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Bebop Spoken There

Steve Coleman: ''If you don't keep learning, your mind slows down. Use it or lose it''. (DownBeat, January 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

17719 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 39 of them this year alone and, so far, 39 this month (Jan. 15).

From This Moment On ...

January 2025

Sun 19: Glenn Miller Orchestra UK @ Glasshouse, Gateshead. 3:00pm. ‘Glenn Miller & the Rat Pack Era’.
Sun 19: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 19: Spilt Milk @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 5:15-7:00pm. Free. Nolan Brothers (vocal harmonies).
Sun 19: Tenement Jazz Band @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 19: Nick Ross Orchestra @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 7:30pm.
Sun 19: Freight Train (Tobin/Noble/Clarvis) @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Sun 19: Jazz Jam @ Fabio’s, Saddler St., Durham. 8:00pm. Free. A Durham University Jazz Society promotion. All welcome.

Mon 20: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 21: ???

Wed 22: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 22: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 22: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 22: Pasadena Roof Orchestra @ Fire Station, Sunderland. 7:30pm.

Thu 23: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, Holystone. 1:00pm. Free. Fortnightly.
Thu 23: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: Obituaries 2024.
Thu 23: Jason Isaacs @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 4:30-6:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Thu 23: Pedal Point Trio @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Fri 24: Zoë Gilby Quartet @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm.
Fri 24: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 24: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 24: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 24: Creakin’ Bones & the Sunday Dinners @ Lindisfarne Social Club, Wallsend. 9:00pm. Admission: TBC. Jazz, blues , jump jive, rock ‘n’ roll.

Sat 25: Boys of Brass @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 3:30-5:30pm. Free.
Sat 25: Edison Herbert Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 25: Jack & Jay’s Songbook @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. 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

Saturday, January 27, 2018

BABMUS @ The Jazz Café - Jan 25

Bearpark: Tom Bearpark (Hammond organ); Jamie Jingles (guitar); Stephen Hall (bass) & Adam Watson (drums)
(Review by Russell)
Tom Bearpark knew it, he said he wasn’t surprised. Late January is a difficult time of year to ask people to come out and support live music. Bandleader Bearpark thanked those who turned out, and, with his BABMus colleagues ready to go, fired-up the Hammond.




The Jazz Café’s upstairs room reverberated to the sound of Bearpark’s SK2. We’ve heard him at the Pink Lane upright, we’ve heard him at the house Nord, tonight, Bearpark would tussle with the big beast. The monthly BABMUS session is a platform for students on Sage Gateshead’s BA and BMus music degree courses to escape the white wall rehearsal room and play a gig in front of the paying public. Tom Bearpark isn’t Jimmy – McGriff or Smith, more like a Bearpark with a manic, at times, prog rock sound. Whatever the tune, it got the Bearpark treatment. His bandmates, guitarist Jamie Jingles (Jingles aka…that would be telling!), the assured bassist Stephen Hall and drummer Adam Watson, were up for the challenge responding to Bearpark’s signals – hand or eye – when a change in tempo was required or to return to the head.

Numbers ranged from an accomplished Tom Bearpark composition titled Sergeant Bird to a Gothic take on My Favorite Things, to, at times, a demented version of In a Sentimental Mood (if ever the musicians’ jokey alternative title applied – In a Semi-Mental Mood – this was the occasion!). Jamie Jingles shared solo spots with Bearpark. Interestingly, Jamie J doesn’t use a pick, and he certainly has a distinctive sound playing his Telecaster. The Hammond lends itself to a bossa and Bearpark duly dipped into the bag marked ‘Bossa.’ The evening’s closing number featured Adam Watson on Take Five. The 5/4 to 7/8 time signatures didn’t inhibit our drummer, this was his opportunity to let us hear what he could do, and he did just that.


Bearpark is a student band, it’s come on leaps and bounds over the last year and it’ll be interesting to see which direction these young musicians take next. 
Russell.           

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