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Bebop Spoken There

Van Morrison: ''Basically, I'm coming from jazz. Not pop, not rock, not what's commercial. That's where I started, and that's still where I am. I feel the same as I did when I was listening to Louis Armstrong, Lead Belly, Jelly Roll Morton''. (The Northern Echo, 12 June 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

1803759 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 480 of them this year alone and, so far, 58 this month (June 18).

From This Moment On ...

JUNE 2025

Mon 23: MSK Trio @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 1:00pm. £9.00. at the door; £8.20. (inc £0.20 bf) online, in advance.
Mon 23: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club (1:00pm). Free.

Tues 24: ???

Wed 25: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 25: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 25: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 25: The Magpies of Swing @ The Roxy, Leadgate, Co. Durham. 7:30pm. A Ginger Jitterbugs swing dance event, all welcome.

Thu 26: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: Brass Instruments & the use of mutes.

Fri 27: Lewis Watson Quartet @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm.
Fri 27: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 27: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 27: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 27: Strictly Smokin’ Big Band @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 8:00pm. ‘Time After Time’.

Sat 28: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Linskill Centre, North Shields. 4:00-10:30pm. Free, but ticketed (over 18s only). A multi-bill, multi-genre ‘Canny Shiels - North Shields 800’ event. Three Kings Brewery on site.
Sat 28: Joseph Carville Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 28: Jude Murphy & Dan Stanley @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 29: Jude Murphy & Dan Stanley @ Wallington, Northumberland. 12 noon-1:00pm & 2:00-3:00pm. Tel: 01670 773606. National Trust admission prices apply. ‘Tunes in the Blooms’.
Sun 29: Glenn Miller Orchestra UK @ The Fire Station, Sunderland. 3:00pm. Ray McVay & co.
Sun 29: Ruth Lambert Trio @ Juke Shed, North Shields. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 29: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 29: Zoë Gilby w. Ryton Choral Society @ Corbridge Middle School NE45 5HX. 5:30pm. £15.00. Gilby w jazz trio & choir. ‘An evening of jazz song for choir’.
Sun 29: Jazz Jam Sandwich! @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 29: John Wilson & the Sinfonia of London @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 7:30pm. ‘Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Greatest Hits’.
Sun 29: Out Front @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. JNE.

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

Monday, August 14, 2017

Key Moments 3

(By Ann Alex)
I didn’t come into jazz until after the age of 50 or so. Making me a very late entrant, which I regret.
Childhood age 7 to 11 - Heard loads of the jazz standards on the radio, picked up lots of the lyrics but didn’t like the songs much, nor did I understand the love songs. I did enjoy Hard Hearted Hannah as I loved the image of her ‘pouring water on a drowning man’. Children are cruel!  
Teenage years – liked listening to Brubeck’s Take 5, Kenny Ball and Acker Bilk. Considered Ella Fitzgerald to be a ‘good singer’, but, really, preferred classical singers.

Fast forward to my 20’s, became passionate about English traditional folk music at folk clubs, many of  the songs are written in modes, and also heard lots of Blues, which I learned to love almost by a sort of osmosis. Never listened to jazz at this time – it was and often still is frowned upon by folkies.

Fast forward to 2008 -2010. For something to do, I enrolled in some Jazz Appreciation classes held for adults at Newcastle Uni,  The class was taught by the late Chris Yates, lovely man, who didn’t laugh when I asked him if I could get the Great American Songbook out of the Library!

January 2010 approx. I bless the day I went to a taster session at Sage Gateshead, for Jazz Singing, taught by Lindsay Hannon. I’ve always sang and I took to this straightaway (I’m not saying I was any good mind) but I loved the singing, so joined Lindsay’s Blue Jazz Voices’ class.  

Another landmark was becoming a member of the Jazz Coop based at the Globe. This introduced me to some of the ‘machinery’ that goes into putting a gig on. The things the listener never sees or, probably, never thinks about.

The rest is history, it was onwards and upwards as I explored jazz and extended my listening. The folk music modes came in handy for listening to Miles Davis and I knew many of the lyrics that we sang at Blue Jazz Voices, which I’d picked up by default in childhood. I was already familiar with the Blues element in jazz. The great god of jazz had prepared me well throughout life! 

Outstanding Gigs and Performers
Far too many to mention, although I realise that I’ve missed loads that came before my time. I love hearing all the local women singers and Lindsay Hannon singing Angel Eyes is hard to beat, as is Fiona Finden doing You Don’t Know What Love Is. My latest admiration is for Julija Jacenaite who gives charismatic performances at Jazz Cafe Tuesday Jam sessions, for instance her singing of All Of Me. Recently she has extended her home base so catch her when you can – you won’t regret it.

As for instruments, Lance persuaded me to listen to Miles Davis: Kind Of Blue CD, well worth it; I happened to hear Polar Bear late on the radio last year and had to have their CD In Each And Every...
Brubeck’s Time Out CD is still a favourite. I remember an outstanding gig last year at the Globe with the band Zhenya Strigalev, a brilliant free (ish) type of jazz. I always enjoy hearing the younger jazz musicians such as the band Jambone at Sage Gateshead. Which brings me to the most outstanding gig of recent weeks, which was The Francis Tulip Quartet at the Globe. I’m glad to say that jazz is certainly safe with the new generation.  
Ann Alex.

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