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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.

Wed 23: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 23: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 23: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. CANCELLED!

Thu 24: Mary Coughlan @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm. £33.80. Blues, jazz etc.
Thu 24: Darlington Big Band @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm.

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: ???

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, May 07, 2018

Pericopes + 1 @ The Globe Jazz Bar, Newcastle - May 6.

Emiliano Vernizzi (tenor); Alessandro Sgobbia (keys); Nick Wight (drums).
(Review by Lance/Photos courtesy of Ken Drew).
Spring Bank Holiday in Newcastle. The temperature warm for the time of year and the streets awash (literally – but not with rain) as the revellers celebrate their 9 to 5 freedom or, foregoing their studies, let it all hang out. They weren’t coming from Evensong at St. Nicholas’ Cathedral nor were they heading for The Globe, where they could not only have further slaked their thirst from the choice of beer, wines and spirits on offer, but also be witness to some of the most exciting music they’re likely to hear this year.
Fortunately, a goodly crowd of more mature souls did make the short trip from the fleshpots and were well rewarded for their efforts.
Perhaps they’d witnessed Pericopes + 1’s performance on The Concourse at GIJF a couple of years back – a session that Wes of JNE who, with the Jazz Co-op, co-promoted this event, waxed eloquent about.
I missed that event myself but, having reviewed Pericopes + 1’s latest CD – Legacy – I knew it wouldn’t be one for the faint-hearted. And yet…
…and yet, there were moments of sheer beauty amidst the Jericho-like fusillade that must have caused the tango dancers in the upper room to mistime their Argentine Cross.
The oft-quoted Sound of Surprise has, surely, never been more appropriate than with this band. They can be playing sedately as if at an afternoon tea dance (or should that be cappuccino?) one moment then suddenly, all hell breaks loose and they go for the jugular. Keyboard player leaps from the stool pounding the unsuspecting instrument unmercifully, tenor player points his instrument skyward (tango dancers flee for cover) and we discover that the French got it right when they refer to drums as la batterie! Then, in the blink of an eyelid, its fff to ppp and we’re back to the tea dance.
Tenor sax man Vernizzi has an amazing command of the horn. When blowing harmonics he hits notes that probably only dogs can here – and there was one friendly little canine present – and when he comes down to earth you notice he has a ’tone’. Some players, no matter how technically skilled they are don’t have that quality. The air goes down the body of the instrument without hitting the sides resulting in a vaporous sound. No lack of substance with Signor Vernizzi.
Sgobbio, the most gymnastic of players, slotted in well providing a solid harmonic base as well as, by use of some kind of electronic sorcery, producing sci-fi sounds that didn’t jar as much as these effects usually do.
New Yorker Nick Wight on drums provided the calm and the storm and not always in that order!

Wight was seated, unlike the other two who bobbed and weaved like puppets on a string. This was a performance that was, at times, as dramatic as it was musical. The adrenalin flowed both off stage and on and, if the rest of the audience is anything like me, they’re still unwinding.
Setlist: Kuwa; Grossetto; Red Sand Town; November Tears; Zardis (Le Premier); Martyrled; Legacy. The majority are from Legacy, the album of which I'm told was first reviewed in the UK on BSH!
Lance.
PS: The fact that all three are based in different cities in different countries (Rome, Paris and New York) makes the band's cohesion all the more incredible!

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