Total Pageviews

Bebop Spoken There

Francis Tulip: ''Music speaks louder than words''. (Jazzwise, 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

17,550 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 514 of them this year alone and, so far, 92 this month (June 28).

From This Moment On ...

JULY 2025

Wed 09: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 09: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 09: Jam session @ The Tannery, Hexham. 7:00pm. Free.
Wed 09: The Hopper-Watson Quintet @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 8:00pm (7:30pm doors). £10.00. + £1.00. bf.
Wed 09: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 10: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: Soloists, Orchestras & Hot Fives.
Thu 10: Side Café Orkestar @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Fri 11: Paul Skerritt Quartet @ Bishop Auckland Methodist Church, Cockton Hill Road, Bishop Auckland. 1:00pm. £8.00. A Bishop Auckland Jazz promotion. New venue (second Friday in the month)!
Fri 11: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 11: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 11: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 11: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ The Beehive, Earsdon NE25 0SZ. 5:00-7:00pm. Free.
Fri 11: Fiona Finden Jazz Express @ Flash House Brewery, North Shields NE30 1DS. 8:00pm. Free.

Sat 12: Jazz Stage @ Mouth of the Tyne Festival. From 12 noon. Free. Vieux Carré Jazzmen (12 noon); Rendezvous Jazz (1:00pm); Mississippi Dreamboats (2:00pm); Classic Swing (3:00pm); Abbie Finn Trio (4:00pm). Stage adjacent to Tynemouth Priory.
Sat 12: Making Music Seminar: Latin American Music v. Music of Latin America @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 1:00pm. £15.00. (£5.00. online). Jason Holcomb, Alix Shepherd & Carlos Luis Rivera.
Sat 12: Edison Herbert Trio @ The Vault, Darlington 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 12: Jude Murphy & Dan Stanley @ Lovaine Community Garden, North Shields. 7:00pm (doors 6:40pm). £6.00. Limited places, booking essential (via the Community Garden website). BYOF&D.
Sat 12: Hot Club du Nord @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm. Hall Two.
Sat 12: Sleep Suppressor @ Repas 7 by Night, Berwick. 8:00pm.
Sat 12: Anth Purdy @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle.8:00pm. Free. ‘Swing Jazz Guitar’. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 13: Jazz Stage @ Mouth of the Tyne Festival. From 11:00am. Free. Trilogy of Four (11:00am); East Coast Jazzmen (12:10pm); Delta Prophets Trio (1:20pm); House of the Black Gardenia (2:30pm); Mouth of the Tyne All Stars (3:40pm). Stage adjacent to Tynemouth Priory.
Sun 13: Giles Strong Quartet @ The Sele, Hexham. 12 noon. Free. ‘The Bandstand Sessions’.
Sun 13: Julie Dexter @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:30pm (doors). £20.00. ‘The Cluny Matinee Jazz Club’.
Sun 13: ’58 Jazz Collective, Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 13: Tyne Valley Big Band @ Bishop Auckland Town Hall. 2:00pm. Tea Dance. SOLD OUT! A Durham Brass Festival event.
Sun 13: Ferg Kilsby @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm. Kilsby (trumpet, flugelhorn); Luis Verde (alto sax); Ben Lawrence (piano); Andy Champion (double bass); John Hirst (drums).
Sun 13: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 13: Sloth Racket @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. JNE.

Mon 14: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club (1:00pm). Free.
Mon 14: Brass Bash @ Hardwick Park, Co. Durham. 6:00-8:00pm. Free. Various bands. A Durham Brass Festival event.
Mon 14: Brass Bash @ The Story, Mount Oswald, Co. Durham. 6:00-8:00pm. Free. Various bands. A Durham Brass Festival event.

