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Bebop Spoken There

Trevor Mires: ''My mum is a Dean Martin fan: I'm not, so I would grab my skateboard and get out of the house whenever I heard "Everybody Loves Somebody, Sometime." ". (Jazzwise, 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

17957 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 278 of them this year alone and, so far, 34 this month (April 14).

From This Moment On ...

April 2025.

Fri 18: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 18: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 18: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 18: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 1:00-2:45pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Fri 18: Jason Isaacs @ STACK, Seaburn. 3:30-5:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.

Fri 18: Alexia Gardner @ Fika Gallery, Oldgate, Morpeth NE61 1LT. 7:00pm. Trio (Gardner, Alan Law, Jude Murphy).RESCHEDULED FOR JUNE 13

Fri 18: Sarah Jane Morris & Tony Remy: The Sisterhood @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. CANCELLED! 7:30pm (doors). £25.00.

Sat 19: Jason Isaacs @ STACK, Exchange Sq., Middlesbrough. 1:00-3:00pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 19: Joseph Carville Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 19: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 20: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 20: Salty Dog @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 20: Spilt Milk @ STACK, Exchange Sq., Middlesbrough. 7:00-9:00pm. Free. Nolan Brothers (vocal harmonies).
Sun 20: Tweed River Jazz Band @ The Barrels Ale House, Berwick-upon-Tweed. 7:00pm. Free.
Sun 20: C.A.L.I.E @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 21: Newcastle Record Fair @ Copthorne Hotel, Newcastle. 10:00am. Going in search of the Buddy Bolden cylinder…
Mon 21: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 22: Abbie Finn Trio @ Newcastle House Hotel, Rothbury. 7:30pm. Coquetdale Jazz.

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. CANCELLED!

Thu 24: Mary Coughlan @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm. £33.80. Blues, jazz etc.
Thu 24: Darlington Big Band @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm.

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, January 26, 2018

Tequila!

Today, I received a package...
You are not going to believe this! Only Scott Black, out in Hong Kong, could top this.
Let's start at the very beginning...
It's 1972 or maybe 1973 or maybe 1971. Whatever, it was around that time.
I'd blagged my way into the Newcastle Big Band as, I seem to remember, third tenor. If there had been a tenth tenor pad then that would have been my spot. My forte at the time was leading a dance band - you know the things, Hunt Balls, Weddings, Bar Mitzvahs etc. The big band occasionally got these gigs so I was handy to have around plus I could blow a chorus or two on a twelve bar.
Andy Hudson, the bandleader, said to me one Sunday morning at what was then the University Playhouse - it's now Northern Stage - "Fancy a gig in Spain?" My first thought was, "Is he trying to get rid of me? Maybe Don Rendell's back in town. 
Don Rendell had done a couple of gigs with the band - the one I remember most was in 1973 when Sunderland won the last of their many FA Cup wins.
No, the Newcastle Big Band had been invited to play at the San Sebastian Jazz Festival!
They'd played there the previous year and won an award as 'The Most Entertaining Band of the Festival' thus giving them an automatic slot in the program for the following year. In fact they'd done several tours of duty there.
We all made our way to Spain individually. Andy Hudson, Charlie Carmichael, Ronnie Young, Kevin Salmon and myself drove through France in Kevin's people carrier and there were some hilarious moments. Charlie Carmichael, who knew more jokes than Bob Monkhouse, was eventually told to shut up by Kevin as, 'driving on their side of the road' needed total concentration".  
Eventually, we stopped off for an overnight stay in France where, Andy, naturally, knew someone who had prepared a multi-course banquet for us!
I think, maybe, Andy had promised we'd play a free concert for her on our return journey - we returned by a different route!
Jackie Denton was on drums and travelling by campervan. He had everyone in stitches when he told how he'd ran out of CalorGas and asked the first person he met 'ou est las CalorGas? That was his French exhausted. The couple he asked were equally confused by his Geordie/Frangolise until it turned out that they came from Yorkshire!
Eventually, we made it to San Sebastian and we had a fantastic time. A big band from Newcastle on the same bill as the Clark Terry Big Band and other name musicians we'd worshipped all our musical lives. Drinking with the late, great pianist, Horace Parlan it was just too much.
Of course, there was a lot of drinking being done irrespective of whether Horace Parlan was there or not. Truth is, the only two words we knew in Spanish were  Kuba Libre
Myself, Charlie Carmichael, Jackie Denton, Nigel Stanger and Gordon Solomon were all partial to a taste and one day, when we didn't have a gig, I bought a bottle of Tequila in the local store.
The early morning Kubra Libres eventually took their toll and I passed out into pleasant oblivion.
Some hours later, refreshed by my siesta, I said, "Give me a shot of that Tequla." No way - they'd drank it all!

Fast forward to 2018.
The Ship Inn, Monkseaton, who should show up but Gordon Solomon complete with trombone. He said that he hadn't played for ten years but wanted a workout.
He was superb. Proving that if you've got it you've got it!
He then asked me for my address saying that he had some memorabilia he wanted to send me.
I gave him my address and guess what arrived today?
A bottle of Tequila!
Thank you Gordon, you didn't have to do this - 40 odd years later! But when I open it I will drink a toast to you and those happy memories we shared.
Lance.

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