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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

Tuesday, November 14, 2017

Bill Charlap & Stephen Keogh – ‘Here’s to Louis’ Tribute @ Pizza Express Soho - November 9

(Review/photos courtesy of Melody McLaren)
I had been looking forward to the Bill Charlap/Stephen Keogh ‘Here’s to Louis’ tribute concert to legendary Irish guitarist Louis Stewart at Pizza Express last Thursday (9 November 2017), having been a Louis fan since accompanying him, with my husband Ian, on his 2007 tour with the Frank Harrison Trio to launch their ‘You’ve Changed’ CD.  I’d heard Bill Charlap once before in a Ronnie Scott’s duo piano concert with partner Renee Rosnes but was keen to enjoy him in European Jazz Trio format (with bassist Mark Hodgson and drummer Stephen Keogh), to be joined by guitarist Colin Oxley.  I wondered if they might perform tracks from Artfully (2002) or Gift, which featured the EJT and Louis together.
However, I almost didn’t get to the gig at all because Ian took an accidental tumble down our stairs the night before the event, suffering a traumatic head wound.  Chasing the blue lights of the ambulance up the A1(M) to Lister Hospital in Stevenage, I put Gift on our Volvo car stereo and was immediately calmed by the playful interplay between Louis and Bill in Line for Lyons.  The music stood me in good stead to manage the journey to, and through, the rigours of Ian’s hospital scans and trauma unit treatment until he could be stabilized overnight.

I went to the live gig in the end, more for stress relief than anything else, and was heartened to see so many friends from the jazz community – London Jazz News editor Sebastian Scotney, Basho Music entrepreneur Christine Allen and Global Music Foundation co-founder Marney O’Sullivan among them, as well as the musicians on stage – who together reminded me that, whatever the trials of so-called real life, great music can make it bearable, even joyful.

To persuade me to come along, Stephen had told me that “you cannot miss the chance to hear Bill live” and, from the opening moments of the concert, it was obvious why:  as a classically-trained pianist, what I heard first was Bill’s exquisite articulation, particularly in the pianissimo sections played in the upper register of the Pizza Express Steinway.  But then I was swept away by the wonderful energy emerging from the entire ensemble as they rolled out a series of standards that Louis had loved – not only Line for Lyons but others including I’ll Remember April, What’s New?, Prelude to a Kiss in the first set and then 'S Wonderful, Darn That Dream, My Funny Valentine, In Your Own Sweet Way, Isfahan, Body and Soul in the second.  It was just what the doctor ordered.  I like to think Louis would have loved it.
Melody  

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