Bebop Spoken There

Ludovic Beier (Django Festival Allstars): ''Manouche means 'free man,' and gypsies have been travelers since they migrated west from India to Europe.'' (DownBeat March, 2026)

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

18402 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 18 years ago. 266 of them this year alone and, so far this month (Mar. 31 ), 76

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

From This Moment On

April

Mon 06: Friends of Jazz @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 06: Saltburn Big Band @ Saltburn House Hotel. 7:00-9:00pm. Free.

Tue 07: Customs House Big Band @ The Masonic Hall, Ferryhill. 7:30pm. Free.
Tue 07: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Ben Lawrence (piano); Paul Grainger (double bass); Abbie Finn (drums).

Wed 08: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 08: Jam session @ The Tannery, Hexham. 7:00pm. Free.
Wed 08: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 08: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 08: Zoë Gilby & Johnny Hunter @ Elder Beer, Heaton, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £12.00. JNE.

Thu 09: Tom Remon + Laurence Harrison @ Newcastle Arts Centre. 7:30pm. Free.
Thu 09: Indigo Jazz Voices @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:45pm. £5.00.
Thu 09: Michael Littlefield @ The Harbour View, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Blues.
Thu 09: Jeremy McMurray’s Pocket Jazz Orchestra w. Dan Johnson @ Arc, Stockton. 8:00pm. £15.00. inc. bf.

Fri 10: John Rowland Trio @ Jesmond Library, Newcastle. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 10: Joe Steels: Celebrating Wes Montgomery @ Bishop Auckland Methodist Church. 1:00pm. £9.00. Joe Steels, Dean Stockdale, Mick Shoulder, Abbie Finn.
Fri 10: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 10: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 10: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 10: Gambling Janes @ Warkworth Memorial Hall. 7:30pm. £10.00.
Fri 10: Jake Leg Jug Band @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm.
Fri 10: Steve White Trio @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £20.00. + bf. Soul Drum (Acid Jazz Records) album tour.

Sat 11: Paul Skerritt Big Band @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm. £26.80.

Sun 12: Swing Social @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12 noon (doors). Admission: Donations (£5.00. - £10.00. suggested). Swing dance taster class, social dancing to Niffi Osiyemi Trio, DJs. Non dancers welcome. A Cluny-Swing Tyne event.
Sun 12: Am Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 12: Trio Grand @ The White Room, Stanley. 6:30-9:30pm. £10.84.
Sun 12: SH#RP Collective @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £12.00., £10.00., £7.00.

Sunday, August 26, 2018

Fever: Jo Harrop sings Peggy Lee @ Ushaw, Durham - August 25.

Jo Harrop (vocals); Tony Kofi (alto); Alex Webb (piano); Andy Champion (bass); Russ Morgan (drums).
(Review by Lance)
After Nicola Farnon's storming set on Friday night the question on everyone's lips last night was, would Jo Harrop be able to follow that?
With a little help from Tony Kofi, Alex Webb, Andy Champion, Russ Morgan and, of course, Peggy Lee, Jo Harrop certainly did 'follow that'!
The packed Exhibition Hall responded enthusiastically to local girl made good Jo's interpretation of some numbers associated with Peggy Lee plus a couple of compositions by pianist/composer Webb.
However, unlike most of the 'Rat Pack' tributes going around, this was no mere pastiche but a successful reworking of the Lee originals tailormade to suit Jo Harrop's own individual style.
From the opening Why Don't You Do Right? it was a voyage of delight helped along by some blistering alto solos from 'special guest' Kofi.
It's a Good Day; Confessin'; He's a Tramp; a pitch-perfect All Too Soon; voice and drums trading 4's on Just One of Those Things; a bass and voice duo on Bye Bye Blackbird; the first of Webb's originals - It's Not the End - and, to finish the first set, a sizzling Blues in the Night with Kofi blowing the blues as if he'd spent all day 'riding the rods' from Natchez to Mobile.
Interval time - I'm driving so I stay away from the bar and chat with Alex Webb, One of the black notes on the grand isn't working but it doesn't seem to faze him. "I've played on worse pianos," he says wrily.
The drinkers return and Baby It's Your Move, another Webb original that I'm sure Peg would have sung if she'd still been with us starts us off once more. The inevitable Black Coffee with some great exchanges between singer and sax. Get Out of Town - Cole Porter has certainly been well represented at this festival; I'm a Fool to Want You; Love me or Leave me; Two For the Road; I Love Being Here With You (with references to South Shields and 'The Toon' to prove it); Lover; voice and bass magic on Fever and then, and then, and then...
The Folks Who Live on the Hill. Whenever I play the Peggy Lee version a shiver runs down my spine when I hear that first Someday.... That same shiver was there when Jo gently mouthed that first word.
I drove home on a high.
Lance
More Ushaw photos.
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