Bebop Spoken There

John McLaughlin: ''It was then that Coltrane came along and single-handedly brought this dimension of spirituality into jazz. It was a pivotal experience to me.'' (DownBeat September, 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

19,012 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 18 years ago. 876 of them this year alone and, so far this month (Oct. 16) 55.

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

From This Moment On

October.

Sat 17: SunOrbitUs @ Culture House, Sunderland. 11:00am - 5:00pm. Closing event in a year-long piece of music. 11:00am-1:00pm Improvisation workshop w. Faye MacCalman; 2:00-5:00pm Collective Improvised Performance by Sunderland residents. SOLD OUT!
Sat 17: Tees Bay Swing Band @ Blacksmith’s Arms, Hartlepool. 1:30pm. Free. Open rehearsal.
Sat 17: Martin Taylor @ Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle. 7:30pm. £48.72; £43.37. Solo guitar. SOLD OUT!

Sun 18: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 18: Creakin’ Bones & the Sunday Dinners @ Tyne Bar, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. Jump jive.
Sun 18: Guisborough Big Band @ Redcar Rugby Club. 5:00-8:00pm. ‘Charity Big Band Birthday Bash’ in aid of Parkinson’s UK & Young Sounds UK. Free (donations on the door).
Sun 18: Martin Taylor @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm. £23.30. Solo guitar.
Sun 18: Ben Crosland Quartet with Steve Waterman @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 19: Friends of Jazz @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 19: Sue Ferris Quintet @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £10.00.

Tue 20: Alan Law @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 2:00pm. Free. Alan Law (piano) w. Pete Tanton (trumpet, flugelhorn).
Tue 20: Graham Hardy’s Eclectic Quartet @ Queen’s Head, Rothbury. 7:30pm. £11.00. Tickets from Tully’s, Rothbury. Coquetdale Jazz. Note change of venue.
Tue 20: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Alan Law, Paul Grainger, Scotty Adair.

Wed 21: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 21: FILM: Blue Moon @ Washington Arts Centre. 1:00pm. £4.50 (inc. bf). Biopic of lyricist Lorenz Hart.
Wed 21: De'Sean Jones’ Urban Art Orchestra @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £10.00.; £5.00. student, unwaged; free to Mercury Awards ticket holders. De'Sean Jones (tenor sax, EWI); Tjoe Man Cheung (guitar); Mikele Montolli (double bass) + others TBA.
Wed 21: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 21: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 21: Roby Glod-Steve Sewell Quartet @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 8:00pm.

Thu 22: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ The Millstone, Mill Rise, South Gosforth, Newcastle. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 22: Mercury Prize @ Utility Arena Newcastle. 8:00pm. £60.25.; £48.75. Line-up inc. Knats.
Thu 22: Dean Stockdale Trio @ Bandstand!, Exhibition Park, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Tickets: £10.20 (inc. bf) via Instagram. Dean Stockdale (piano); Mick Shoulder (double bass); John Bradford (drums).
Thu 22: Olly Styles Trio @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £7.75.

Fri 23: Sara Oschlag w. Arnie Somogyi Trio @ The Lit & Phil. 1:00pm. Sara Oschlag (vocals); Ben Lawrence (piano); Arnie Somogyi (double bass); John Hirst (drums). SOLD OUT!
Fri 23: Emma Fisk’s Hot Club du Nord @ Gala Theatre, Durham. 1:00pm. Durham Jazz Festival. SOLD OUT!
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: Maja Bugge & Dave Evans @ Claypath Deli, Durham. 7:00pm. Durham Jazz Festival.
Fri 23: Knats @ King Street Social Club, North Shields. 7:00pm. £17.00., £14.70., £11.30., £5.50. SOLD OUT!
Fri 23: King Bees @ Billy Bootleggers, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. Superb Chicago blues band.
Fri 23: Sara Oschlag & Arnie Somogyi w. Ben Lawrence @ Ship Isis, Sunderland. 7:30pm. Sara Oschlag (vocals); Ben Lawrence (keyboards); Arnie Somogyi (double bass).
Fri 23: Ronnie Scott’s Soho Songbook @ Redhills, Durham. 8:00pm. James Pearson (piano); Sam Burgess (double bass); Chris Higginbottom (drums); Alex Garnett (sax); Polly Gibbons (vocals). Durham Jazz Festival. SOLD OUT!
Fri 23: SwanNek + Jacob Egglestone @ Fabio’s Bar, Durham. 9:00pm. Durham Jazz Festival.

