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Bebop Spoken There

Steve Coleman: ''If you don't keep learning, your mind slows down. Use it or lose it''. (DownBeat, January 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

17733 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 53 of them this year alone and, so far, 53 this month (Jan. 20).

From This Moment On ...

January 2025

Wed 22: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 22: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 22: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 22: Pasadena Roof Orchestra @ Fire Station, Sunderland. 7:30pm.

Thu 23: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, Holystone. 1:00pm. Free. Fortnightly.
Thu 23: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: Obituaries 2024.
Thu 23: Jason Isaacs @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 4:30-6:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Thu 23: Pedal Point Trio @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Fri 24: Zoë Gilby Quartet @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 24: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 24: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 24: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 24: Creakin’ Bones & the Sunday Dinners @ Lindisfarne Social Club, Wallsend. 9:00pm. Admission: TBC. Jazz, blues , jump jive, rock ‘n’ roll.

Sat 25: Boys of Brass @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 3:30-5:30pm. Free.
Sat 25: New '58 Jazz Collective @ Jackson's Wharf, Hartlepool. 6:30pm (doors). Free. A Burns' Night event. Jazz, swing, funk, soul, blues etc.
Sat 25: Edison Herbert Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 25: Red Kites Jazz @ Parish Hall, St Barnabas’ Church, Rowlands Gill. 7:30pm. £10.00. BYOB (tea & coffee available), raffle. Proceeds to St Barnabas’ Church. Performance feat. Shayo (vocals).
Sat 25: Jack & Jay’s Songbook @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 26: Musicians Unlimited @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 26: Graham Hardy Eclectic Quartet @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm.
Sun 26: Ruth Lambert Trio @ The Juke Shed, Union Quay, North Shields. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 26: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 26: Jazz Jam Sandwich! @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 26: Tweed River Jazz Band @ Barrels Ale House, Berwick-upon-Tweed. 7:30pm. Free.
Sun 26: Gratkowski, Tramontana, Beresford, Affifi @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £12.00. JNE.
Sun 26: Jazz Jam @ Fabio’s, Saddler St., Durham. 8:00pm. Free. A Durham University Jazz Society promotion. All welcome.

Mon 27: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 28: ???

Wed 29: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 29: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 29: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).

Thu 30: Matters Unknown (aka Jonathan Enser, Nubiyan Twist) + support TBA @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 8:00pm (7:00pm doors). £12.22 (gig & food); £9:04 (gig only).
Thu 30: Soznak @ The Mill Tavern, Hebburn. 8:00pm. Free.
Thu 30: Struggle Buggy @ Harbour View, Roker, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Rhythm & blues.

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, October 06, 2018

Newcastle Festival of Jazz and Improvised Music: Graeme Wilson Quartet CD launch @ Jazz Café - Oct. 5

Graeme Wilson (tenor/baritone/flute/ bs. clarinet/compositions); Paul Edis (keys/flute); Andy Champion (bass/ bs. guitar, flute); Adam Sinclair (drums).
(Review by Lance/photos courtesy of Malcolm Sinclair).
Graeme's a Scotsman. Even if he hadn't spoken a word, his music would have told you he wasn't born within the sound of Bow Bells or even south of the River Tweed. No, the intro to the opener well and truly marked his card.
Of course, most of us remembered Graeme for the near decade he spent in Newcastle playing at the Side Café, with the VOTNJO, and their offspring band Splinter and we knew that the skirl of the pipes would soon give way to the sheets of sound as purveyed by John, not Robbie, Coltrane.
A prodigious tenor player and an even more prodigious baritone saxophonist. We live in a world of gunslinging, fast on the draw, tenor players but there aren't many Billy the Kids who can shoot from the hip on baritone as fast as Graeme did last night. At one point, he produced a note on baritone that piccolo players could only dream of!
Most of the compositions were from his current CD - Abscondit - as was to be expected and interval trade on the album seemed to be good.
Deservedly so. They were more original than most 'originals' and benefited from well-rehearsed sections to moments of freedom where mayhem was released without injury.
Flute and bass clarinet was also part of his armoury and they were both used to great effect. On one number, After School, both Edis and Champion played flute alongside the leader - we were impressed. 
However, the times when these two really impressed were when they returned to the day job - in Paul's case by playing some dexterous keyboard capers and a simulated Hammond blast on Why Are You Staring at Me? which Graeme wrote around the time of the Scottish referendum. Meanwhile, Andy, a master of the double bass, proved he was equally adept on bass guitar (he switched between the two) and it was on this latter instrument that he brought the house down.
On drums, Sinclair drove like the devil. His outwardly calm demeanour in complete contrast to the rhythms and polyrhythms that were stirring the pot with each ambidextrous movement of foot and finger. At one point he produced marimba-like sounds from a piece of Roland wizardry that proved very effective.
The CD's now available. If you were at the gig you probably bought one. If you didn't get to the gig then put it on your jazz bucket list.
Photos.
Lance.
PS: As time and train wait for no one I had to leave before the end and I have the feeling I may have missed an extra special finale!

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