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Bebop Spoken There

George Colligan: ''I think to be a successful musician, you must be versatile to make a living — until you find your niche''. (DownBeat, July 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

17,612 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 576 of them this year alone and, so far, 54 this month (July 18).

From This Moment On ...

JULY 2025

Sat 19: Streets of Brass @ Durham City. From 10:00am. Free. Various street bands. A Durham Brass Festival event.
Sat 19: Mr Wilson’s Second Liners: BRASS Boat Cruise @ Elvet Bridge jetty (by the boat club & Tomahawk Steak), Durham City. 12 noon. £12.00.; £10.00.; £5.00. 60 mins cruise, 2 x sets. SOLD OUT! A Durham Brass Festival event.
Sat 19: Bollywood Brass Band @ Monument Metro Station & Haymarket Metro Station, Newcastle. 2:00pm & 3:00pm & 4:00pm (3 x 30 mins). Free. A Gem Arts Masala Festival event.
Sat 19: Diddy Sweg: BRASS Boat Cruise @ Elvet Bridge jetty (by the boat club & Tomahawk Steak), Durham City. 2:00pm. £12.00.; £10.00.; £5.00. 60 mins cruise, 2 x sets. A Durham Brass Festival event.
Sat 19: Brazen Brass Band: BRASS Boat Cruise @ Elvet Bridge jetty (by the boat club & Tomahawk Steak), Durham City. 12 noon. £12.00.; £10.00.; £5.00. 60 mins cruise, 2 x sets. A Durham Brass Festival event.
Sat 19: Party in the Park @ Wharton Park, Durham. 5:00-9:00pm. Free. Ten street brass bands. A Durham Brass Festival event.
Sat 19: Jeff Hewer Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 19: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sat 19: Tyne Valley Big Band @ Chopwell Community Centre. 8:00pm.

Sun 20: Streets of Brass @ Durham City. From 11:00am. Free. Various street bands. A Durham Brass Festival event.
Sun 20: Always Drinking Marching Band: BRASS Boat Cruise @ Elvet Bridge jetty (by the boat club & Tomahawk Steak), Durham City. 11:00am. £12.00.; £10.00.; £5.00. 60 mins cruise, 2 x sets. A Durham Brass Festival event.
Sun 20: New York Brass Band: BRASS Boat Cruise @ Elvet Bridge jetty (by the boat club & Tomahawk Steak), Durham City. 1:00pm. £12.00.; £10.00.; £5.00. 60 mins cruise, 2 x sets. A Durham Brass Festival event.
Sun 20: Das Brass: BRASS Boat Cruise @ Elvet Bridge jetty (by the boat club & Tomahawk Steak), Durham City. 3:00pm. £12.00.; £10.00.; £5.00. 60 mins cruise, 2 x sets. A Durham Brass Festival event.
Sun 20: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 20: Pope/Garner/Byrne/Alderson @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. JNE.

Mon 21: Gerry Richardson Quartet @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 1:00pm. £9.00. at the door; £8.20. (inc £0.20 bf) online, in advance.
Mon 21: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club (1:00pm). Free.
Mon 21: New Century Syncopated Seven @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £10.00.

Tue 22: Lewis Watson Quartet @ Newcastle House Hotel, Rothbury. 7:30pm.

Wed 23: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 23: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 23: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 23: Isobel Pearce Quartet @ Dept. of Music, Palace Green, Durham University. 8:15pm. £10.00. & £7.00. First night of two. A Durham Fringe Festival event.

Thu 24: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: Tony Roberts presents ‘Progressive Jazz’.
Thu 24: Soweto Kinch + Theo Croker + Joe Webb Trio + Rivkala @ The Fire Station, Sunderland. 8:00pm (doors 7:30pm). £23.00. A BBC Proms event.
Thu 24: Isobel Pearce Quartet @ Dept. of Music, Palace Green, Durham University. 8:15pm. £10.00. & £7.00. Second night of two. A Durham Fringe Festival event.

Fri 25: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 25: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 25: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 25: The Society Quartet @ Hilton Garden Inn, Sunderland. 6:00pm. Tel: 0191 500 9494. £26.00 (inc. two course meal).
Fri 25: Trio Grand @ Land of Oak & Iron, Winlaton Mill. 6:00pm. Free. Barbara Wilcox (keyboards, vocals); Paul Carter (bass); George Voros (drums, vocals).
Fri 25: Bold Big Band @ Old Coal Yard, Byker, Newcastle. 7:00pm. £18.00.; £12.00.; £6.00.; £4.00. A Newcastle Fringe Festival event.
Fri 25: Michael Woods @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Country blues guitar & vocals. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

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

Wednesday, November 22, 2017

Thundercat @ O2 Glasgow - November 14

If the West Coast Get Down is a modern-day P Funk, Thundercat is clearly Bootsy Collins, though on stage he looked more like some glitter rock throwback. While all the P Funk bands essentially played funk, there was inevitably loads of jazz, oodles of rock and no small amount of silliness, which belied the undeniable musicality of it all.
The West Coast Get Down, of which Thundercat is an affiliate member, incorporates hip-hop, which is more or less equal parts P Funk James Brown, street funk, reggae DJing and, apparently Gil Scott Heron, jazz, and modern production techniques.
It's an oversimplification to accuse Thundercat of producing pop-funk but it's essentially song-based music but there's plenty of jazz in there too, though more the fusion varieties, rock and funk. Many of the songs went into very intricate freaked out free-form jams which hung together as if by magic. The drummer operated at full pelt throughout and the keyboardist wasn't far behind, with a violinist getting sounds prog rock and Jazz-rock fiddlers could never have imagined in the early seventies.
The man played a six string bass and also stretched it way beyond Larry Graham, Bootsy, Stanley Clark and Jaco, but with the funk only coming through intermittently, and I thought a relentless get down would have been nice.
His voice was actually better live than on record, especially on Marvin Gaye style forced falsetto, though apart from 'awesome' and his increasing use of the f word, I couldn't really understand anything, either spoken or sang, which seems to be a feature of O2s.
My favourite Thundercat track is Oh sheit it's X and I was beginning to think it isn't rated by the faithful when he played it last before returning for an encore of two more songs.
The place was full of studenty types, too cool for the latest guitar bands, and a few oldies desperately trying to hang on to some long lost semblance of cool. though we managed to find some seats with a direct view of the stage.
You travel to Hull to see an artist many consider one of the worlds leading guitarists and one of the greatest living jazz artists, and you travel to Glasgow to see the latest 'new hope' but a better night than either was had on the doorstep by two quartets of local alleycats paying tribute to a pair of giants.
That New Dawn I still live in hope of hasn't quite broken yet.
Steve T.

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