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Bebop Spoken There

Van Morrison: ''Basically, I'm coming from jazz. Not pop, not rock, not what's commercial. That's where I started, and that's still where I am. I feel the same as I did when I was listening to Louis Armstrong, Lead Belly, Jelly Roll Morton''. (The Northern Echo, 12 June 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

17,533 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 497 of them this year alone and, so far, 75 this month (June 23).

From This Moment On ...

JUNE 2025

Wed 25: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 25: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 25: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 25: The Magpies of Swing @ The Roxy, Leadgate, Co. Durham. 7:30pm. A Ginger Jitterbugs swing dance event, all welcome.

Thu 26: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: Brass Instruments & the use of mutes.

Fri 27: Lewis Watson Quartet @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm.
Fri 27: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 27: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 27: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 27: Strictly Smokin’ Big Band @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 8:00pm. ‘Time After Time’.

Sat 28: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Linskill Centre, North Shields. 4:00-10:30pm. Free, but ticketed (over 18s only). A multi-bill, multi-genre ‘Canny Shiels - North Shields 800’ event. Three Kings Brewery on site.
Sat 28: Joseph Carville Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 28: Jude Murphy & Dan Stanley @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 29: Jude Murphy & Dan Stanley @ Wallington, Northumberland. 12 noon-1:00pm & 2:00-3:00pm. Tel: 01670 773606. National Trust admission prices apply. ‘Tunes in the Blooms’.
Sun 29: Bal Bruch Social Dance @ As You Like It, Sandyford, Newcastle. 12:30pm. Free. Dance event with Hot Club de Heaton performing live (2:00-3:00pm). A ‘Jar on the Bar’ event.
Sun 29: Glenn Miller Orchestra UK @ The Fire Station, Sunderland. 3:00pm. Ray McVay & co.
Sun 29: Ruth Lambert Trio @ Juke Shed, North Shields. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 29: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 29: Zoë Gilby w. Ryton Choral Society @ Corbridge Middle School NE45 5HX. 5:30pm. £15.00. Gilby w jazz trio & choir. ‘An evening of jazz song for choir’.
Sun 29: Jazz Jam Sandwich! @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 29: John Wilson & the Sinfonia of London @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 7:30pm. ‘Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Greatest Hits’.
Sun 29: Out Front @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. JNE.

Mon 30: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club (1:00pm). Free.

JULY 2025

Tue 01: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Joe Steels, Paul Grainger, Mark Robertson.
Tue 01: Customs House Big Band @ Masonic Hall, Ferryhill. 7:30pm. Free.

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, September 03, 2018

Bruce Adams w. Al Wood Quartet @ St Augustine's Parish Centre, Darlington - September 2

Al Wood (alto/baritone); Bruce Adams (trumpet/flugel); Martin Longhawn (piano); Garry Jackson (bass); Tim Carter (drums).
(Review by Lance).
A most enjoyable early evening gig when this blog really did deliver what was on the tin. Bebop was most certainly spoken here in the form of Al Wood and Bruce Adams who played as if they'd been born and bred on 52nd St or, in the case of Wood, The Haig on Wilshire Boulevard. 
The Haig was the small club in LA where the original Gerry Mulligan Quartet first became known. I doubt if it was as big as Darlington's St. Augustine Parish Centre, the temporary home for Darlington Jazz Club, but for a couple of hours last night, the two venues were interchangeable.
The overriding theme was Gerry Mulligan and, in Al Wood, we had a baritone player more than capable of taking the lead role. On alto, Charlie Parker was the influence whilst Wood's' worthy constituent - Bruce Adams - played notes Chet Baker could only dream about. Dizzy was more his man.
To the rhythm section, Dizzy, Chet etc. were probably just names from the history books like Beethoven, Bach or Liberace. However, Longhawn, Jackson and Carter knew their history and they provided the two veterans out front with a launchpad. 
Apart from the well-known Bernie's Tune and Lullaby of the Leaves, Wood chose to cast his net further afield than tunes from the original quartet album so we had: Reunion; Swinghouse (written for the Kenton Band); Blueport; As Catch Can; Ode to a Flugel Horn and Motel
Away from Mulligan we also heard; Opus de Funk; Funk in  Deep Freeze; Groovin' High; Dat Dere and Friends Again; all played on alto, an instrument on which Wood is equally fluent.
Needless to say, Adams was his usual flamboyant self. No note too high - are there any better British trumpet players?  If there are I could count them on one hand after doing a blindfold test in a sawmill.
Apart from the leaders, the trio, despite being given limited solo space, seized the moment with Longhawn particularly outstanding.
100% perfect? Well, let's say 95%. I'd like to have heard Adams blowing flugel on a ballad, which I know he does so well and, likewise, Wood putting in some balladic baritone blowing. 
Apart from that minor observation, it was an excellent evening.
Lance.

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