Total Pageviews

Bebop Spoken There

Sullivan Fortner: ''I always judge it by the bass player: If the bass player is happy, it's going to be a good night". (DownBeat, February 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

17805 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 126 of them this year alone and, so far, 51 this month (Feb.16).

From This Moment On ...

February 2025

Sun 16: MOBO Song @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 12 noon. Free, performances on the concourse. Line-up inc. Jazz Attack (on stage time TBC) & Jambone (12:20pm).
Sun 16: Jason Isaacs @ STACK, Exchange Sq., Middlesbrough. 1:00-2:45pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sun 16: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 16: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 16: MOBO Awards Fringe 2025: BBC Introducing NE X MOBO Showcase @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 6:00pm. Free (ticketed). Line-up inc. Jambone, Knats, Rivkala, SwanNek.
Sun 16: The Shayo Experience @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 16: Gerry Richardson Quartet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. .

Mon 17: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 17: Matt Forster Quartet @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 1:00pm. £9.00. at the door; £8.20. (inc £0.20 bf) online, in advance.
Mon 17: Russ Morgan Quartet @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £10.00.

Tue 18: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Alan Law, Paul Grainger, John Hirst.

Wed 19: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 19: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 19: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 20: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, Holystone. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 20: James Birkett & Emma Fisk @ King’s Hall, Newcastle University. 1:15pm. Free.
Thu 20: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: Jazz Milestones - 1975.
Thu 20: Renegade Brass Band @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors).
Thu 20: Orange Claw Hammer + Peony @ The Globe, Newcastle.7:30pm. Orange Claw Hammer play Captain Beefheart.
Thu 20: Jeremy McMurray & the Pocket Jazz Orchestra @ Arc, Stockton. 8:00pm. Featuring special guest Zoë Gilby.

Fri 21: JazzMain @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 21: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 21: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 21: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 21: Joe Steels Trio @ The Pele, Corbridge. 7:00pm. £10.00. TBC.
Fri 21: Emma Rawicz w. Strictly Smokin’ Big Band @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm.

Sat 22: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 12:30-2:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 22: Jason Isaacs @ Seaburn STACK, Seaburn. 3:30pm-5:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 22: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 22: Mississippi MacDonald @ Claypath Deli, Durham. 7:00pm. Blues.
Sat 22: Lindsay Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ Old Cinema Laundrette, Durham. 7:45pm. £16.50. SOLD OUT!
Sat 22: Michael Woods @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Country blues guitar & vocals.

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

Monday, April 16, 2018

Giles Strong Quartet @ Blaydon Jazz Club - April 15












Giles Strong, Roly Veitch (guitars); Ian Paterson (double bass); Russ Morgan (drums)
(Review by Russell) 
This evening’s concert at the Black Bull on Bridge Street exemplified what Blaydon Jazz Club is all about…a select list of tunes drawn from the Great American Songbook performed impeccably to a discerning audience. Giles Strong and fellow guitarist Roly Veitch put their heads together to come up with a set list and invited bassist Ian Paterson and drummer Russ Morgan to join them to play a  few numbers for the love of it, and, if anyone should drop by to listen, so much the better.

And drop by they did. Familiar faces took their regular seats and, without fanfare, Giles Strong and friends began with Out of Nowhere (comp Johnny Green), each musician introducing themselves in solo spots. A simple format, if it ain’t broke…Alone Together (comp Arthur Schwartz, lyrics Howard Dietz) continued the formula with first Giles then Roly introducing a tune and taking the time to talk about the composer (and lyricist) in much the same way as Frank Sinatra did so fastidiously during a long career dedicated to singing the very best songs of the popular composers of the day. 
There Will Never Be Another You (Harry Warren/Mack Gordon) featured a short solo from drummer Russ Morgan and, standing to his left, bassist Ian Patterson played it ‘just so’ all night; unobtrusive, fully engaged, enjoying the occasion. Benny Golson’s Whisper Not, heard for a second time in just three days by your reviewer, worked well without the horns. Did anyone hear the Jazztet in concert in Britain? Indeed, did the Benny Golson-Art Farmer sextet ever make it to these shores?

Russ Morgan is a master of the art of hand drumming and on Flamingo (Grouya/Anderson) gave a mini-masterclass, making it look easy into the bargain. A fine first set concluded with Irving Berlin’s How Deep is the Ocean?    

Blaydon Jazz Club’s CD stall did a little business, the raffle was well supported (your reviewer went home empty handed!) and there was time for a chat with some of the regulars (and not so regulars; four keen imbibers, one clutching a copy of the beer list from the recent Newcastle Beer and Cider Festival!). An unexpected development…Roly’s amp began to play up, or so he thought. Everyone carries a spare wheel in the boot, Blaydon Jazz Club’s long-serving promoter carries a spare amp!

Our two guitarists (Giles and Roly) exchanged ideas on You’d Be So Nice To Come Home To as Russ skittered brushes across his kit…he really is a master percussionist. A nice start to the second set. From Cole Porter to Brooks Bowman’s East of the Sun (and West of the Moon). More Cole Porter to follow, but wait, it was at about this juncture that Roly realised his ‘malfunctioning’ amp was not to blame, it was his guitar that was playing up! Few guitarists have a spare six-string in the boot of the car and Roly was no different. The show must go on and it did!

Jimmy Van Heusen’s Darn That Dream (lyrics Eddie DeLange) staked a claim as tune of the night,  Eden Ahbez’s strange (or should that be the strange Eden Ahbez?) Nature Boy featured Giles and Roly and again on Wes Montgomery’s West Coast Blues. A typically enjoyable evening at Blaydon Jazz Club concluded with the Giles Strong Quartet playing I’ll Remember April (composer Gene de Paul, lyricists Patricia Johnston and Don Raye). The irony wasn’t lost on some in the fact that Roly didn’t sing at all on the night yet, typical of the calibre of musicians on the stand, they ensured that the composers and lyricists were duly credited. It’s what Blaydon Jazz Club does.                               
Russell

1 comment :

Patti said...

This was a wonderful jazz gig at Roly's club ...... for me, it's always an exquisite experience to be sitting so close to these guitar maestros at work - every note so clear. The repertoire was superb, each number a classic of those magical Great American Songbook years - though I think Whisper Not was written in the mid 1950's. Incidentally, it was interesting to compare this take on the tune, with the one I heard a couple of days before - Lewis Watson, and the Mick Shoulder Quintet - fabulously played in a full, excitingly driven Jazz Messengers bop way. Tonight, the two guitars, plus drums and bass, took the tune right back to the melody - sublime!

Blog Archive