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HOWAY THE LADS!

Bebop Spoken There

John McLaughlin: '' A Love Supreme coincided with my search for meaning in life". (DownBeat, March 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

17873 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 194 of them this year alone and, so far, 41 this month (March 14).

From This Moment On ...

MARCH 2025.

Sat 15: Hot Teapots @ St Augustine’s Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm.
Sat 15: Lagos to Longbenton + Belladonna @ Whitley Bay Big Social, Whitley Road, Whitley Bay. 2:00pm. Free. Afrobeat/jazz fusion + soul/funk/R&B
Sat 15: Creakin’ Bones @ Billy Bootleggers. Ouseburn, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free.
Sat 15: Joseph Carville Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 15: Is This Jazz? @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Tickets: www.eventbrite.co.uk. Performances by Mu Quintet, Jinjé, A Brief Utopia, John Pope & Co + André Marmot (author of Unapologetic Expression: The Inside Story of the UK Jazz Explosion) in conversation + DJ sets ‘til 3:00am. ‘A Festival of New Jazz’.
Sat 15: Vintage Explosion @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 7:30pm. SOLD OUT!
Sat 15: Alligator Gumbo @ The Forum, Darlington. 7:30pm. £15.00.
Sat 15: One Night Standards @ The White Room, Stanley. 8:00pm. £8.67 (inc. bf). Note - previously advertised Salty Dogs cancelled.
Sat 15: Howlin’ Mat @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Blues guitar.

Sun 16: Jason Isaacs @ STACK, Exchange Sq., Middlesbrough. 1:00-2:45pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sun 16: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 16: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 16: Pearl Blossoms @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Ragtime.
Sun 16: Hot 8 Brass Band @ Wylam Brewery. 7:30pm. ‘Big Tuba Tour’.
Sun 16: ARQ @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Sun 16: Air4ce @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 8:30pm (8:00pm doors). £12.00.; £10.00. Tom Atkinson’s all-star band (line-up inc. Lindsay Hannon & Sue Ferris).
Sun 16: Jazz Jam @ Fabio’s, Saddler St., Durham. 8:00pm. Free. A Durham University Jazz Society promotion. All welcome.

Mon 17: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 17: Jamie Toms Quartet @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £10.00.

Tue 18: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Laurence Harrison, Paul Grainger, Tim Johnston.
Tue 18: Phil Bancroft’s Beautiful Storm @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £13.20 & £11.00.. A JNE-Gem Arts co-promotion.

Wed 19: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 19: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 19: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 20: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, Holystone. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 20: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: Nicknames.
Thu 20: Terri Green Experience @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £15.90.
Thu 20: Lindsay Hannon Trio @ The Harbour View, Roker, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Hannon’s ‘Tom Waits for No Man’ set.
Thu 20: Ray Stubbs R&B All Stars @ Mill Tavern, Hebburn. 8:30pm. Free.

Fri 21: Paul Skerritt @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 21: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 21: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 21: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 21: Giles Strong Quartet @ 1719, Hendon, Sunderland. 7:30pm. CANCELLED!
Fri 21: New Century Ragtime Orchestra @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Featuring special guest Martin Litton (piano).

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, September 26, 2017

Classic Swing @ The Marquis of Granby - September 25

Bob Wade (trumpet, flugelhorn & clarinet), Jim McBriarty (tenor saxophone, clarinet & vocals), Malcolm Armstrong (keyboards), Alan Rudd (double bass) & Olive Rudd (vocals)
(Review by Russell)
The Marquis of Granby in Sunniside is no stranger to jazz gigs. For a number of years the Maine Street Jazzmen maintained a residency and down the years other bands have come and gone at the Streetgate, Sunniside pub. Across Tyneside weekday lunchtime time sessions are booming – Cullercoats, East Boldon, Monkseaton and now Sunniside in Gateshead.
Northumberland based trumpeter Bob Wade has put together a new band of familiar names with a view to playing a small group swing repertoire rather than the New Orleans/Dixieland book that can be heard at the many fine venues in the region. ‘Classic Swing’ is the name and at this first gig Bob Wade expressed surprise that anyone would turn up to the band’s ‘first rehearsal’. Turn up they did and in good number. Classic Swing’s front line – Wade playing trumpet, flugelhorn and clarinet and Jim McBriarty on tenor sax, clarinet and vocals – enjoy an easy rapport, sharing the solo spots with Malcolm Armstrong, keyboards, and bassist Alan Rudd. The set list was by no means strictly swing material, although, as Wade said, it’ll take time to compile a book giving the band a truly distinctive sound on the local scene. Swing or not, the tunes were just fine – On the Sunny Side (Sunniside?) of the Street, It’s Only a Paper Moon, I’m Beginning to See the Light (McBriarty vocals), Rosetta, a good start to a new residency. Wade played some flugelhorn and, standing alongside the maestro himself, Mr J. McBriarty, clarinet!

Olive Rudd put on her dancin’ shoes and called out Dr Jazz. A trip to the dispensary (the bar) for a medicinal St Austell’s Tribute, a raffle ticket, the Marquis was doing good business. Perdido got the rehearsal’s second set under way, Wade switched to flugel to play Rockin’ Chair, Olive Rudd sang about Sunniside’s Blue Skies, later asking Am I Blue? A two-clarinet Creole Love Call provided an undoubted highlight of the afternoon with the contrasting styles of McBriarty and Wade.

Up tempo numbers kept the punters happy, not least ’S Wonderful (Olive Rudd vocals) and Avalon (McBriarty vocals). Classic Swing made an impressive debut. A band well worth hearing, get along to the Marquis of Granby on a Monday, one o’clock start. A fast, frequent, reliable bus service from Newcastle’s Eldon Square Bus Station drops off outside the pub. If you’re travelling from Consett it is much the same easy-to-get-to journey. So, why not enjoy a pint listening to some top class jazz from Classic Swing?
Russell.            

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