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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

17755 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 76 of them this year alone and, so far, 1 this month (Feb.1).

From This Moment On ...

February 2025

Fri 07: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 07: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 07: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 07: James Birkett & Emma Fisk @ Old Lowlight, Clifford’s Fort, North Shields NE30 1JE. 7:00pm. £15.00. + bf. www.oldlowlight.co.uk. SOLD OUT!
Fri 07: Stuart Turner Trio @ Billy Bootlegger’s, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. Jazz, blues, Americana etc.
Fri 07: Dean Stockdale Quartet @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm. £12.00.
Fri 07: Rose Room @ Wylam Institute. 8:00pm. £19.67.
Fri 07: John Rowland Quartet @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sat 08: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 12:30-2:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 08: Jason Isaacs @ Seaburn STACK, Seaburn. 3:30-5:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 08: Milne Glendinning Band @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 08: Lewis Watson Quartet @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 7:30pm. £15.00. at the door; £14.35. (inc £0.35 bf) online, in advance.
Sat 08: Anth Purdy @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. ‘Swing Jazz Guitar’.
Sat 08: NUJO Jazz Jam @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A Newcastle University Jazz Orchestra event. All welcome.

Sun 09: Glenn Miller & Big Band Spectacular @ The Forum, Billingham. 3:00pm.
Sun 09: The New ’58 Jazz Collective @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 09: Am Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 09: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 09: Tom Remon & Mark Williams @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 09: Rod Oughton’s Tomorrow’s New Quartet with Ben van Helder @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Line-up inc. Deschanel Gordon.
Sun 09: Jazz Jam @ Fabio’s, Saddler St., Durham. 8:00pm. Free. A Durham University Jazz Society promotion. All welcome.

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.

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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