Tue 15: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ The Victoria & Albert Inn, Seaton Sluice. Tel: 0191 237 3697. 12:30pm. ‘July Jazz Barbecue’. Tickets: £15.00.
Tue 15: Brass Bash @ Hackworth Park, Shildon, Co. Durham. 6:00-9:00pm. Free. Various bands. A Durham Brass Festival event.
Tue 15: Brass Bash @ The Witham, Barnard Castle, Co. Durham. 6:00-8:00pm. Free. Various bands. A Durham Brass Festival event.
Tue 15: Julian Lage Trio @ 1856 Exchange, North Shields. 7:30pm . Lage (guitar); Jorge Roeder (double bass); Joey Barron (drums).
Tue 15: Jools Holland’s Rhythm & Blues Orchestra @ The Hippodrome, Darlington. 7:30pm.
Tue 15: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. Stu Collingwood, Paul Grainger, Bailey Rudd.

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, November 06, 2017

CD Review: Sinne Eeg - Dreams

Sinne Eeg (vocal); Jacob Christoffersen (piano); Larry Koonse (guitar); Scott Colley (bass); Joey Baron (drums).
(Review by Lance).
Considered the pre-eminent jazz vocalist in Scandinavia, Danish singer Eeg and fellow Dane Christoffersen touched down in Brooklyn and teamed up with three top names on the American jazz scene to record an album that will serve well her ambition to achieve wider recognition on the world stage - a stage that's already overcrowded with female voices. 
Nevertheless, Eeg has the voice for it. Swings lightly, scats gently, takes liberties with the melody, but no more than say Anita O'Day or Sarah Vaughan did and, on top of that, she wrote 6 of the 10 songs, one in cahoots with Mads Mathias - Head Over High Heels. There's also a couple of Cole Porter's (What is This Thing Called Love? & Anything Goes), Rodgers and Hart (Falling in Love With Love) and De Paul and Raye chip in with I'll Remember April. Eeg's songs hold up well alongside those by these GASBOOK GANG heavies.
Aleppo is perhaps the most poignant song I've ever heard. Recent events in Syria provide the background - no! the foreground - to this heartrending saga of man's inhumanity to man and the devastating effect on children unable to comprehend the world they've been born in to. Just as Strange Fruit was, back in the 1930s, Aleppo is as much a social commentary as it is a song. I'm fighting back the tears as I type. (See video below).
I'll Remember April lightens the gloom with some relaxed scatting and Larry Koonse contributes a delicate solo.
Anything Goes swings along with nice piano by Christoffersen, more scatting and some new lyrics by the singer:
There was a time when talent mattered 
when singers were being flattered 
on TV shows, 
now anything goes.
And so on...Take it from me - talent matters here and Sinne Eeg has it in abundance.
Available December 1 on Stunt STUCD17112 with UK distribution by Discovery.
Samples.
Lance.
Video.

6 comments :

Holly Cooper (on F/b). said...

Thank you, Lance! Beautiful review, and I agree about Aleppo's poignancy.

Ann Alex said...

Lance, I want to take issue with you over the issue of female voices, otherwise women singers. Why are there too many? Surely the more the merrier. It seems to me that there are loads of sax players, but I would never say too many, and neither would you, so why pick on women singers?

Russell said...

Ann, female voices are 'ten-a-penny'. This shouldn't be read as a criticism, merely an observation. There are relatively few male singers. One could ask the question: Why is this? But a much more interesting question is: Why are there so few female instrumentalists? Look no further than sexism.

Anonymous said...

Russell I think the phrase 'ten a penny' does sound like a criticism, quite a put down. I think there are more women singers for reasons to do with the history of jazz. I wish there were more male singers and more women instrumentalists and you are right that it's possibly to do with sexism. Ann

Russell said...

Ann, tenor players (invariably male), are 'ten-a-penny'. That isn't a put down. More male vocalists? I agree, that would be great but don't hold your breath, sexist stereotypical roles will prevail for sometime yet.

Lance said...

I've just added the Aleppo video which transcends the other comments.

Blog Archive