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Bebop Spoken There

Stan Woodward: ''We're part of the British jazz scene, but we don't play London jazz. We play Newcastle jazz. The Knats album represents many things, but most importantly that Newcastle isn't overlooked". (DownBeat, 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

17945 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 266 of them this year alone and, so far, 22 this month (April 8).

From This Moment On ...

April 2025.

Thu 10: Indigo Jazz Voices @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:45pm. £5.00.CANCELLED!
Thu 10: Magpies of Swing @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £12.00., £10.00., £7.00. A Globe fundraiser (all proceeds to the venue).
Thu 10: Exhaust: Camila Nebbia/Kit Downes/Andrew Lisle @ Jesmond URC, Newcastle. 8:00pm (7:30pm doors). £13.20., £11.00. JNE.
Thu 10: Jeremy McMurray & the Pocket Jazz Orchestra @ Arc, Stockton. 8:00pm. Feat. guests Ray Dales & Jackie Summers.

Fri 11: Zoë Gilby Quartet @ Auckland Castle, Bishop Auckland. 1:00pm. £8.00.
Fri 11: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 11: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 11: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 11: John Rowland Trio: The Music of Ben Webster @ Jesmond Library, Newcastle. 1:00pm. £5.00. Rowland (tenor sax); Alan Law (piano); Paul Grainger (double bass).
Fri 11: Imelda May @ The Fire Station, Sunderland. 7:30pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 11: Shunyata Improvisation Group @ Cullercoats Watch House. 7:30-9:00pm. Free (donations).

Sat 12: Jason Isaacs @ STACK, Seaburn. 3:30-5:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 12: Rob Heron & the Tea Pad Orchestra + House of the Black Gardenia + King Bees @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. 6:30pm (doors). £18.00.
Sat 12: Bright Street Big Band @ Washington Arts Centre. 6:30pm. £12.00. Event includes swing dance taster session, DJ dance session. Bright Street Big Band on stage 7:30-8:15pm & 8:45-9:30pm. SOLD OUT!
Sat 12: Milne Glendinning Band @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 12: Imelda May @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 7:30pm. £42.20. SOLD OUT!
Sat 12: Papa G’s Troves @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 13: Daniel John Martin with Swing Manouche @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00pm. £10.00.
Sun 13: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 13: Hejira: A Celebration of Joni Mitchell @ Wylam Brewery, Newcastle. 8:00pm (7:00pm doors). £22.50.
Sun 13: Wilkinson/Edwards/Noble + Chojnacki @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £13.20., £11.00. JNE.

Mon 14: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 14: Zoë Gilby Quintet @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £10.00.

Tue 15: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Michael Young, Paul Grainger, Abbie Finn.

Wed 16: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 16: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 16: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. CANCELLED!

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

Sunday, September 09, 2018

Jeff Barnhart & Tom 'Spats' Langham @ St Augustine's, Darlington - September 8

Jeff Barnhart (piano, vocals); Tom 'Spats' Langham (banjo, guitar, vocals)
(Review by Russell)
Darlington New Orleans Jazz Club is on a roll. A return visit by American piano virtuoso Jeff Barnhart working with Tom 'Spats' Langham attracted a record attendance to St Augustine's. 

The affable Barnhart thought it appropriate that their first number should be All Alone... all alone in a standing-room-only hall of more than one hundred jazz fans! The equally affable and virtuosic Spats Langham entertained the audience with tales of prodigious drinking sessions working with Tommy Burton in the days of Pebble Mill at One - somehow the band always came up with the goods in front of the watching millions!


No fewer than four Irving Berlin numbers opened the programme -the aforementioned All Alone; I Love a Piano; After You Get What You Want, You Don't Want It and How Deep is the Ocean - interspersed with Barnhart's recollections of first meeting a then younger Spats at Bude Jazz Festival...Spats just happened to be wearing a traffic cone on his head!   

Barnhart claimed to be a little bit rusty when it came to playing 12th Street Rag suggesting the duo would play it 'largo' rather than, as indicated on the sheet music, 'presto'. The jovial American began 'largo' but we knew he was kidding...bang! Off they went - 'presto' alright - Barnhart at St Augustine's piano, Langham brilliant on banjo. For the benefit of BSH's Editor-in-Chief, that's 'brilliant' and 'banjo' in the same sentence!

Tunes associated with the likes of Armand Piron's New Orleans Orchestra, Ukulele Ike (aka Cliff Edwards) and Al Bowlly further entertained the lunchtime gathering. Jelly Roll Morton could hardly be excluded and he wasn't, and, with Spats Langham revving the motor for a quick getaway - an evening gig in the Cotswolds beckoned - the duo went out on a red-hot Stompin' Em Down followed by a take-it-down I'll See You in My Dreams. Yes, Darlington is on a roll and the next installment is this Saturday (Sept. 15, 12:30pm) when Barnhart makes a double quick return to present his one-man Silent Comedy Film Festival. Our  American guest will play piano improvisations as accompaniment to the screening of some classic Buster Keaton silent films.   
Russell
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