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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

Tuesday, December 05, 2017

The Bold Big Band @ The Dun Cow, Jesmond - December 3

(Review by Russell)
The Dun Cow in Brandling Village, Jesmond, recently reopened following extensive refurbishment. The Brandling, as was, is the new watering hole of students and anyone else who lives in the area and, indeed, further afield. An open plan public house with a conservatory extension to one end, a range of beers at the bar, just the place for a quiet Sunday evening drink.     
Bebop Spoken Here accepted an invitation to attend the inaugural performance of a new big band.
The Dun Cow’s conservatory extension transformed, for one night only, into a makeshift stage was hoping to squeeze in an eighteen-piece big band - the Bold Big Band. Five reeds, three out front, a second line of two, three trombones, the bass ’bone man in the second row, it was a little cramped! Two drummers, sharing kit and percussion duties, a guitarist at the back (heard but not seen!), and a singing bass player. Oh! And a partially obscured piano player to one side.
The Bold Big Band assembled right on time for the first of three sets. One or two familiar faces sat in the sections; Davids Hignett and Gray, trumpet and trombone respectively, Newcastle University Jazz Orchestra members, including bassist Ifede Osiyemi, and final year music students, drummer Harry Still and, heard playing tenor at a recent Jazz Café jam session, the Bold Big Band’s MD, Mr  Jimmy Jefford. About that quiet drink…make it some other time! The Bold Big Band hit the ground running, bold as, and didn’t let up all night. Spain (arr. Paul Jennings) set the standard; gloriously loud (front row seats within millimeters of the horns!), blazing solos flying around the sections, this was one mightily impressive opening! C Jam Blues, then Four (arr. Mark Taylor), step forward, no, stand up, stay where you are, there isn’t the room to go anywhere else, Ms Alexis Cairns, reeds.

The band played it loud. The audience (the place was packed) reciprocated with huge applause, a fabulous atmosphere right from the off. Bassist Ifede Osiyemi made his way to the front of stage to sing The Lady is a Tramp. More wild applause, the ladies would soon be up dancing! Buddy Rich and Herbie Hancock are in the pad of countless big bands and the Bold Big Band saw no reason not to play a couple – Big Swing Face (Mercedes Phillips, alto), then Watermelon Man. End of set one. Go to the bar, set two would soon be upon us.

No sooner had the audience caught its breath the Bold Big Band launched into the first of two big band heavyweight workouts courtesy of the Big Phat Band man, Mr Gordon Goodwin. Sing, Sang, Sung featured Ms Phillips on soprano saxophone and later the orchestra would deliver a knockout blow with a sure-fire winner from the pen of the Los Angeles-based composer, arranger and big band leader. A Beautiful Friendship had all of the many females present singing along with Ifede Osiyemi (excellent section work behind him). A wonderful moment. Jimmy Jefford lead on Mercy Mercy Mercy and the set closer, Manteca, tore it up.

Go to the bar, set three would soon be upon us. Jefford lead the way once more on Work Song. A second Big Phat Band selection – Count Bubba – highlighted the exemplary work of the sections, making it clear that this new band is going to turn heads wherever it plays. An instrumental version of This Masquerade was, perhaps, a little hurried and a vocal wouldn’t have gone amiss. Sammy Nestico’s arrangement of Just in Time brought the evening almost to a close…almost. The Bold Big Band went out, all guns blazing, on Gordon Goodwin’s The Jazz Police. The Dun Cow was up and dancing! A new band has well and truly announced its arrival on the scene. You’ll be hearing more from the Bold Big Band, that’s for sure. A truly memorable debut. 
Russell
PS: Full personnel to follow when confirmed.

1 comment :

Patti said...

And what a fabulous, storming debut this was - big band heaven in Brandling Village!

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