Bebop Spoken There

Ludovic Beier (Django Festival Allstars): ''Manouche means 'free man,' and gypsies have been travelers since they migrated west from India to Europe.'' (DownBeat March, 2026)

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

18402 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 18 years ago. 266 of them this year alone and, so far this month (Mar. 31 ), 76

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

From This Moment On

April

Mon 06: Friends of Jazz @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 06: Saltburn Big Band @ Saltburn House Hotel. 7:00-9:00pm. Free.

Tue 07: Customs House Big Band @ The Masonic Hall, Ferryhill. 7:30pm. Free.
Tue 07: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Ben Lawrence (piano); Paul Grainger (double bass); Abbie Finn (drums).

Wed 08: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 08: Jam session @ The Tannery, Hexham. 7:00pm. Free.
Wed 08: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 08: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 08: Zoë Gilby & Johnny Hunter @ Elder Beer, Heaton, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £12.00. JNE.

Thu 09: Tom Remon + Laurence Harrison @ Newcastle Arts Centre. 7:30pm. Free.
Thu 09: Indigo Jazz Voices @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:45pm. £5.00.
Thu 09: Michael Littlefield @ The Harbour View, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Blues.
Thu 09: Jeremy McMurray’s Pocket Jazz Orchestra w. Dan Johnson @ Arc, Stockton. 8:00pm. £15.00. inc. bf.

Fri 10: John Rowland Trio @ Jesmond Library, Newcastle. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 10: Joe Steels: Celebrating Wes Montgomery @ Bishop Auckland Methodist Church. 1:00pm. £9.00. Joe Steels, Dean Stockdale, Mick Shoulder, Abbie Finn.
Fri 10: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 10: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 10: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 10: Gambling Janes @ Warkworth Memorial Hall. 7:30pm. £10.00.
Fri 10: Jake Leg Jug Band @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm.
Fri 10: Steve White Trio @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £20.00. + bf. Soul Drum (Acid Jazz Records) album tour.

Sat 11: Paul Skerritt Big Band @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm. £26.80.

Sun 12: Swing Social @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12 noon (doors). Admission: Donations (£5.00. - £10.00. suggested). Swing dance taster class, social dancing to Niffi Osiyemi Trio, DJs. Non dancers welcome. A Cluny-Swing Tyne event.
Sun 12: Am Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 12: Trio Grand @ The White Room, Stanley. 6:30-9:30pm. £10.84.
Sun 12: SH#RP Collective @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £12.00., £10.00., £7.00.

Friday, April 06, 2018

CD Review: Paul Moran - Smokin' B3. Volume 2 - Still Smokin'

Tracks 1-4,7,9,11: Paul Moran (B3, trumpet, flugel); Nigel Price (guitar); Laurence Cottle (bass guitar); Mez Clough (drums); Michael Osbourne (perc.).
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Tracks 5,6,8,10: Paul Moran (B3, bass pedal); Jim Mullen (guitar); Adam Roman (drums); Jeff Scantlebury (perc.).
(Review by Lance).
Twenty years on from Paul Moran's debut album - Smokin' B3 - up comes volume 2 - Still Smokin'.
After hearing volume 1, Jimmy McGriff called Paul "The Real Deal". This follow-up would do nothing to change his opinion! If anything, it would have had the late legend searching for even greater superlatives.
A program of '60s pop hits, Moran originals and a couple of standards make for a varied selection all of which fall easily into the hands of our smokin' gun who makes them his own which, in actual fact, four of them already are!
Think McDuff, McGriff, Groove Holmes, Jimmy Smith and you'll find Paul Moran being ranked alongside them. Add guitarists Price or Mullen, close your eyes and you're in a bar on the south side and I don't mean South Shields where Paul's talent first showed and where his father, Tommy Moran, is still a highly respected organist/sax/clarinet player. Paul also plays trumpet and flugel and I think it is on the latter instrument that he can be heard on his own Scallywag. Trumpet can be heard tightly muted on another one of his own pieces - Fried Chicken. This is perhaps the track of the album. The one where he goes for the knockout and gets it with two tracks to spare!
As well as doing his own thing, he is also MD for Van Morrison touring wherever the music takes them so, get along to the 606, Paul may be gone for awhile...
The album is launched at the 606 in London on April 18.
1:  Come Together, 2: Scallywag, 3: Moments, 4: One Note Samba, 5: Have You Seen Her? 6: Work Song, 7: Ruby Blues, 8: Blueberry Hill, 9: Fried Chicken, 10: Working in a Coal Mine, :11 Where or When.

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