Bebop Spoken There

Christian McBride: ''I believe we are living in a historically embarrassing moment in American history.'' - Downbeat December 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

18061 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 1025 of them this year alone and, so far, 39 this month (Dec. 14).

From This Moment On ...

DECEMBER 2025

Mon 15: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 16: Paul Skerritt @ Chakh Dhoom, Jesmond, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Indian restaurant. Skerritt w. backing tapes.
Tue 16: A Jazzy Xmas @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 7:30pm. Paul Edis (MD, piano); Jo Harrop (vocals); Kyran Matthews (tenor sax, soprano sax); Faye Thompson (alto sax, clarinet); Sue Ferris (flute, piccolo); Graham Hardy (trumpet, flugelhorn); Jason Holcomb (trombone);Emma Fisk (violin); Andy Champion (double bass); Matt MacKellar (drums).
Tue 16: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Stu Collingwood, Paul Grainger, Tim Johnston.

Wed 17: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Spanish City, Whitley Bay. 12 noon. £29.00 (inc. bf). ‘Festive Lunch’. VCJ on stage 12 noon (three sets 'til 4:00pm).
Wed 17: Lazy River Band @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free. Veronica Perrin, Chris Perrin, John Farragher, Phil Rutherford
Wed 17: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 17: Paul Skerritt @ Middlesbrough Town Hall. 7:00pm. Skerritt w. backing tapes.
Wed 17: A Jazzy Xmas @ Fire Station, Sunderland. 7:30pm. Paul Edis (MD, piano); Jo Harrop (vocals); Kyran Matthews (tenor sax, soprano sax); Faye Thompson (alto sax, clarinet); Sue Ferris (flute, piccolo); Graham Hardy (trumpet, flugelhorn); Jason Holcomb (trombone);Emma Fisk (violin); Andy Champion (double bass); Matt MacKellar (drums).
Wed 17: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 18: Paul Skerritt @ YOLO, Ponteland. 7:00pm. ‘Swing & Jazz Night’. Skerritt w. backing tapes.
Thu 18: Joe Steels & Friends @ The Pele, Corbridge. 7:30pm. Free (donations).

Fri 19: Fraser Urquhart @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. £8.00. SOLD OUT! .
Fri 19: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free..
Fri 19: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free..
Fri 19: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00..
Fri 19: Castillo Nuevo @ Hotel Gotham, Newcastle. 5:00pm. Free. .
Fri 19: Alexia Gardner @ FIKA Art Gallery, Morpeth. 6:30pm. Gardner, Alan Law, Jude Murphy..
Fri 19: Paul Skerritt @ Middlesbrough Town Hall. 7:00pm. Skerritt w. backing tapes. .
Fri 19: Giles Strong Quartet @ Sunderland Minster. 7:30pm. Old Black Cat Jazz Club..
Fri 19: Creakin’ Bones & the Xmas Dinners @ The White Room, Stanley. 7:45pm. £13.01 (inc. bf)..
Fri 19: Mark Toomey Quintet @ The Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. Opus 4 Jazz Club.

Sat 20: Jazz Attack @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 11:00am. Free.
Sat 20: Alexia Gardner @ FIKA Art Gallery, Morpeth. 6:30pm. Gardner, Alan Law, Jude Murphy. SOLD OUT!
Sat 20: Joseph Carville Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. CANCELLED!
Sat 20: Ray Stubbs R&B All Stars @ Billy Bootleggers, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 20: Hoodoo Blues @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:15pm (doors). £14.25, £11.55. Dance class, social dancing, live music & Xmas Party. Live music from 9:00pm - Ruth Lambert, Giles Strong, Ian Paterson & John Bradford (jazz and blues).
Sat 20: John Pope Quintet @ Blank Studios, Newcastle. 7:30-8:30pm. £7.70 (inc. bf). Album recording session.

Sun 21: New ’58 Jazz Collective @ Jackosn’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 21: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. ‘Xmas Swingalong’. Skerritt w. backing tapes.
Sun 21: Ruth Lambert Trio @ Juke Shed, Union Quay, North Shields. 3:00-5:00pm. Free.
Sun 21: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 21: Strictly Smokin’ Big Band @ o2 City Hall, Newcastle. 6:00pm. £35.80., £33.25., £31.00.
Sun 21: The Globe Xmas Party @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. Live music.
Sun 21: Tweed River Jazz Band @ The Barrels Ale House, Berwick. 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

Saturday, September 08, 2018

Georgie Fame w. Guy Barker Big Band @ Ronnie Scott's - September 7

Georgie Fame (vocals); Guy Barker (trumpet/MD); Nathan Bray, Tom Rees-Roberts, Pat White (trumpets); Alistair White, Barnaby Dickinson, Nichol Thomson, Mark Frost (trombones); Sammy Mayne, Ben Castle (altos); Graeme Blevins, Paul Booth (tenors); Colin Skinner (baritone); Jim Watson (piano); Chris Hill (bass); Jim Mullen (guitar); James Powell (drums) + Zoot Money.
(Review by Lance).
I'd heard Georgie Fame with the Guy Barker Big Band at GIJF back in March at Sage Gateshead and was knocked out. Hearing him again last night in the more intimate setting of Ronnie's was something else again! Wow, by comparision it was like having the session in your living room!
The programme was virtually the same but in this setting it seemed totally different.
After a Basie/Ellington style number with some growl trumpet from Guy Barker, Georgie Fame, with the help of a walking stick, took centre stage to much applause and anticipation - could he still cut it?
He could!
Kicking off with Tubby Hayes' arrangement of Yeh Yeh complete with tenor blast from Paul Booth it was a nonstop roller-coaster ride. Jim Mullen impressed on Blues At the Bull as well as doing some Freddie Greene comping on other numbers.
At 75, Fame's body may be frail but his voice is as potent as ever handling the often complex Jon Hendricks' tongue-twisting lyrics with apparent ease. 
An added bonus was  a couple of vocal duets with Zoot Money - he of the Big Roll Band - and Let the Good Times Roll certainly did roll as did Papa's Got a Brand New Bag which also had Booth and Blevins battling it out on tenor. This really was like being back at the Flamingo in the 1960's.
Solos abounded. Castle, Mayne (I think there's a lager joke in their somewhere!) soared on alto; the ever consistent Dickinson, a master 'bone surgeon and plenty top Cs and beyond from the trumpets.
Surprisingly, possibly because of the confined space on stage, Fame didn't play piano or Hammond but, with Jim Watson to hand, it didn't matter - Watson, Mullen, Powell and Chris Hill were cooking with gas.
Tremendous set that fully deserved the standing ovation.
----- 
Gareth Williams (piano/vocal); Lawrence Cottle (bass guitar); Ian Thomas (drums).
Earlier, the Gareth Williams Power Trio played a short set  that  set the mood for the evening. Williams is an imaginative pianist although, on a session where Georgie Fame was the headliner, he was somewhat brave in throwing in a couple of vocals. Nevertheless, they went down okay and set things up nicely for the main event.
Lance.
PS: Bumped into Cormac Loane on Newcastle's Central Station. He asked me to pass on his best regards to Guy Barker which I duly did. Guy asked me to convey the same back to Cormac. They were both members of NYJO many years back.
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