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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 ...

MARCH 2025.

Wed 02: Lauren Bush: The Jazz Singer’s Toolkit @ The Pele, Corbridge. 1:00-4:00pm. Vocalist Lauren Bush with pianist Jamil Sheriff presents a jazz singing workshop. £40.00. (inc. evening concert, see below). Registration required for workshop: www.laurenbushjazz.com. All ability levels welcome.
Wed 02: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 02: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 2:30-4:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Wed 02: Lauren Bush & Jamil Sheriff @ The Pele, Corbridge. 7:00-9:00pm. £10.00. Concert performance. Tickets: www.laurenbushjazz.com.
Wed 02: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 02: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. CANCELLED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE! See website for updates: www.theglobenewcastle.bar.

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: ???

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

Thursday, April 20, 2017

Jazz in the Afternoon @ Cullercoats Crescent Club - April 17

(Review/Photos by Russell).
Easter Monday. Cullercoats. A pint of Consett Brewery’s Last Tap…not quite. ‘It’s off, finished’ said the barman pulling a lifeless hand-pull on the bar at Cullercoats Crescent Club. Make it a pint of the Darwin Original. If it’s Monday lunchtime it must be Cullercoats Crescent Club. For as long as Jazz in the Afternoon regulars can remember it’s been this way. In the dark recesses of BSH’s (fading!) memory bank, Jazz in the Afternoon first made a jazz sound at the Wooden Doll pub perched high above North Shields Fish Quay. A change of venue perhaps, the session retains that much sought after commodity…a full house.

Prosaic as JITA may be, nevertheless it does what it says on the tin - the one marked JAZZ. A pint, or a coffee, a cheese toastie, what more could any jazz fan want? The house band – Brian Chester (piano and trombone), Derek Fleck (clarinet and tenor saxophone), John Carstairs Hallam (double bass) and Ollie Rillands (drums and vocals) – played a few opening numbers before inviting a few friends to join them. Just a Closer Walk with Thee to start proceedings. Derek Fleck, comfortably seated/slumped in front of the band, suggested it was an appropriate number considering the time of year. During the afternoon Fleck made, for the most part, inaudible announcements, content to blow some laid back tenor and clarinet.
First up to join the boys was the redoubtable Mr Lawrence McBriarty – a man who likes a pint, and a man who knows just about every tune in the book. Later McBriarty would be joined by pianist Mr Brian Chester, making it two trombones – safe in numbers – when welcoming the participation of a Cajun band. Your reviewer had been tipped the wink. Cajun? Folkie-ish, squeezebox stuff, penny whistle, acoustic guitar, lots of jigging about. If you think BSH’s reviewer travelled to Cullercoats to be, er…’entertained’ by a bunch of…

Back to the jazz…John Broddle sang I’ll See You in My Dreams. Excellent, the highlight of the day! Another highlight, always a highlight, the Queen of Cullercoats, Teresa Armstrong sang a couple of tunes – After You’ve Gone and Almost Like Being in Love. Trumpeter Miles Watson got up to hide behind a pillar as the band played Baby Won’t You Please Come Home, Roy Gibson took a spell. The wizard of the keyboards looked bemused – or was it amused? – as he accompanied the Cajun boys. The man at the back, Mr John Carstairs Hallam, took it all in his double bass stride. It should be noted that Ollie Rillands’ Route 66 routine had ‘em up dancing. One assumes the establishment has a valid licence for such goings on. Mr Harry Stephenson was in the house, and, in due course, he got up to blow a mean clarinet.
Jazz in the Afternoon, every Monday afternoon, 1:00pm, free admission, do purchase a raffle ticket
Russell.
Jazz in the Afternoon: Brian Chester (keyboards & trombone), Derek Fleck (clarinet & tenor), John Carstairs Hallam (double bass) & Ollie ’Route 66’ Rillands (drums & vocals) + guests – John Broddle (vocals), Teresa Armstrong (vocals), Lawrence McBriarty (trombone), Miles Watson (trumpet), Roy Gibson (keyboards), Harry Stephenson (clarinet) & the Cajun boys              

2 comments :

Anonymous said...

I WAS THERE, I DID NOT SEE YOU!!RAYMOND NEWTON

Lance said...

Russell is our undercover reporter. Blends into the background - despite his check shirt - making notes, taking photos, giving us the lowdown on the goings-on at the coast.
He could tell us more but the lawyers took out an injunction otherwise...

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