Bebop Spoken There

Emma Rawicz: "In a couple of years I've gone from being a normal university student to suddenly being on international stages." DownBeat January 2026.

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

18219 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 73 of them this year alone and, so far this month (Jan. 24), 73

From This Moment On ...

JANUARY 2026

Fri 30: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 30: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 30: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 30: Castillo Nuevo Trio @ Hotel Gotham, Newcastle. 5:30pm. Free.
Fri 30: Pete Roth Trio @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). Feat. Bill Bruford.
Fri 30: Jive Aces @ Alnwick Playhouse. 7:30pm.
Fri 30: Tweed River Jazz Band @ Northern Edge Coffee, Silver St., Berwick. 7:00pm.
Fri 30: Dan Coulthurst Quintet @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 7:30pm (7:00pm doors). £10.00 + £1.00. bf (www.wegottickets.com). Coulthurst (trumpet); Joel Steadman (bass clarinet, flute); Nico Widdowson (piano); Fergus Quill (double bass); Theo Goss (drums).

Sat 31: Darling Dollies @ St George’s Church, Jesmond, Newcastle. 3:00pm. £10.00. Vocal trio.
Sat 31: Brass Fiesta @ Revoluçion de Cuba, Newcastle. 10:30pm. Free.

FEBRUARY 2026

Sun 01: Smokin’ Spitfires @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:45pm. £10.00.
Sun 01: Ian Bosworth Quintet @ Chapel, Middlesbrough. 1:00pm. Free. Quintet + guest Bill Watson (trumpet, flugelhorn).
Sun 01: Sax Choir @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 01: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 01: Annie & the Caldwells @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £25.00. adv. Gospel/soul.
Sun 01: Jive Aces @ Alnwick Playhouse. 7:30pm.
Sun 01: Olly Styles Experience + Jenny Baker @ the Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 02: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 02: Saltburn Big Band @ Saltburn House Hotel. 7:00-9:00pm. Free.

Tue 03: Customs House Big Band @ The Masonic Hall, Ferryhill. 7:30pm. Free.
Tue 03: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Joe Steels, Paul Grainger, Abbie Finn.

Wed 04: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 04: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 04: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 05: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £5.00. Subject:Times of the Day & Trios.
Thu 05: Jeremy McMurray’s Pocket Jazz Orchestra @ Arc, Stockton. 8:00pm. Special guest Emma Wilson.
Thu 05: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm.

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, July 13, 2017

CD Review: Liane Carroll - The Right To Love

Liane Carroll (vocals/piano); Mark Edwards, Malcolm Edmonstone (piano); Mark James (guitars); Kirk Whalum (sax); Loz Garratt, Roger Carey (bass); Ralph Salmins, Russell Field (drums)  Which tracks each musician played on is not stated.
(Review by Ann Alex).
Blogmaster Lance handed me this CD for review, casually declaring that I’d have few problems in dealing with it, but he failed to mention that it was a real gem. He gets so many of these CDs, poor lamb. I reckon that the 27 bus should do the next review.  But less of this nonsense.  Liane Carroll, a resident of Hastings, is a stellar singer and pianist (classically trained from the age of 3), whose vocals are ‘deeply soulful, wonderfully honest’, as quoted by The Times newspaper. The Right to Love is Ms. Carroll’s tenth CD, and it was produced and recorded by James McMillan in his studio in Hastings.
The album concerns many different facets of love, some of them unusual. Skylark concerns hopeful beginnings, with a soulful sax opening and some clever vocal scat; The Right To Love was written originally about the taboo of interracial marriage; It’s a Fine Line is a jazz take on a Nashville country song; If You Go Away, a beautiful song of insecure love, is performed very sensitively with tasteful piano and striking nature images in the lyrics. Then comes You Don’t Know What Love Is, with a superb guitar solo, and honest lyrics about ‘love that cannot live yet never dies'; there’s an atmospheric feel on the song Goin’ Back and this is followed by Stevie Wonder’s Lately, with a tasty piano and guitar duet. The happiest song on the CD is Georgia On My Mind, cheerfully scatted, which I believe to be about both a woman and the USA state; then comes an interesting Tom Waits number, In The Neighbourhood, led by guitar, a description of a run-down neighbourhood, which somehow manages to sound like a place you could nevertheless love. The final track is heartfelt, voice and piano only, I Get Along Without You Very Well, heartfelt because it is sung about Ms Carroll’s Mother, who died last year. The lyrics mean the opposite of the title, of course. 
The CD is due to be released on July 28, 2017, on Quiet Money QMR0004, and if you care to travel, there are launch shows at Hastings on July 22 and at Soho's  Pizza Express on August 1 and 2 [both nights sold out].
Ann Alex

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