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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

Tuesday, August 15, 2017

Key Moments 4

(By Russell).
The first four LPs borrowed from a local record lending library; Be Bop Preservation Society Be Bop Preservation Society (with colourful zoot suits on the LP cover), Billie Holiday Songs for Distingué Lovers, Miles Davis Bitches Brew (a starting point, working back over to the Birth of the Cool era), Quintette du Hot Club de France Swing ’35-’39.
Michael Parkinson’s late night chat show. Parky, a life-long jazz fan, had a front row seat as jazz greats performed a tune or two in the studio; Oscar, Ella, Joe Pass, Dudley Moore. Yes, little Dud, a seriously good pianist, Errol Garner a favourite. Errol who? Must check him out.

BBC television and radio, much maligned for its lack of jazz, or lack of commitment to jazz, has, in some ways, been instrumental in opening musical doors. The incomparable Peter Clayton - Sounds of Jazz a much-missed programme. The erudite Charles Fox on Radio 3 - Jazz Today. A drummer of mythical status – John Stevens – first heard on the programme. And Humph, say no more. Then read Humph, several volumes are still in print.

Live jazz – this is what it’s all about. The Newcastle Big Band, Last Exit, legendary alto player Nigel Stanger playing Gerry Richardson’s Hammond one Sunday lunchtime, the then unknown flamenco guitarist Paco de Lucía wandering in during the interval at a gig asking if he could play a few tunes. An ‘I was there’ moment’ if ever there was one. Weather Report, twice! Jaco Lives! Newcastle Jazz Festival and a to-this-day memorable appearance by Rahsaan Roland Kirk. Miles, late period Miles at the then Hammersmith Apollo. Ella at the Royal Albert Hall. Ella was at the end of her career. As the great woman walked out onto the stage the audience as one rose to its feet, the band riffing, all she could say, for something like five minutes (the applause was incessant), was ‘Thank you, thank you’. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house.
Must dash, there’s a gig to go to.                          

Russell.

2 comments :

Unknown said...

I can remember in the early 60s enrolling in the Jazz record Library which was almost certainly based in London in those days. It was obviously done by snail mail. I would fill in a form and post it off and a few days later my chunk of vinyl would arrive. It was an education listening to all those old records. All of my friends were Jazz fans too and one night we were invited to visit to Durham Bill who lived at Coxhoe and also had the most remarkable collection of Jazz and Blues records. I never knew his full name but a friend kept in touch with him and told me recently that he had died at a ripe old age. On the night I was invited to visit he played some magnificent records and for a finale he said we wouldn’t know who this was and played Round the Clock Blues. He was quite shocked when I told him it was Bertha Chippie Hill. It made my reputation and is still talked about to this day. The Jazz Record Library worked.

Lance said...

I wonder, would Durham Bill be Bill Iceton who was a member of the Bishop Auckland Jazz Record Society?

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