Bebop Spoken There

Christian McBride: ''We knew back in the day that Emmet [Cohen] had it.'' (DownBeat July, 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

18699 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 18 years ago. 573 of them this year alone and, so far this month (July 11) 27

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

July

Sun 12: Jazz Stage: Mouth of the Tyne Festival (o/s Tynemouth Priory), Tynemouth. Free. Trilogy of Four (11:00am); River City Jazzmen (12:10pm); Delta Prophets (1:20pm); B.O.C.K.S. Set (2:30pm); Mouth of the Tyne All Stars (3:40pm). Day 2/2.
Sun 12: Phantom Bagman + OUTRI @ The Bandstand, The Sele, Hexham. 12 noon. Free.
Sun 12: 58 Jazz Collective @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00-3:00pm. Free.
Sun 12: Tyne Valley Big Band @ Easington Social Welfare Centre. 2:00-4:00pm. A Durham Brass Festival event.
Sun 12: Am Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 12: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Table reservations (0191 261 8000). Skerritt w. backing tapes.
Sun 12: Guisborough Big Band @ Zetland Park Methodist Church, Redcar. 2:00-4:00pm. Free. Charity gig in aid of Parkinson’s Society.
Sun 12: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 12: The Bridge Quartet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 13: Friends of Jazz @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 13: Shildon Little Brass Bash @ Locomotion, Shildon. 6:00-9:00pm. Free. Durham Brass Festival. Multi-bill of street brass bands.
Mon 13: Quarrington Little Brass Bash @ Quarrington Community Centre. 6:00-8:00pm. Free. Durham Brass Festival. Multi-bill of street brass bands.

Tue 14: Vieux Carre Hot 4 @ Victoria & Albert Inn, Seaton Delaval. 12:30pm. £15.00 (reservations: 0191 237 3697). ‘July Jazz Barbecue!’
Tue 14: Crook Little Brass Bash @ Crook Community Centre. 6:00-8:00pm. Free. Durham Brass Festival. Multi-bill of street brass bands.
Tue 14: Barnard Castle Little Brass Bash @ The Witham, Barnard Castle. 6:00-8:00pm. Free. Durham Brass Festival. Multi-bill of street brass bands.
Tue 14: Nomade Swing: Dos Guitars Trio @ Newcastle House Hotel, Rothbury. 7:30pm. £11.00. Tickets from Tully’s, Rothbury. Luco Allievi, Alessandro Brizio, Mariano Gallizio. ‘A Journey Through Swing, Gypsy Jazz, Soul & Pop’.
Tue 14: Jazz Jam Sandwich @ Newcastle Arts Centre. 7:30pm. Free.

Wed 15: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 15: Willington Big Brass Bash @ Town Park, Willington. 6:00-9:00pm. Free. Durham Brass Festival. Multi-bill of street brass bands.
Wed 15: Nomade Swing: Dos Guitars Trio @ Café Needle’s Eye, Promenade, Newbiggin-by-the-Sea NE64 6XE. 6:00pm. Free. Luco Allievi, Alessandro Brizio, Mariano Gallizio. ‘A Journey Through Swing, Gypsy Jazz, Soul & Pop’.
Wed 15: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 15: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 15: Side Café Orkestar @ The Cumberland Arms, Byker, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £15.00 (£11.00. adv.); £12.00 concs (£8.00. concs adv.).

Thu 16: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ The Millstone, Mill Rise, South Gosforth, Newcastle. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 16: Spennymoor Big Brash Bash @ Jubilee Park, Spennymoor. 6:00-9:00pm. Free. Durham Brass Festival. Multi-bill of street brass bands.
Thu 16: Coxhoe Little Brass Bash @ Village Green (Pit Wheel). 6:00-8:00pm. Free. Durham Brass Festival. Multi-bill of street brass bands.
Thu 16: Nomade Swing: Dos Guitars Trio @ Lollo Rosso, Morpeth. 7:30pm. Free. Luco Allievi, Alessandro Brizio, Mariano Gallizio. ‘A Journey Through Swing, Gypsy Jazz, Soul & Pop’.
Thu 16: Stevie Jay Duo @ Newcastle Arts Centre. 7:30pm. Free. Julija Jacenaite & Steve Glendinning.
Thu 16: DK Harrell @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £20.00 + bf. USA blues.
Thu 16: Paul Skerritt @ Angels' Share, St George's Terrace, Jesmond, Newcastle NE2 2SX. 8:00pm. Free. Booking advised (0191 200 1975). Skerritt w. backing tapes.

