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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

17957 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 278 of them this year alone and, so far, 34 this month (April 14).

From This Moment On ...

April 2025.

Sun 20: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 20: Salty Dog @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 20: Spilt Milk @ STACK, Exchange Sq., Middlesbrough. 7:00-9:00pm. Free. Nolan Brothers (vocal harmonies).
Sun 20: Tweed River Jazz Band @ The Barrels Ale House, Berwick-upon-Tweed. 7:00pm. Free.
Sun 20: C.A.L.I.E @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 21: Newcastle Record Fair @ Copthorne Hotel, Newcastle. 10:00am. Going in search of the Buddy Bolden cylinder…
Mon 21: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 22: Abbie Finn Trio @ Newcastle House Hotel, Rothbury. 7:30pm. Coquetdale Jazz.

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.

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, June 18, 2018

Mark Williams & Joel Byrne-McCullough @ Blaydon Jazz Club - June 17

Mark Williams (guitar) & Joel Byrne-McCullough (guitar)
(Review by Russell/Photos courtesy of Roly). 
A select audience, as they say, comprised of Blaydon Jazz Club diehards and the jazz guitar fan. It so happened Brazil (versus Switzerland) entertained a global television audience as Mark Williams and Joel Byrne McCullough took to the stage in the lounge of the Black Bull. All thoughts of football were banished to the back of the mind to focus attention on two fine guitarists at work.
There Will Never be Another You opened the first set. The seated Williams and Byrne-McCullough played as if friends, relaxed, as though at home. And, of course, that is exactly what Mark and Joel are…friends from their days growing up in Belfast. A written setlist on the floor, iPhones and iPads weren’t required, this was to be an old-school performance, the duo knew the tunes. Chick Corea’s Windows sounded dangerously modern (1970s!), Autumn in New York sounded just what it is, one of the graceful, timeless tunes.

New Yorker Peter Bernstein is seemingly a current favourite with fellow guitarists. At DJazz earlier in the month Birmingham Conservatoire undergraduate Francis Tulip included a Bernstein number in his festival set, similarly here at the Black Bull, the Irishmen chose to play Little Green Men. The thought occurred that invisible little men (green or not) were running up and down the fretboard as Williams and Byrne-McCullough worked wonders weaving mesmerising solos around the melody! Stella by Starlight…it’s as if the duo knew this one would go down well at Blaydon Jazz Club. The fact that Mark Williams knows all about Blaydon’s GASbook leanings no doubt influenced matters!

Second set: Darn That Dream…another Blaydon favourite! Reading one’s audience is a good idea and the Williams-Byrne-McCullough duo continued to do precisely that. Steve Swallow followed by Neal Hefti offered contrast – Falling Grace then Girl Talk. Byrne-McCullough did the talking with an appealing line in self-deprecation. And that’s no bad thing with a couple of test pieces in their set list; Chick Corea’s Spain and, towards the end of an enjoyable evening of great guitar playing, the duo flew high on Bird’s Anthropology. The duo suggested they could play another one, if that was alright with the audience. Yes, please! A blues? said Byrne-McCullough, Williams suggesting they make it a slow blues. An evening of jazz guitar excellence at Blaydon Jazz Club. 
 Russell       
Photos.

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