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Bebop Spoken There

Francis Tulip: ''Music speaks louder than words''. (Jazzwise, 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

17,550 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 514 of them this year alone and, so far, 92 this month (June 28).

From This Moment On ...

JULY 2025

Wed 09: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 09: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 09: Jam session @ The Tannery, Hexham. 7:00pm. Free.
Wed 09: The Hopper-Watson Quintet @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 8:00pm (7:30pm doors). £10.00. + £1.00. bf.
Wed 09: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 10: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: Soloists, Orchestras & Hot Fives.
Thu 10: Side Café Orkestar @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Fri 11: Paul Skerritt Quartet @ Bishop Auckland Methodist Church, Cockton Hill Road, Bishop Auckland. 1:00pm. £8.00. A Bishop Auckland Jazz promotion. New venue (second Friday in the month)!
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: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ The Beehive, Earsdon NE25 0SZ. 5:00-7:00pm. Free.
Fri 11: Fiona Finden Jazz Express @ Flash House Brewery, North Shields NE30 1DS. 8:00pm. Free.

Sat 12: Jazz Stage @ Mouth of the Tyne Festival. From 12 noon. Free. Vieux Carré Jazzmen (12 noon); Rendezvous Jazz (1:00pm); Mississippi Dreamboats (2:00pm); Classic Swing (3:00pm); Abbie Finn Trio (4:00pm). Stage adjacent to Tynemouth Priory.
Sat 12: Making Music Seminar: Latin American Music v. Music of Latin America @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 1:00pm. £15.00. (£5.00. online). Jason Holcomb, Alix Shepherd & Carlos Luis Rivera.
Sat 12: Edison Herbert Trio @ The Vault, Darlington 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 12: Jude Murphy & Dan Stanley @ Lovaine Community Garden, North Shields. 7:00pm (doors 6:40pm). £6.00. Limited places, booking essential (via the Community Garden website). BYOF&D.
Sat 12: Hot Club du Nord @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm. Hall Two.
Sat 12: Sleep Suppressor @ Repas 7 by Night, Berwick. 8:00pm.
Sat 12: Anth Purdy @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle.8:00pm. Free. ‘Swing Jazz Guitar’. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 13: Jazz Stage @ Mouth of the Tyne Festival. From 11:00am. Free. Trilogy of Four (11:00am); East Coast Jazzmen (12:10pm); Delta Prophets Trio (1:20pm); House of the Black Gardenia (2:30pm); Mouth of the Tyne All Stars (3:40pm). Stage adjacent to Tynemouth Priory.
Sun 13: Giles Strong Quartet @ The Sele, Hexham. 12 noon. Free. ‘The Bandstand Sessions’.
Sun 13: Julie Dexter @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:30pm (doors). £20.00. ‘The Cluny Matinee Jazz Club’.
Sun 13: ’58 Jazz Collective, Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 13: Tyne Valley Big Band @ Bishop Auckland Town Hall. 2:00pm. Tea Dance. SOLD OUT! A Durham Brass Festival event.
Sun 13: Ferg Kilsby @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm. Kilsby (trumpet, flugelhorn); Luis Verde (alto sax); Ben Lawrence (piano); Andy Champion (double bass); John Hirst (drums).
Sun 13: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 13: Sloth Racket @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. JNE.

Mon 14: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club (1:00pm). Free.
Mon 14: Brass Bash @ Hardwick Park, Co. Durham. 6:00-8:00pm. Free. Various bands. A Durham Brass Festival event.
Mon 14: Brass Bash @ The Story, Mount Oswald, Co. Durham. 6:00-8:00pm. Free. Various bands. A Durham Brass Festival event.

