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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

17755 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 76 of them this year alone and, so far, 1 this month (Feb.1).

From This Moment On ...

February 2025

Fri 07: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 07: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 07: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 07: James Birkett & Emma Fisk @ Old Lowlight, Clifford’s Fort, North Shields NE30 1JE. 7:00pm. £15.00. + bf. www.oldlowlight.co.uk. SOLD OUT!
Fri 07: Stuart Turner Trio @ Billy Bootlegger’s, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. Jazz, blues, Americana etc.
Fri 07: Dean Stockdale Quartet @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm. £12.00.
Fri 07: Rose Room @ Wylam Institute. 8:00pm. £19.67.
Fri 07: John Rowland Quartet @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sat 08: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 12:30-2:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 08: Jason Isaacs @ Seaburn STACK, Seaburn. 3:30-5:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 08: Milne Glendinning Band @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 08: Lewis Watson Quartet @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 7:30pm. £15.00. at the door; £14.35. (inc £0.35 bf) online, in advance.
Sat 08: Anth Purdy @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. ‘Swing Jazz Guitar’.
Sat 08: NUJO Jazz Jam @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A Newcastle University Jazz Orchestra event. All welcome.

Sun 09: Glenn Miller & Big Band Spectacular @ The Forum, Billingham. 3:00pm.
Sun 09: The New ’58 Jazz Collective @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 09: Am Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 09: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 09: Tom Remon & Mark Williams @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 09: Rod Oughton’s Tomorrow’s New Quartet with Ben van Helder @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Line-up inc. Deschanel Gordon.
Sun 09: Jazz Jam @ Fabio’s, Saddler St., Durham. 8:00pm. Free. A Durham University Jazz Society promotion. All welcome.

Mon 10: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 11: Steve Summers Quintet @ Newcastle House Hotel, Rothbury. 7:30pm.

Wed 12: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 12: Jam session @ The Tannery, Gilesgate, Hexham. 7:00-9:00pm. Free.
Wed 12: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 12: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 13: Student Performances @ King’s Hall, Newcastle University. 4:00pm. Free. Inc. Olly Styles (tenor sax).
Thu 13: MOBO Awards Fringe 2025: Artist Showcase @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 7:00pm. Free (ticketed). Line-up inc. Hannabiell & Midnight Blue.
Thu 13: Indigo Jazz Voices @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:45pm. £5.00.

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

Thursday, June 28, 2018

Jam Session @ The Dun Cow, Jesmond - June 27.

(Review by Lance/Photos.).
Another 'other' Wednesday at the Dun Cow which meant that even though there was World Cup football on TV (Brazil 2 Croatia 0) the jam session went ahead in front of perhaps the biggest audience yet and why not? The football was live in Russia whereas this was live in Jesmond.
A special bonus this week was the presence of the effervescent James Harrison on piano whose jack-in-the-box, hyper-charged style suggests he's cornered the market in co2.
St. Thomas, being in the Virgin Islands, may seem to be a somewhat tenuous link to Brazil but, played over a samba rhythm, they got away with it - close enough for jazz, as the saying goes and Harrison did manage to insert a quote from the Match of the Day theme. Geographic issues aside, it was a rousing start that continued with In a Mellow Tone and James finding space to Take the A Train.
Thus ended the overture, time to serve the jam.
Jimmy Jefford on alto played Beautiful Love followed by Four. JJ is a guy who doesn't fall into the impetuousness of youth trap, he knows how to pace himself. Like James Harrison, he declines to put everything into the shop window at once. They both know that, by doing that, come the end of the evening there's nothing left to sell.

By contrast, Kate O'Neill, probably realising that tonight she's only going to get the one-shot, came on with all guns blazing. Close to You and My Funny Valentine were delivered in her usual full-on manner. Dramatic, theatrical, Kate gives it everything and the audience responded accordingly.

James Metcalf, now free from his studies, joined Jefford for, let's be honest, a less than inspiring All Blues. Not totally the fault of the players. Despite being possibly the most played composition from A Kind of Blue it's also, in my opinion, the least appealing and if Miles, Trane and Cannonball couldn't do it, what chance did James and Jimmy have?
Metcalf fared better on I'll Remember April. Confident and in control, with a full tone the suggestion being that, over the past week or two, he's abandoned the classroom for the woodshed which, in reality, is just another classroom.

Two weeks back, part of the all-female group I-Sister impressed and this week they returned to once more deliver knockout blows aided and abetted by Matt on drums, James Harrison on piano and Rob Walker on bass guitar. Nature Boy and Lover Man. Great vocals by Andrea and, this week, Helen Walker ditched the French horn in favour of muted trumpet. Lisa D filled out the rhythm section on guitar with carefully chosen chords. Nice one.

Swing fiddle from Kay Usher on This Can't be Love and Exactly Like You. No amplification problems this week and we liked what we heard. On the former tune, James and Matt indulged in some musical foreplay betwixt piano and drums. It was impressive but self-indulgent and didn't add to the continuity, Still, that's jams for you, tales of the unexpected as Jamie Cullum's wife's dad once wrote.

Mancunian pianist Oliver, who sat in at the Jazz Caff last week, gave Harrison, James, a well-earned break and John Rowland, who'd also blown at The Caff, cycled in on tenor for There Will Never be Another You and, nor it seems, will there ever be another jam session without There Will Never be Another You. Nice rounded tenor sound and sympathetic piano. Makin' Whoopee followed with a nice relaxed groove.

Look out! It's Showtime! Yes, David Gray was here. Trombone loaded and primed, Body and Soul the target. With Jefford and Rowland joining him up front they surmounted the challenging key changes with ease.
Harry Still took over on drums for Seven Steps to Heaven after solos all round I think we were much closer than that.

But, alas, all good things have to end and, after Showtime's blast on Strasbourg/St. Denis, I thought I'll leave on a high and just catch the Metro. All I can say is that I hope the Strasbourg St. Denis Metro is more reliable than the Tyne and Wear one - it was 15 minutes behind schedule! I know some will say that that's par for the course and it didn't make feel any better when Russell texted me to say that Jefford had just blown the solo of the night!
C'est la vie, as they say on le Rue de Saint-Denis.
Lance.
PS: And not forgetting the trojan work put in by Grainger, Harrison and Walker - chapeaux!

Paul Grainger (bass); James Harrison (piano); Rob Walker (drums/bass guitar) + Jimmy Jefford (alto); Kate O'Neill (vocal); James Metcalf (trumpet); Andrea Harrison (vocal); Helen Walker (trumpet); Lisa Delarny (guitar); Kay Usher (violin); Matt MacKellar (drums); John Rowland (tenor); Oliver Dowinton (piano); David Gray (trombone); Harry Still (drums).

1 comment :

James Harrison (on F/b). said...

Ha! Great report as ever Lance 😂 Particularly impressed you heard the A train in Mellow tone! Thought that went over all heads! Nothing escapes you!

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