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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

17972 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 293 of them this year alone and, so far, 49 this month (April 22).

From This Moment On ...

April 2025.

Fri 25: Vasilis Xenopoulos & Paul Edis @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT! Duo performance.
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: Andrea Vicari Trio @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. £8.00. Vicari (piano); Andy Champion (double bass); Russ Morgan (drums).
Fri 25: Jason Isaacs @ STACK, Exchange Sq., Middlesbrough. 4:00-6:00pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Fri 25: Red Kites Jazz @ Land of Oak & Iron, Winlaton Mill. 6:00-9:00pm. Free.
Fri 25: Vasilis Xenopoulos & Paul Edis @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 7:30pm. £15.00. at the door; £14.35. (inc £0.35 bf) online, in advance.
Fri 25: Struggle Buggy @ The White Room, Stanley. 7:45pm. Rhythm & blues.
Fri 25: Paul Skerritt Big Band @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm. £20.30., £18.00. All-star big band.
Fri 25: Andrea Vicari Trio @ Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. Vicari (piano); Andy Champion (double bass); Russ Morgan (drums). An Opus 4 Jazz Club event.

Sat 26: Durham Alumni Big Band @ Number One Bar, Darlington. 12 noon. Free (donations).
Sat 26: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 26: Vasilis Xenopoulos & Paul Edis @ Elvet Methodist Church, Durham. 7:30pm. Tickets: £12.00. + bf. Duo performance.
Sat 26: Neil Cowley Trio @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm. £22.50.
Sat 26: Pete Tanton & the Cuban Heels @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 27: Musicians Unlimited @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 27: Andrea Vicari Trio @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00pm. Vicari (piano); Andy Champion (double bass); John Bradford (drums).
Sun 27: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 27: Vasilis Xenopoulos-Paul Edis Quartet @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm. Xenopoulos, Edis, Paul Susans, Russ Morgan.
Sun 27: Ruth Lambert Trio @ Juke Shed, North Shields. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 27: JustKing Jones @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. 7:00pm (doors). £17.50. JustKing Jones (alto sax, soprano sax); Jordan Williams (piano); Jason Clotter (bass); Malcolm Charles (drums). Ace NYC outfit!
Sun 27: Jazz Jam Sandwich! @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 27: Swing Manouche @ Warkworth Memorial Hall. 7:30pm. £15.00. Tickets from 01665 711388.
Sun 27: Vasilis Xenopoulos-Paul Edis Quartet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Xenopoulos, Edis, Ken Marley, Russ Morgan.

Mon 28: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 29: ???

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 + Open Mic Night participants.

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.

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

Wednesday, March 21, 2018

Jazz Café Jam Session - March 20

Jeremy McMurray (piano); Paul Grainger (bass); Rob Walker (drums) + Nifemi Osiyemi (vocal); Yuichiro Suzukawa (alto); Nick Gould, Paul Gowland, Jimmy Jefford (tenors); Joel Brown, Ben Richardson, Marcus Tham (piano); John Pope (bass).
(Review by Lance).
The house trio tonight is Jeremy McMurray (piano); Paul Grainger (bass) and Rob Walker (drums). They get the ball rolling with Yesterdays, a samba called Samba that's composed by Jeremy who's making his first JC jam appearance and My Romance. A good start to this fortnightly 'mustn't miss' session.
At the last jam, I waxed eloquent about singer Osiyami even going so far as to suggest that she deserved a gig in her own right. Guess what? May 18 the girl is doing just that - put it in your diary folks.
Tonight she gives us a taste of Honeysuckle Rose which is maybe too fast for comfort and Georgia on my Mind which is just right. Nifemi is aided and abetted by Suzukawa on alto who stays on stage for a Bird bopper the title of which escapes me - somebody help me -  Nick?
Nick (Gould) has blown in from Out of Nowhere or, to be more precise, Edinburgh before toasting that Argentinian heartbreaker, Tangerine.
Joel gives Jeremy a spell at the Joanna for A Weaver of Dreams and Suzukawa pops up again (you can't keep him down) for It Could Happen to You.
Interval time. Normally, Paul Grainger asks if there is a bass player in the house. A plea that usually falls on stony ground. However, tonight John Pope was in, I think he may have been at the hairdresser's last time and took over on bass. No such luck for Rob Walker. Ian Forbes had been spotted earlier but, as is his wont, he'd vanished into the mist from which Paul Gowland emerges brandishing tenor sax. This was not to be his night - at least not yet. The mechanism on Paul's tenor had, in the words of one of Nick Gould's countrymen when referring to the best laid schemes of mice and men, 'gang awry'. This relegates Paul to the bench where various processes are employed until, eventually, the problem is solved and Paul returns in triumph for the final 4 sax jam On Green Dolphin Street.
Before then, however, Jimmy Jefford and Ben Richardson set the room on fire before being joined by Suzukawa for a blast on Mr. PC. Joel Brown works out on My One and Only Love before relinquishing the piano stool to Marcus Tham. Osiyami returns for I Wish I Knew How it Felt to be Free and a soul-searing Hallelujah I Just Love Him So. Gould blows R'n'B tenor, cools down on Autumn Leaves then joins Gowland, Jefford and Suzukawa for the final number. It's hotting up nicely with Paul Gowland making up for lost time. I too have to make up for lost time and catch the Metro which, of course, is late!
Another Terrific Tuesday!
Lance.
Photos.

1 comment :

Nick Gould said...

I can confirm it was Charlie Parker's Confirmation. Great night last night as usual. Good to see you!

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