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Bebop Spoken There

Stan Woodward: ''We're part of the British jazz scene, but we don't play London jazz. We play Newcastle jazz. The Knats album represents many things, but most importantly that Newcastle isn't overlooked". (DownBeat, 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

17923 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 244 of them this year alone and, so far, 91 this month (March 31).

From This Moment On ...

April 2025.

Sun 06: Learning & Participation Showcase @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm (1:00pm doors). Free. Featuring participants from Play More Jazz! Play More Folk! Blue Jam Singers & more.
Sun 06: Joe Steels Group @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00pm. £10.00. Ferg Kilsby, Joe Steels, Ben Lawrence, Paul Susans, John Hirst.
Sun 06: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 06: Paul Skerritt @ The Hooch, Quayside, Newcastle. 6:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Sun 06: Leeway @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 07: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 07: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 6:30pm. Free.

Tue 08: ???

Wed 09: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 09: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 09: Tannery jam session @ The Tannery, Hexham. 7:00pm.
Wed 09: Anatole Muster Trio @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £17.50., £12.50. concs.
Wed 09: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. CANCELLED?

Thu 10: Indigo Jazz Voices @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:45pm. £5.00.CANCELLED!
Thu 10: Magpies of Swing @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £12.00., £10.00., £7.00. A Globe fundraiser (all proceeds to the venue).
Thu 10: Exhaust: Camila Nebbia/Kit Downes/Andrew Lisle @ Jesmond URC, Newcastle. 8:00pm (7:30pm doors). £13.20., £11.00. JNE.
Thu 10: Jeremy McMurray & the Pocket Jazz Orchestra @ Arc, Stockton. 8:00pm. Feat. guests Ray Dales & Jackie Summers.

Fri 11: Zoë Gilby Quartet @ Auckland Castle, Bishop Auckland. 1:00pm. £8.00.
Fri 11: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 11: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 11: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 11: John Rowland Trio: The Music of Ben Webster @ Jesmond Library, Newcastle. 1:00pm. £5.00. Rowland (tenor sax); Alan Law (piano); Paul Grainger (double bass).
Fri 11: Imelda May @ The Fire Station, Sunderland. 7:30pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 11: Shunyata Improvisation Group @ Cullercoats Watch House. 7:30-9:00pm. Free (donations).

Sat 12: Jason Isaacs @ STACK, Seaburn. 3:30-5:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 12: Rob Heron & the Tea Pad Orchestra + House of the Black Gardenia + King Bees @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. 6:30pm (doors). £18.00.
Sat 12: Bright Street Big Band @ Washington Arts Centre. 6:30pm. £12.00. Event includes swing dance taster session, DJ dance session. Bright Street Big Band on stage 7:30-8:15pm & 8:45-9:30pm. SOLD OUT!
Sat 12: Milne Glendinning Band @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 12: Imelda May @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 7:30pm. £42.20. SOLD OUT!
Sat 12: Papa G’s Troves @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

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

The Scottish National Jazz Orchestra (SNJO) directed by Tommy Smith Presents Kenny Wheeler’s ‘Sweet Sister Suite’ featuring soloists Laura Jurd (trumpet) and Irini Arabatzi (voice) And The Music of Mary Lou Williams featuring Brian Kellock (piano)

(Press release)
Jump into Spring with the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra and their special guests Laura Jurd, Irini Arabatzi and Brian Kellock for a celebration of jazz genius. Together they will explore a rarely performed work by master composer, the late Kenny Wheeler, and the repertoire of pianist, composer and arranger Mary Lou Williams.
Kenny Wheeler was a Canadian-born jazz trumpet player who became a stalwart of British modern jazz and who participated in many adventurous configurations as a leader, composer and sideman. He is especially remembered for his long association with Sir John Dankworth, and for a string of successful solo albums for ECM, which featured collaborations with Keith Jarrett, Mike Brecker and Jan Garbarek. He was also noted for iconoclastic projects such as the Spontaneous Music Ensemble, and the exploratory Azimuth with John Taylor and Norma Winstone and was still making wonderful music in his final years. His last album, Songs for Quintet was recorded in 2013 for ECM at the Abbey Road studios in London.
Kenny Wheeler was commissioned by Tommy Smith to write Sweet Sister Suite for the SNJO in 1995 and the work, written over a two-year period, was completed in 1997. Wheeler often composed by noting down ideas and fragments whenever and wherever they occurred to him; a method that he was seen to employ while recording and touring with Tommy Smith and his group. Sweet Sister Suite is a textured, measured and deeply layered work for
trumpet and vocal that also features SNJO improvisers stepping out from the orchestra to take the spotlight.

Laura Jurd (Photo copyright Derek Clarke) is an award-winning trumpeter who has made a significant impact on UK jazz with her band Dinosaur, and her outstanding work with the Ligeti Quartet. She’s also written commissioned music for BBC Concert Orchestra, the Northern Sinfonia and BBC Radio 3. 
Irina Arabatzi is an insightful and empathetic jazz singer who is becoming firmly established in the UK as a versatile and compassionate new voice. They take centre stage in these performances of ‘Sweet Sister Suite’, one of Kenny Wheeler’s most evocative, detailed, and rarely played essays in modern jazz.

Mary Lou Williams was an in-demand composer, arranger and teacher who worked closely with many of the great names of jazz including Thelonius Monk, Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman and Dizzy Gillespie. She was both popular and respected throughout her career, and her music was infused with sharp intellect, exceptional invention and deep spirituality. Williams’ music was at various times ambitious and visionary, but throughout a long career, she firmly maintained her lifelong commitment to “Jazz for the Soul”.
Brian Kellock is familiar to jazz audiences as a gentle, genial figure whose playing is full of heart and loaded with unspoken emotion. He joins the SNJO to perform some of Mary Lou Williams’ most resounding tunes including, A Mellow Bit Of Rhythm, What's Your Story, Morning Glory? and Jump Caprice. These wonderful tunes round off performances that open a new three-year cycle of concerts from the SNJO, and they signal very bright prospects for the future of jazz in Scotland.
Repertoire: Tommy Smith, Artistic Director 07710 585 231 ts@snjo.co.uk

The Scottish National Jazz Orchestra is supported by Creative Scotland www.snjo.co.uk

Friday 20th April 2018: Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow (New Auditorium) 0141 353 8000
Saturday 21st April 2018: The Sanctuary at Queen’s Cross, Aberdeen AB10 1YN 07827 966735
Sunday 22nd April 2018: Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh EH8 9JG 0131 668 2019
All concerts start at 19.30pm.

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