Fri 17: Mejedi Owusu w. Francis Tulip Trio @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 17: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 17: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 17: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 17: Seaham Big Brass Bash @ Terrace Green, Seaham. 6:00-9:00pm. Free. Durham Brass Festival. Multi-bill of street brass bands.
Fri 17: Newton Aycliffe Big Brass Bash @ Town Park, Newton Aycliffe. 6:00-9:00pm. Free. Durham Brass Festival. Multi-bill of street brass bands.
Fri 17: Ray Stubbs R&B Allstars @ Billy Bootleggers, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free.
Fri 17: Mejedi Owusu w. Francis Tulip Trio @ Sunderland Minster. 7:30pm. Old Black Cat Jazz Club.
Fri 17: Zoë Gilby Quartet @ St Cuthbert’s Centre, Crook. 7:30pm.
Fri 17: Nomade Swing: Dos Guitars Trio @ Repas 7 by Night, Berwick. 8:00pm. Free. Lollo Rosso, Morpeth. 8:00pm. Luco Allievi, Alessandro Brizio, Mariano Gallizio. ‘A Journey Through Swing, Gypsy Jazz, Soul & Pop’.

Sat 18: Streets of Brass @ Market Place, Durham City. 10:00am-4:00pm. Free. Durham Brass Festival. Multi-bill of street brass bands.
Sat 18: Brass Boat Cruise @ Boathouse, Elvet Bridge Jetty, Durham City. Departures at 10:30am, 12 noon, 1:30pm, 3:00pm. £12.00., £10.00., £5.00 (all prices + bf). Durham Brass Festival. Various bands.
Sat 18: Party in the Park @ Wharton Park, Durham City. 5:00-9:00pm. Free. Durham Brass Festival. Multi-bill of street brass bands. Entrance o/s Durham Railway Station (Northbound platform).
Sat 18: Zoë Gilby & Dean Stockdale @ FIKA Art Gallery, Morpeth. 6:30pm.
Sat 18: Mejedi Owusu w. Francis Tulip Trio @ Claypath Deli, Durham. 7:00-9:00pm. £10.00.
Sat 18: Tyne Valley Big Band + Revolutionaires @ Pelton Community Centre. 7:00pm. A Durham Brass Festival event.
Sat 18: Dale Storr @ The Straw Yard, The Barracks, Berwick. 7:30pm. £15.38. Solo piano.
Sat 18: Nomade Swing: Dos Guitars Trio @ Red Lion Inn, Alnmouth. 8:30pm. Free. Lollo Rosso, Morpeth. 8:00pm. Luco Allievi, Alessandro Brizio, Mariano Gallizio. ‘A Journey Through Swing, Gypsy Jazz, Soul & Pop’.

Monday, April 09, 2018

GIJF Day 3: JB’s Cats - Sage Gateshead, April 8

James Birkett (MD); Ben Lawrence (piano); Alex Thompson (alto sax, Moog synth); Lucien Guest (trumpet, flugelhorn); Nathan Lawson (guitar); Thomas Henry (guitar); Alex Shipsey (bass); Gemma Watson (drums)
(Review/photo by Russell).
For anyone with an interest in the future of jazz they should check out JB’s Cats’ annual concert on Sage Gateshead’s concourse stage. Noon Sunday, right on time, James Birkett’s Cats took Seven Steps to Heaven. The 2017-18 edition of the band comprises seven musicians; several of them are familiar faces playing in prestigious youth ensembles including Jambone and the workshop/gigging Early Bird Band, some pitch in without fear at top-flight jam sessions and some have recorded CDs – such is the busy life of the region’s up and coming jazz musicians!

The first number featured the ever-impressive Nathan Lawson on guitar, the second number of the day…WOW! Stolen Moments, absolutely brilliant, at its heart a fully-formed, mature flugelhorn solo from the diminutive Lucien Guest. This young man is something else. At the age of fifteen, perhaps sixteen, if he is thinking of going to university to study some pointless subject such as medicine or, er, physics, then the local jazz mafia needs to have a quiet word in his shell-like. Lucien has ‘JAZZ MUSICIAN’ written all over him!

Joe Zawinul’s arrangement of Little Rootie Tootie showcased a speed-of-light solo from the band’s other guitarist, Thomas Henry, Ben Lawrence’s apposite Monkish stylings and the superb voicings of the horns –Alex Thompson and Lucien Guest. Neal Hefti’s After Super teased out the subtleties, fine playing from such young musicians, and their all-too-short set concluded with a rip-roaring take on A Night in Tunisia featuring Alex Thompson’s crazy, rollercoaster Moog solo and Chick Corea’s Got a Match? Special mention for the rhythm section; bassist Alex Shipsey did the business as he always does, and the real find on this session was drummer Gemma Watson. What a great player! Gemma later confirmed that her drum teacher is Roger Hempsall…that explains a lot. This was one of the sets of this year’s Gateshead International Jazz Festival.          

Russell 
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