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Bebop Spoken There

George Porter Jr.: ''To me, syncopation is like jazz. It wasn't meant for the masses. It was meant just for a hip few". (DownBeat, May 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

18043 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 364 of them this year alone and, so far, 42 this month (May 15).

From This Moment On ...

MAY 2025

Mon 19: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 19: Lewis Watson Quartet @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £10.00.

Tue 20: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Stu Collingwood, Paul Grainger, Bailey Rudd.
Tue 20: Alexia Gardner Quintet @ Pleased to Meet You, Bridge St., Morpeth NE61 1ND. 8:00pm.

Wed 21: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 21: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public). b Wed 21: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 22: Nuevo Castillo Orquesta @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £5.00.
Thu 22: Anna Reay & Deon Krishnan @ STACK, Exchange Sq., Middlesbrough. 7:30-9:15pm. Free.
Thu 22: Pedal Point Trio @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Fri 23: Dean Stockdale Quartet @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. ‘Celebrating Oscar’.
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: Anna Reay & Deon Krishnan @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 4:00-6:00pm. Free.
Fri 23: Joe Steels Group @ The Pele, Corbridge. 7:00pm. £10.00. + £1.55. bf. A Northumberland Jazz Festival fringe event.
Fri 23: Spilt Milk @ STACK, Exchange Sq., Middlesbrough. 7:00-9:00pm. Free. Nolan Brothers (vocal harmonies).
Fri 23: Gaz Hughes Quartet @ Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm.
Fri 23: Strictly Smokin’ Big Band @ The Witham, Barnard Castle. 8:00pm. £19.00.; £17.00. ‘Time After Time’.

Sat 24: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 12:30-2:15pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 24: Tyne Valley Big Band @ Bywell Hall, Stocksfield. 1:30pm. Northumberland County Show.
Sat 24: Jason Isaacs @ STACK, Seaburn. 3:30-5:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 24: Ray Stubbs R&B All Stars @ The Peacock, Sunderland. 6:00pm.
Sat 24: Dean Stockdale Quartet + Mingus Sings @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 7:00pm. Admission: see website: www.queenshall.co.uk. Stockdale (piano); Tim Williams (guitar); Gavin Barras (double bass); Gaz Hughes (drums) + Mingus Sings: Sara Oschlag (vocals); Alan Barnes (reeds); Tim Lapthorn (piano); Arnie Somogyi (double bass); Clark Tracey (drums). A Northumberland Jazz Festival event.
Sat 24: Joseph Carville Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 24: Saltburn Big Band @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm. £12.00.
Sat 24: NUJO Jazz Jam @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 8:00pm (7:00pm doors). £3.00. + bf.
Sat 24: Papa G’s Troves @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 25: Zoë Gilby & Andy Champion: Bandstand Sessions @ The Sele, Hexham. 12 noon. Free. A Northumberland Jazz Festival event.
Sun 25: Musicians Unlimited @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 25: Northern Monkey Brass Band @ Spanish City Plaza (outdoor stage). 1:00pm. Free. A Whitley Bay Carnival event.
Sun 25: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 25: Catriona Bourne Quartet @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm. Admission: see website: www.queenshall.co.uk. Bourne (harp), Francis Tulip (guitar), James Owston (double bass), Joe Bainbridge (drums). A Northumberland Jazz Festival event.
Sun 25: Ruth Lambert Trio @ Juke Shed, North Shields. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 25: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 25: Struggle Buggy @ The Tyne Bar, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. Blues.
Sun 25: Joe Steels Group + Norma Winstone (vocals); Nikki Iles (piano); Mike Walker (guitar); Steve Watts (double bass). 7:00pm. Admission: see website: www.queenshall.co.uk. Steels (guitar); Ferg Kilsby (trumpet, flugelhorn); Ben Lawrence (piano); Paul Susans (double bass); John Hirst (drums). A Northumberland Jazz Festival event.
Sun 25: Jazz Jam Sandwich! @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 25: Xhosa Cole/Neil Charles/Mark Sanders @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A JNE promotion. Note: Xhosa Cole replaces Nicole Mitchell.

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 21, 2017

The Early Bird Band + Paul Edis @ Blaydon Jazz Club - November 19

The Early Bird Band: James Metcalf (trumpet & flugelhorn), Alex Thompson (alto saxophone), Ryan de Silva (baritone saxophone), Ben Lawrence (piano), Alex Shipsey (bass & double bass) & Dylan Thompson (drums) + Paul Edis (tenor saxophone & flute)
(Review by Russell/Collages courtesy of Roly & Jerry)
What’s that about police officers looking so very young? Arriving at the Black Bull the average age of those on the premises plummeted due to the fact that six young musicians were about to play a gig in the Sunday evening jazz lounge. More than one of the sextet isn’t yet eligible to cast a vote at a General Election (one could be just around the political corner), and the band’s MD, Paul Edis,  can hardly be described as a veteran musician/educator (that’s way into the future).
Most members of the Early Bird Band (there are others) made the gig, so they played it as a sextet. Trumpeter James Metcalf stepped up to the plate to take a first, possibly nerve-wracking, solo. JM did just fine, and, to his left, Ryan de Silva followed up with a confident baritone sax solo on Sandu.
MD Edis, technically making it a septet, opened on flute as the Early Birds more than did justice to Song for my Father. An apposite Ornithology found the band relaxing into the set, bop numbers are right up their jazz alley, the stuff of their early Saturday morning workshop sessions at Newcastle’s Lit and Phil.

Blue Bossa heard from Edis, Ryan de Silva, pianist Ben Lawrence soloing over unison horns, and, taking it home, the young man at the back, drummer Dylan Thompson. A couple from Miles Davis – Flamenco Sketches and Milestones. Alto saxophonist Alex Thompson approached the numbers with great sensitivity, James Metcalf excelled on flugelhorn, Ryan the baritone man likewise, and, the other young man in the engine room, Alex Shipsey, showed what he could do playing his shiny, new double bass.* Kenny Barron’s Fungaii Mama took us near to closing time with the frontline – Messrs Metcalf, Thompson and de Silva – firing, leaving Dylan Thompson to play a great closing solo.   

Earlier, Dr Edis observed that this Blaydon Jazz Club engagement was the first gig which featured the Early Bird Band as headliners. It won’t be the last!                       

* Watch out Mr Champion!

Paul Edis (piano)
Earlier, Paul Edis played a solo set. A mix of standards and original compositions, this was a piano masterclass. I’ve Never Been in Love Before, From Nothing to Nowhere (comp. Edis) emerged, or, indeed, was salvaged, from the bridge of a discarded, unfinished tune cast aside for a few years. A three-number delight – Bill Evans, Kurt Weill and Henri Mancini – preceded, as one Bebop Spoken Here reviewer described it, ‘Paul Edis’ greatest hit,’ the perfectly formed Vignette.

I Can’t Get Started (one of the great tunes), One Note Samba, as Edis joked ‘the one with several notes in the middle’ incorporating a light-of-touch stride section, and a dominant left hand walking bass line on Gone With the Wind, the Blaydon Jazz Club could have listened all night but the Early Birds were about to fly.  
Russell             

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