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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

17985(and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 306 of them this year alone and, so far, 62 this month (April 26).

From This Moment On ...

April 2025.

Wed 30: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 30: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 30: International Jazz Day @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £16.00.; £14.00. adv.. Feat. Guido Spannocchi, John Pope & Steve Hanley + Take it to the Bridge participants + SH#RP Collective with Lindsay Hannon - open rehearsal.

MAY 2025

Thu 01: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: Member’s Contribution.
Thu 01: Alabaster de Plume @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm.
Thu 01: Living in Shadows + OUTRI @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Thu 01: The Shayo Experiment @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Shayo Oshodi & Liam Oliver.
Thu 01: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm. Free.

Fri 02: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 02: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 02: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 02: Anna Reay & Deon Krishnan @ STACK, Seaburn. 4:30-6:15pm. Free.
Fri 02: Nauta @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 7:00pm. £7.50. A ‘Nauta’s House’ gig featuring Nauta & guests Shayo Oshodi & David Gray.
Fri 02: Spilt Milk @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 7:00-9:00pm. Free. Nolan Brothers (vocal harmonies).
Fri 02: Dom Pipkin @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). Solo piano.
Fri 02: Abbie Finn Trio @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm. £12.00. + bf.

Sat 03: Hot Fingers @ St Augustine’s Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm. £10.00.
Sat 03: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. £25.00. Tutor: Steve Glendinning. Summer Samba Enrol at: learning@jazz.coop.
Sat 03: Jason Isaacs @ STACK, Exchange Sq., Middlesbrough. 4:00-6:00pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 03: Struggle Buggy @ Billy Bootleggers, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. Blues.
Sat 03: Edison Herbert Trio @ The Vault, Darlington 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 03: Postmodern Jukebox @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 7:30pm.
Sat 03: NUJO Jazz Jam @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 8:00pm (7:00pm doors). £3.00. + bf.
Sat 03: Eva Fox & the Jazz Guys @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sat 03: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00.
Sat 03: Ray Stubbs R&B All Stars @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:30pm. Free.

Sun 04: Smokin’ Spitfires @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:45pm. £7.50.
Sun 04: Sax Choir @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 04: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 04: Spilt Milk @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 3:00-5:00pm. Free. Nolan Brothers (vocal harmonies).
Sun 04: Rivkala @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 04: Boys of Brass @ Billy Bootleggers, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free.
Sun 04: Ben Crosland Quartet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 05: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 05: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 6:30pm. Free.

Tue 06: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ Victoria & Albert Inn, Seaton Delaval. 12:30pm. £14.00. Tel: 0191 237 3697. ‘Victory in Europe Afternoon Tea’ (VE Day 80th anniversary).
Tue 06: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Alan Law, Paul Grainger, John Hirst.
Tue 06: Customs House Big Band @ The Masonic Hall, North St., Ferryhill DL17 8HX. 7:30pm. Free.
Tue 06: FILM: Whiplash @ Tyneside Cinema, Newcastle. 8:15pm.

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

Friday, December 29, 2017

Leroy Hutson @ Jazz Café, Camden, December 27.

(Review by Steve T)
Leroy Hutson is most famous as the man Curtis Mayfield hand-picked to replace him in The Impressions when he went solo. After a few years singing Curtis stuff live and an unremarkable album, mostly written by Curtis, he embarked on his own solo career but remained on Mayfield's Curtom label. He had a run of albums which became highly sought after by soul fans, particularly in the UK, though to these ears none of them are particularly great, though each has one or two mind-bogglingly good tracks.
The last time I saw him was a Personal Appearance (PA) at a Soul Weekender in Fleetwood I was heavily involved in almost thirty years ago. At the time a PA meant a singer singing over backing tracks and this was the second best I ever heard, with a knee-buckling moment when he went into Lucky Fellow. In fairness to him, Sam Dees set the bar impossibly high but I spotted how incredible he could be with a band, so this has been a priority ever since. I've had tickets to see him twice since but both events ended up being cancelled so this threatened to be an emotional affair. 
Percussion, drums, guitar, bass, keys as well as his own centre stage. I spotted a bone, so a horn section which turned out to include trumpet and reeds also, and with one male and one female backing singer, all crammed on the Jazz Café stage, this was serious stuff.
A short intro turned into Cool Out, a jazzy instrumental which opens the latest compilation and the man entered the stage to rapturous applause and Lovers Holiday proved too much too soon. It's Different and Classy Lady afforded a window of opportunity to recover before All Because of You reopened the ducts.
By my reckoning, there's seven masterpieces in his repertoire and about the same slightly behind. He only managed four though in fairness I featured him at a recent DJ event and also only managed four.
The next hour featured mostly just behinders, including major just behinder So in Love with You, but with an interlude when he sat at his piano with a tambourine while the female backing singer took two songs he wrote for other people: Trying to get Next to You for Arnold Blair, which began fetching £75 to £90 on the modern soul scene about thirty years ago, and Cashing in for the Voices of East Harlem, a perennial Blackpool Mecca monster which will have every northern soul fan in the land kicking themselves for not going.
Just before he finished he gave us another masterpiece in Think I'm Falling in Love (one I didn't get to) and another, Lucky Fellow as part of the encore, right down to its keyboard coda. He returned to the stage but had nothing more to give us, so no Love oh Love (which has become a Mrs T favourite), no Heaven Right Here on Earth (the definitive version of an achingly beautiful ballad he wrote for the Natural Four) and no Get to This (a song many of the lesser DJs played because it was the only one they could find or afford, which I was never fussed about until I grew to love the wonderful crisp horns and positive feel).
So an ever so slightly disappointing end to a night which must rank amongst the very best of my life in the world ever.
Steve T.

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