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Bebop Spoken There

Sullivan Fortner: ''I always judge it by the bass player: If the bass player is happy, it's going to be a good night". (DownBeat, February 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

17777 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 98 of them this year alone and, so far, 23 this month (Feb.8).

From This Moment On ...

February 2025

Mon 10: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 11: Steve Summers Quintet @ Newcastle House Hotel, Rothbury. 7:30pm.

Wed 12: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 12: Jam session @ The Tannery, Gilesgate, Hexham. 7:00-9:00pm. Free.
Wed 12: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 12: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 13: Student Performances @ King’s Hall, Newcastle University. 4:00pm. Free. Inc. Olly Styles (tenor sax).
Thu 13: MOBO Awards Fringe 2025: Artist Showcase @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 7:00pm. Free (ticketed). Line-up inc. Hannabiell & Midnight Blue.
Thu 13: Indigo Jazz Voices @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:45pm. £5.00.

Fri 14: John Rowland Trio @ Jesmond Library, Newcastle. 12:30-1:30pm. £5.00. at the door. New second Friday in the month concert series.
Fri 14: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 14: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 14: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 14: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 4:00-6:00pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Fri 14: Archipelago + Anna Tempest @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm. £12.00., £10.00., £8.00.
Fri 14: Paul Jones & Dave Kelly @ Alnwick Playhouse. 7:30pm. Rhythm & blues.
Fri 14: Alexia Gardner Quintet @ The White Room, Stanley. 7:45pm.
Fri 14: Jazz Sabbath @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm.

Sat 15: Joseph Carville Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 15: James Birkett & Emma Fisk @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 7:30pm. £15.00. at the door; £14.35. (inc £0.35 bf) online, in advance.
Sat 15: Elkie Brooks @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 7:30pm. ‘The Long Farewell Tour’.
Sat 15: Milne Glendinning Band @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 16: Jason Isaacs @ STACK, Exchange Sq., Middlesbrough. 1:00-2:45pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sun 16: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 16: MOBO Awards Fringe 2025: BBC Introducing NE X MOBO Showcase @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 6:00pm. Free (ticketed). Line-up inc. Jambone, Knats, Rivkala, SwanNek.
Sun 16: The Shayo Experience @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 16: Gerry Richardson Quartet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Sun 16: Jazz Jam @ Fabio’s, Saddler St., Durham. 8:00pm. Free. A Durham University Jazz Society promotion. All welcome.

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 3 @ Sage Gateshead: Jambone with Zoe Gilby and Matt Anderson

(Review by Ann Alex/photo courtesy of Russell)
This concert was part of a project involving our own local singer Zoe Gilby, and Matt Anderson from Yorkshire, who had written new music to be performed by Sage Gateshead’s own youth jazz ensemble, Jambone. The first song was Zoe’s Is It Me?, a lively bop style song which was Zoe’s response to recent general upsets in the world, a theme which cropped up a few times during the weekend. Then came The Tunnel, which Ms Gilby wrote after performing in the atmospheric surroundings of a disused train tunnel in Romania. This was a swinger, with the brass instruments adding to the atmosphere, trombone, alto and tenor sax solos, and even flute solos and a round of acapella singing from the band, with harmonies: ‘Holding the past, it lasts for a lifetime, legend of old, the story told.’
There then followed Paul Edis’s beautiful arrangement of The Water Of Tyne, done as a canon (a sort of complex round) and another gentle piece by Edis, Please Peace Piece. Matt Anderson stepped up to the plate to conduct his own piece Interesting Times (that theme again) with the band and the drums exchanging bars of 4, then came Matt’s Distances, when he considered the distances involved in travelling to New Zealand, with a baritone sax solo from Ryan De Silva, long notes to represent the journey. The concert was neatly rounded off with Edis’s Loop the Loop, with solos all round and a tasty duet from bass and a breathy Jethro-Tull like flute.
I enjoyed this performance just as much as the offerings from the more famous musicians, not that I’m influenced by knowing some of those on stage personally, mind. And the colourful programme notes provided were a great help in writing this piece anyway.
Ann Alex
Paul Edis (director); Zoe Gilby (vocals); Matt Anderson (tenor sax)
Jambone:  Nicholas Caughey, Ryan De Silva, Alex Thompson, Henry Schmid, Ella Talbot (saxes);
Megan Robinson, Imogen Davies-Pugh (flutes); 
James Metcalf, Ben Lawrence, Lucien Guest, Callum Mellis (trumpets); Darcy Whyatt, Kate Garnett, Fabio De Sousa (trombones); Philipp Grobe (piano); Matthew Downey (guitar); Alex Shipsey (bass); Dylan Thompson (drums).

1 comment :

Steve T said...

Really enjoyed PPP. If the rest of Kind of Blue was as good as So What and Flamenco Sketches, it wouldn't be over-rated. I think there were bits of Sketches of Spain in there too and the famous TV broadcast of So What with Gil Evans when the bones come in - magical.
Great when Dr Phil turned round to play the organ too but the whole band are sounding great.

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