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Bebop Spoken There

Stan Woodward: ''We're part of the British jazz scene, but we don't play London jazz. We play Newcastle jazz. The Knats album represents many things, but most importantly that Newcastle isn't overlooked". (DownBeat, April 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

17904 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 225 of them this year alone and, so far, 72 this month (March 24).

From This Moment On ...

MARCH 2025.

Fri 28: Giles Strong Quartet @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. £8.00 SOLD OUT!.
Fri 28: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 28: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 28: Spilt Milk @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 7:00-9:00pm. Free. Nolan Brothers (vocal harmonies).
Fri 28: Castillo Nuevo Orquesta @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £8.00.
Fri 28: Pete Tanton’s Chet Set @ Old Cinema Laundrette, Durham. 7:45pm.
Fri 28: Sue Ferris Quintet @ Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. £10.00. Opus 4 Jazz Club.
Fri 28: Mostly Moonlight @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Fri 28: Juliana Day & Manon McCoy @ Cumberland Arms, Byker, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £12.00.; £10.00. advance. JNE.

Sat 29: Edison Herbert Trio @ The Vault, Darlington 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 29: Doris Day Story @ Phoenix Theatre, Blyth. 7:30pm.
Sat 29: Squabble! @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 30: Jan Spencelayh & Dave Archbold @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 30: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 30: Jamil Sheriff Trio w. Nadim Teimoori @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm.
Sun 30: Ruth Lambert Trio @ The Juke Shed, Union Quay, North Shields. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 30: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 30: Jazz Jam Sandwich! @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 30: Jamil Sheriff Trio w. Nadim Teimoori @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 31: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

APRIL 2025

Tue 01: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Joe Steels, Paul Grainger, Mark Robertson.
Tue 01: Customs House Big Band @ The Masonic Hall, North St., Ferryhill DL17 8HX. 7:30pm. Free.

Wed 02: Lauren Bush: The Jazz Singer’s Toolkit @ The Pele, Corbridge. 1:00-4:00pm. Vocalist Lauren Bush with pianist Jamil Sheriff presents a jazz singing workshop. £40.00. (inc. evening concert, see below). Registration required for workshop: www.laurenbushjazz.com. All ability levels welcome.
Wed 02: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 02: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 2:30-4:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Wed 02: Lauren Bush & Jamil Sheriff @ The Pele, Corbridge. 7:00-9:00pm. £10.00. Concert performance. Tickets: www.laurenbushjazz.com.
Wed 02: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 02: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. POSSIBLE CANCELLATION. See website for updates: www.theglobenewcastle.bar.

Thu 03: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: Women in Jazz.
Thu 03: Eva Fox & the Jazz Guys @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 03: New ’58 Jazz Collective @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm. Free. A Tees Hot Club promotion. First Thursday in the month.

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, December 12, 2017

Favourite Animals and Article XI @ The Bridge Hotel, Newcastle - December 10

(Review by Steve H/Photos courtesy of Ken Drew)
What a great end to the JNE year as a dectet and an undectet literally filled the stage on Sunday night at The Bridge Hotel.  A Venn diagram of the 2 bands would have shown 7 musicians in the intersection of the two groups. So in total, there were 14 different players rather than the 21 any keen mathematician might have calculated. Many of the 14 were familiar faces having visited Tyneside many times in one guise or another in recent years. In fact, I think I have seen Johnny Hunter on drums more than any other musician in Tyneside which is certainly no bad thing given his aff/ability. The idea of the 2 ensembles touring together came out of a crazy conversation between respective bandleaders Cath Roberts and Anton Hunter and Sunday night saw the culmination of the 4 date mini-tour. Don’t you just love it when a plan comes together?
Favourite Animals (pictured above) kicked off the evening with Confirm or Deny which was a bit of stop-start affair until a really powerful groove kicked in to get the crowd rocking on their chairs. The rest of the set had a very cinematic feel to it. Graham South on trumpet seemed to dominate Boiling Point and on their final piece Shreds Dee Byrne on alto and Graham South on trumpet once again featured strongly. There were some very interesting combinations of instruments in this ensemble particularly the twin flute and bass clarinet pairing of Julie Kjaer and Tom Ward. The music although improvised has a  far more contemporary classical feel to it than a bluesy jazz one but whatever the label everyone seemed to wholeheartedly enjoy the experience.
Article XI was formed by Anton Hunter as the result of a commission from the 2014 Manchester Jazz Festival and takes its name from the said article of the European Convention of Human Rights although the reason why this name was chosen was neither explained or discussed. 
Another interesting line up with a vast brass section featuring 2 trombones, 2 trumpets. 2 altos, a tenor and a baritone. The music is improvised around Hunters compositions with space given to the individual soloists to explore the framework constructed. The result produced a more jazz-like feel to the proceedings than maybe the previous band had. 
The set got off to a flying start with 2 tracks Munichcreation and Always a Fox which are actually not on their forthcoming eponymous debut album. The scene had been well and truly set great ensemble playing spiced up with imaginative solos. It is not often you say a song does just the opposite of what it says on the tin but Not the Kind of Jazz you Like did exactly that! 
It was hard to single out any soloist in such a large ensemble but one of the guys I had never seen before, Simon Prince on tenor and flute, really impressed and I hope we see him again soon in some format or another. 
The evening closed with what appeared to be a planned encore I Dreamed I Spat Out a Bee which began with the trio, Johnny Hunter on drums, Ollie Dover on alto and Seth Bennett on double bass , before the rest of the band joined in and brought this brilliant doubleheader to a triumphant close.
A marvellous evening my only regret being that we only got to see one set of each band. Given the nature of these groups, there was always so much going on that one tended to focus on selected sections of playing thereby missing out on the equally interesting parts of the others. Maybe the best thing to do is get the respective CD’s of both ensembles. That way you can make sure you don’t miss out on anything as you relisten to this fabulous music time and time again.
Steve H
FAVOURITE ANIMALS
Dee Byrne (alto sax); Sam Andreae (tenor sax); Cath Roberts (baritone sax); Tom Ward (flute & bass clarinet); Julie Kjaer (flute & bass clarinet); Graham South (trumpet); Tullis Rennie (trombone); Anton Hunter (guitar); Seth Bennett (bass); Johnny Hunter (drums)
ARTICLE XI
Sam Andreae (alto sax); Ollie Dover (alto sax); Simon Prince (tenor sax, flute); Cath Roberts (baritone sax); Graham South (trumpet); Nick Walters (trumpet); Tullis Rennie (trombone); Kieran McLeod (trombone); Anton Hunter (guitar); Seth Bennett (bass); Johnny Hunter (drums).

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