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Bebop Spoken There

George Porter Jr.: ''To me, syncopation is like jazz. It wasn't meant for the masses. It was meant just for a hip few". (DownBeat, May 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

18043 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 364 of them this year alone and, so far, 42 this month (May 15).

From This Moment On ...

MAY 2025

Sun 18: Jason Isaacs @ STACK, Seaburn. 12 noon-2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sun 18: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 18: Ruth Lambert & Giles Strong @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 18: Steve Summers Quintet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 19: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 19: Lewis Watson Quartet @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £10.00.

Tue 20: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Stu Collingwood, Paul Grainger, Bailey Rudd.
Tue 20: Alexia Gardner Quintet @ Pleased to Meet You, Bridge St., Morpeth NE61 1ND. 8:00pm.

Wed 21: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 21: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public). b Wed 21: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 22: Nuevo Castillo Orquesta @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £5.00.
Thu 22: Anna Reay & Deon Krishnan @ STACK, Exchange Sq., Middlesbrough. 7:30-9:15pm. Free.
Thu 22: Pedal Point Trio @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Fri 23: Dean Stockdale Quartet @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. ‘Celebrating Oscar’.
Fri 23: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 23: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 23: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 23: Anna Reay & Deon Krishnan @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 4:00-6:00pm. Free.
Fri 23: Joe Steels Group @ The Pele, Corbridge. 7:00pm. £10.00. + £1.55. bf. A Northumberland Jazz Festival fringe event.
Fri 23: Spilt Milk @ STACK, Exchange Sq., Middlesbrough. 7:00-9:00pm. Free. Nolan Brothers (vocal harmonies).
Fri 23: Gaz Hughes Quartet @ Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm.
Fri 23: Strictly Smokin’ Big Band @ The Witham, Barnard Castle. 8:00pm. £19.00.; £17.00. ‘Time After Time’.

Sat 24: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 12:30-2:15pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 24: Tyne Valley Big Band @ Bywell Hall, Stocksfield. 1:30pm. Northumberland County Show.
Sat 24: Jason Isaacs @ STACK, Seaburn. 3:30-5:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 24: Ray Stubbs R&B All Stars @ The Peacock, Sunderland. 6:00pm.
Sat 24: Dean Stockdale Quartet + Mingus Sings @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 7:00pm. Admission: see website: www.queenshall.co.uk. Stockdale (piano); Tim Williams (guitar); Gavin Barras (double bass); Gaz Hughes (drums) + Mingus Sings: Sara Oschlag (vocals); Alan Barnes (reeds); Tim Lapthorn (piano); Arnie Somogyi (double bass); Clark Tracey (drums). A Northumberland Jazz Festival event.
Sat 24: Joseph Carville Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 24: Saltburn Big Band @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm. £12.00.
Sat 24: NUJO Jazz Jam @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 8:00pm (7:00pm doors). £3.00. + bf.
Sat 24: Papa G’s Troves @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

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, May 18, 2017

Lickety Split @ The Globe, Newcastle - May 18

Eddie Bellis (trombone), Alan Marshall (alto saxophone), Paul Gowland (tenor saxophone), Kevin Eland (trumpet & flugelhorn), Bradley Johnston (guitar), Alan Rudd (bass) & Paul Wight (drums)
(Review by Russell).
Take it to the Bridge is an institution. Dave Weisser’s weekly ‘workshop’ has been going since the  year dot. From time to time the institution’s leader invites a band to come along and play a set. This week’s guests were fulfilling a twice postponed appearance at the Jazz Co-op’s Globe HQ.
Lickety Split is a no nonsense band. Turn up, play, job done. Band charts depleted due to a thief’s keen ear for something of real value – yes, stolen notes of the musical kind, of much greater value than a swag bag full of five pound notes – didn’t deter Eddie Bellis’ outfit. Minus the band’s absent pianist, Bellis and co were ready for Lift Off! Exhilarating, drilled brass and reeds, an object lesson in dynamics, the ideal calling card. 
                     
What’s New? enquired the band with a first shot at the stratosphere by Teesside’s top C trumpeter Kevin Eland. Rollins’ Doxy encouraged the frontline horns to craft a solo then pass the baton. Solo statements concise (an object lesson in how to present the music and connect with the audience), ensemble work neat and tidy, what’s not to like? Bellis suggested a Mulgrew Miller chart. In doing so the trombonist stopped mid thought…Is that lippy? The eagled-eyed Mr Bellis detected traces of lipstick on the mic. In jest our trombonist wondered if it was DW’s! Meanwhile…the Miller chart was nowhere to be found, perhaps it was one of the stolen charts?! Seamlessly the band opted to play Stolen Moments. Oliver Nelson’s masterwork could be thought of as Lickety Split’s signature tune. On this occasion, as always, Alan Rudd’s bass line was spot-on, and Eland rightly chose to play a mellow flugelhorn.

A new number in the pad – Horace Sliver’s Nica’s Dream – described by Bellis as: a bit of an epic, a corking Sandu, and I Remember Clifford featuring Eland and the seated Bradley Johnston, guitar. A couple more and the hour was up; Well, You Needn’t (drummer Paul Wight on the case) and Miles’ Four. The Railway Street audience wanted another one and Bellis obliged with another gold plated Horace  Silver number, Sister Sadie.


Earlier Dave Weisser’s merry band opened with one or two tunes including a Barry Ascroft original Mr Rascal and the main man, Mr Dave Weisser sang Secret Love. DW told the story of the time he met the one and only Doris Day. Ask him about it some time. 
Russell.  

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