the bass player at Northern Rock Foundation.
I half expected to see faces from a former life, George Clintons P Funk Mob being the nearest comparison I can make, though Kamasi cites Earth Wind and Fire as the major funk influence. The Jazz content is pretty much comparable for each.
I've been doing this long enough and often enough to know that expectations can lead to pleasant surprises but also disappointment and I attended this knowing it might not be all I hoped for.
It wasn't the breakthrough of my highest expectations but was a funky, fine way to finish off a Saturday night. The songs were good if unremarkable, mostly from his new album and it was great to be able to buy the CD, though some people seemed to know all the words to all the songs already, and why were they £15 when the people collecting the money are the same people who claim nobody wants them anymore?
The musicianship was strong throughout the small band of drums, piano and just two horns and, significantly, they were tight, as you'd expect from a band of brothers, figuratively speaking. I was stood in front of one of the amps which was comfortable when he wasn't playing his upright, loud when he was and exploded when he attacked it with his bow, often through a cry-baby, and I can't wait to hear how that sounds on the album.
The pianist played the funkiest acoustic piano I've ever heard and I found myself looking for a clavinet player, and the drummer may not have been the best in the world, as one audience member suggested and Miles agreed, but it's quite possible he's been dipped in the Tyne.
The audience included many who appeared to arrive specially, or were a hangover from GoGo etc,. and responded to calls of West Coast with the response Get Down, though only tentatively put the words into action, which may have been a blessing.
Tyneside may not have moved as much as the faithful may have liked, but I still think a fusion with hip hop is most likely to be the next big thing in Jazz, which will be great for young people to have something of their own. Three CDs of Kamasi’s Epic was probably too soon, Glasper going R+B a mistake, and Thundercat pulling in a famous popstar to gain radio airplay, not the way we'd like things to go. 
With Europe going for an even freer approach and Britain edging toward a smooth, prog, Jazz, funk, rock revival, based on the original American model before a visionary Yorkshireman spotted the error of their ways, the West Coast Get Down need to get on with it.
Steve T

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