Tue 15: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ The Victoria & Albert Inn, Seaton Sluice. Tel: 0191 237 3697. 12:30pm. ‘July Jazz Barbecue’. Tickets: £15.00.
Tue 15: Brass Bash @ Hackworth Park, Shildon, Co. Durham. 6:00-9:00pm. Free. Various bands. A Durham Brass Festival event.
Tue 15: Brass Bash @ The Witham, Barnard Castle, Co. Durham. 6:00-8:00pm. Free. Various bands. A Durham Brass Festival event.
Tue 15: Julian Lage Trio @ 1856 Exchange, North Shields. 7:30pm . Lage (guitar); Jorge Roeder (double bass); Joey Barron (drums).
Tue 15: Jools Holland’s Rhythm & Blues Orchestra @ The Hippodrome, Darlington. 7:30pm.
Tue 15: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. Stu Collingwood, Paul Grainger, Bailey Rudd.

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, October 21, 2018

Middlesbrough Jazz Weekender 2018: NYJO + Tees Valley Youth Jazz Collective @ Middlesbrough Town Hall - October 20

(Review by Russell). 
NYJO is an institution. Bill Ashton formed the band in the mid-sixties. In 1978 it was an established part of the jazz landscape, it was the year NYJO took part in the Newport Jazz Festival in Middlesbrough. In the line-up forty years ago was a promising trumpeter...one Gerard Presencer. Many young musicians of the highest calibre - before and since - have held chairs in the nation's big band. Recent success stories include Sam Glaser (alto) and the Jam Experiment boys, Jonathan (Jonny) Mansfield (vibes/percussion) and Rory Ingham (trombone). 

NYJO returned to Middlesbrough this weekend to play a concert in the recently renovated Town Hall. Invariably the band's personnel comprises students (graduate and undergraduate) drawn from prestigious institutions (Guildhall, Royal Academy, Trinity, Chethams) with a busy gigging schedule (Ronnie's, Pizza Express Jazz Club, Halls Albert and Festival, European festivals, NYC engagements). 


Last year Sage Gateshead was on NYJO's itinerary and this Middlesbrough date marked the band's return to the region. MD Mark Armstrong presides over top class musicians playing big band staples and commissioned material. Women in jazz - women as composers and instrumentalists - were at the heart of this Saturday afternoon performance. Your correspondent noted few female musicians - three in total - took to the stage. A gender imbalance? Undeniably. Similarly, no one could doubt the brilliance of NYJO 2018. 

A soprano sax feature for Sam Glaser on Bob Curnow's arrangement for big band of Pat Metheny's The First Circle set the standard, a standard maintained throughout. Vocalist Ellie Bignall sang several numbers including That Old Black Magic, the sections were the business, so much so that on occasion MD Armstrong stood in the wings, content to let them play and the rhythm section could hold its own with most others. 

Laura Jurd's arrangement of Mary Lou Williams'  Zodiac Suite is in the pad and three parts - Aries, Taurus and Virgo - were heard here on Albert Road. Joe Hill (piano) impressed the full house and the band's special guest, Nikki Iles, beamed her appreciation of his efforts as the orchestra played the world premiere of her NYJO-commissioned piece Wild Oak (in memory of, and inspired by, Geri Allen). Iles herself joined the ensemble to play Helen Sung'sarrangement of McCoy Tyner's Four by Five for the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra. If one moment encapsulated the afternoon's performance it was the pianist's flashing smile reciprocated by bass player Jack Austin as the rhythm section was, as they say, cookin'!    

It was announced from the stage that family members of the late Chris de Saram (Wakefield Jazz Club) were present at NYJO's performance. A legacy is to be gifted to NYJO

Earlier, the Tees Valley Youth Jazz Collective played a short set. Formed six weeks ago, this was the band's concert debut! In old money one or two members of the orchestra stood no more than 3'6" yet, by the end of their performance, you can bet they felt six foot tall! 

MD Jud Down rehearses the band once a week here in the Town Hall and one thing is for sure, you'll be hearing more from this fantastic music education project. From Chuck Mangione's Children of Sanchez to Joe Zawinul's Birdland, the Tees Valley Youth Jazz Collective did it/themselves proud.     

Russell. 
Pianist Helen Sung can be heard tonight playing with the Mingus Big Band!  


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