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Bebop Spoken There

John McLaughlin: '' A Love Supreme coincided with my search for meaning in life". (DownBeat, March 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

17873 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 194 of them this year alone and, so far, 41 this month (March 14).

From This Moment On ...

MARCH 2025.

Thu 20: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, Holystone. 1:00pm. Free. CANCELLED PERMANENTLY!
Thu 20: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: Nicknames.
Thu 20: Terri Green Experience @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £15.90.
Thu 20: King Bees @ The Cumberland Arms, Byker, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). Superb blues band.
Thu 20: Lindsay Hannon Trio @ The Harbour View, Roker, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Hannon’s ‘Tom Waits for No Man’ set.
Thu 20: Ray Stubbs R&B All Stars @ Mill Tavern, Hebburn. 8:30pm. Free.

Fri 21: Paul Skerritt @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 21: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 21: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 21: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 21: Giles Strong Quartet @ 1719, Hendon, Sunderland. 7:30pm. CANCELLED!
Fri 21: New Century Ragtime Orchestra @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Featuring special guest Martin Litton (piano).

Sat 22: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 12:30-2:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 22: Jason Isaacs @ Seaburn STACK, Seaburn. 3:30pm-5:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 22: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 22: Swamp Stomp String Band @ The White Room, Stanley. 7:45pm.
Sat 22: Rivkala @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Country blues guitar & vocals.

Sun 23: Musicians Unlimited @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 23: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 23: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 23: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 23: Mississippi MacDonald @ Georgian Theatre, Stockton. 3:00pm. Blues.
Sun 23: Tweed River Jazz Band @ Barrels Ale House, Berwick. 7:00pm. Free.
Sun 23: The Great Deceivers @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Tom Atkinson & co play King Crimson (1969-1974). Atkinson (guitar); Josh Bentham (alto sax); Stu Dawson (bass); Jeff Armstrong (drums).

Mon 24: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 24: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 6:30pm. Free.

Tue 25: Fred Wesley & the New JB’s @ The Cluny. 7:30pm (doors). £27.50. POSTPONED! New date Wednesday 26 November.

Thu 27: Hannabiell & Midnight Blue @ King’s Hall, Newcastle University. 1:15pm. Free.
Thu 27: Michael Littlefield & Scott Taylor @ The Harbour View, Roker, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Superb blues duo.

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 14, 2018

Vermont Big Band @ Cullercoats Crescent Club - October 13

(Review by Russell)   
Six and two, 62, all the threes, 33, top of the shop, blind 90, legs, 11…house!  There isn’t anything quite like a game of bingo down the club especially if you’re waiting on one number. Oh, well, better luck next time. In between the flyer and the main house, the sounds of a big band broke out in the upstairs concert room of the Crescent Club in Cullercoats.

The Vermont Big Band made a return visit to Cullercoats having played a successful concert during the summer months. The band’s MD, Chris Kaberry, must have been a happy man when he surveyed the scene – Saturday evening, a full house, who said the big band era was of yesteryear? No fewer than six saxophones, a regulation four strong trumpet section, a mere three trombones, piano, bass and drums, and a band vocalist. Two swinging sets of forties’ big band tunes, the popular hits of the day with one or two 24 carat selections from the jazz canon.

MD Kaberry will be known to some from his tenure in the Customs House Big Band, although on this occasion he restricted himself to waving his metaphorical baton. In the Mood got the show underway (think positively it got the tune out of the way nice and early), Sweet Georgia Brown (that’s more like it), ah! say hello to Vermont’s singer, Ms Beth Tippins, joining the orchestra to belt out At Last. Tippins, shoe-less, stayed on for another - You Do Something to Me - before vacating the stage for the first of several big-hitting instrumentals featuring drummer Calum Montgomery on a spirited take on Caravan.

Pennsylvania 6-5000 (hey, it’s a good ‘un, admit it!), followed up by a chart the Ray Chester Big Band must have played thousands of times - Little Brown Jug. Youthful Peter Elliott, playing tenor, grabbed the lion’s share of the solos, although others in the sections did chip in from time to time. Vocalist Tippins returned to the stage and by now was finding her range singing I Get a Kick Out of You and Time After Time. The first set drew to a close with Montgomery drumming up the proverbial on Sing, Sing, Sing.

Band members made a dash…to the bar, the gents, the ladies (six in the sections), some venturing outside to take the (balmy) air. Meanwhile, a hush descended on a still crowded concert room as the main house bingo got underway. Six and two, 62 etc. No luck, what’s new?

Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy rallied the troops as the second half got underway. The dancers (lindy, ballroom, other) took to the floor – Night and Day (not quite Fred & Ginger out there on the floor but full marks for effort), Tuxedo Junction (and Dutch courage fuelled by a Cullercoats’ cocktail or two) tempted a few more couples, the evening continued to swing along. A Night in Tunisia challenged the trumpets, and, all things considered, they acquitted themselves well. Cheek to Cheek sang shoe-less Beth, later to give way to the boys and girls of the orchestra on Jumpin’ at the Woodside. The band won an encore - The Lady is a Tramp - and MD Kaberry was well prepared for a further encore with a second ‘spare’ in the pad in the shape of String of Pearls. Cullercoats Crescent Club on a Saturday evening, a full house, a canny night out, they’re sure to do it again.          
Russell.

Chris Kaberry (MD); Mike Graham, Steve Crockett, Wendy Innes, Kate Brown (trumpets); Jamie Smith, John Flood, Colin Winship (trombones); Felicity Ripley, Katharine Loughney, Ben Gibbon (alto sax), Peter Elliott), Alan Marshall (tenor sax), Russell Rogers (baritone sax); Caitlin Pang (keyboards); James Thompson (bass guitar); Calum Montgomery (drums); Beth Tippins (vocals).

1 comment :

Chris Kaberry said...

Next gig is at Holy Saviours Parish Hall on 2nd March 2019. 8pm start.

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