Sunday, August 27, 2017

Proms 2017: Swing No End - Radio 3, August 27

Whilst nothing was ever going to quite follow Thursday's Mingus Prom this afternoon's Swing No End made a pretty decent fist of it.
Hosted by Clare Teal with the big bands of Guy Barker and Winston Rollins as well as several guests it was an enjoyable mix of old and not [quite] so old war horses that, thanks to the adapted arrangements, were saved from the knackers yard and looked to be good for another 100 years.
I'm not going to give a blow by blow commentary - the material is too familiar for that - instead, I'll just add an occasional observation.
Milenberg Joys - both bands.
Stuff Like That There - Teal w. WRBB. Clare in great voice.
East St. Louis Toodle oo - GBBB.
Serenade in Blue - Mads Mathias w. Accent Choir. The Great Dane has the edge on Ray Eberle!*
Whatcha Know Joe - Georgina Jackson w. Accent Choir.
Singin' the Blues - GBBB. Alan Barnes, fresh from playing with the Buck Clayton Legacy Band at Ushaw the previous evening, stepped into Frankie Trumbauer's shoes for this Bix classic.
Tribute to Mary Lou Williams.
Blue Skies (Trumpet no End) - WRBB w. Hiromi on piano and the trumpets blowing where the air is rarified just like Duke's boys did on Mary Lou's original arrangement for the Ellington Band.
What's Your Story Morning Glory? - Hiromi plays a stunning piano solo and Mads handles the vocal with aplomb.
I Got Rhythm - Hiromi certainly has!
Roll 'Em - Mary Lou scored and composed this for the Goodman Band. Alan Barnes plays clarinet and Hiromi rounds off this mini tribute to the legendary Ms. Williams with another fine solo. The WRBB in support.
They Can't Take That Away From me - Vanessa Haynes w. WRBB pays tribute to Lady Day.
This just about completes the first half - not quite but, as the show is being shown on BBC 4 next Friday (Sept. 1) seems like it will be a good idea for me to save the rest until then!
In the meantime, you can catch-up on the BBC website over the next 29 days.
Lance.
(Incidentally, during the intermission, Geoffrey Smith talked about and introduced readings from some books with jazz inspired scenes i.e. a Langston Hughes' poem, J.Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, James Baldwin's Sonny's Blues and Jack Kerouac's On The Road.)


Guy Barker Big Band (Guy Barker MD/conductor/trumpet)
Saxophones: Graeme Blevins, Alan Barnes, Karen Sharp Paul Booth, Jessamy Holder
Trumpets: Nathan Bray, Tom Rees -Roberts, Chris Storr, Georgina Jackson/Guy Barker
Trombones: Nichol Thomson, Alastair White, Harry Brown, Mark Frost
Rhythm: Al Cherry, Mike Gorman, Tim Thornton, Ed Richardson

Winston Rollins Big Band (Winston Rollins conductor/trombone)
Saxophones: Howard McGill, Alex Garnett, Rob Fowler, Chelsea Carmichael, Gemma Moore
Trumpets: Mike Lovatt, Pat White, Freddie Gavita, Annette Brown
Trombones: Barnaby Dickinson, Callum Au, Carol Jarvis, Barry Clements
Rhythm: David Archer, Joe Webb, Alec Dankworth, Shane Forbes
*Ray Eberle, vocalist on the original Glenn Miller recording.

2 comments :

Liz said...

I shall be watching it on BBC4 on Friday.

Sid White (on F/b) said...

I was listening to this on the way to a gig sounded awesome .

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