Bebop Spoken There

Ethan Hawke (starring as Lorenz Hart in Blue Moon): ''Larry [Lorenz] Hart would be so happy that his music and his words and his poetry are still alive.'' - The Northern Echo 27 November 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

18000 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 964 of them this year alone and, so far, 73 this month (Nov. 24).

From This Moment On ...

DECEMBER 2025

Sat 06: Sarah Spencer’s Transatlantic Band @ St Augustine’s Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm. £10.00.
Sat 06: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. £27.50. Tutor: Steve Glendinning. Minor Swing. Enrol at: learning@jazz.coop.
Sat 06: Jeff Hewer Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 06: NUJO Jazz Jam @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm (doors). £3.76 (inc. bf).
Sat 06: Kaberry Big Band @ The Seahorse, Whitley Bay. 7:30pm (7:00pm doors). £15.00. (inc. hot buffet). ‘Christmas 1945’. Kaberry Big Band, formerly Vermont Big Band.
Sat 06: Smokin’ Spitfires @ Platform 1, Bedlington. 7:30pm. £6.00. Rhythm & blues.
Sat 06: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00. Xmas Party with buffet.
Sat 06: The Jive Aces @ The Witham, Barnard Castle. 8:00pm. £22.00., £20.00.
Sat 06: Brass Fiesta @ Revoluçion de Cuba, Newcastle. 10:30pm. Free.

Sun 07: Ian Bosworth Quintet @ Chapel, Middlesbrough. 1:00pm. Free. Feat. special guest Donna Hewitt (sax, clarinet).
Sun 07: Finn-Keeble Group @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00pm. £10.00.
Sun 07: Sax Choir @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 07: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Skerritt w. backing tapes.
Sun 07: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 2:30pm. Free. Trio + Ruth Lambert.
Sun 07: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 07: Jason Isaacs Big Band @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 5:15pm (4:00pm doors). £21.50 (inc. bf).
Sun 07: Paul Skerritt @ 3 Stories, High St. West, Sunderland. 6:30pm. Skerritt w. backing tapes.
Sun 07: Lindsay Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Support set from Play More Jazz! course participants. Note earlier start.

Mon 08: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 09: Jazz Jam Sandwich @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm

Wed 10: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 10: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 10: Jam Session @ The Tannery, Hexham. 7:00pm. Free.
Wed 10: Mike Lindup Jazz Trio @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £26.50 (inc. bf). Lindup, Yolanda Charles (bass), John Sam (drums).
Wed 10: Bold Big Band @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £12.00.

Thu 11: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: West Coast (cool ) / Wordsearch (cool) Cool Jazz or ‘Cold’, ‘Cool’, ‘Hot’, ‘Warm’ in the title or lyrics.
Thu 11: George Robinson @ Prohibition Bar, Albert Road, Middlesbrough TS1 2RU. 7:00pm (doors). £5.42 (inc. bf). Vienna’s Voice charity evening featuring ’15 year old singing sensation the ‘Redcar Crooner’ George Robinson’. Over 35s only.
Thu 11: Paul Skerritt @ Chakh Dhoom, Jesmond, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Indian restaurant. Skerritt w. back tapes.
Thu 11: Ransom Van @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm.
Thu 11: Down for the Count Swing Orchestra @ Middlesbrough Town Hall. 7:30pm. £37.70 (inc. bf). ‘Swing into Xmas’.

Fri 12: Pete Tanton’s Chet Set @ Bishop Auckland Methodist Church. 1:00pm. £8.00.
Fri 12: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 12: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 12: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 12: Milne Glendinning Band @ Northumberland Club, Jesmond, Newcastle. 7:00pm. £15.00. ‘Xmas Soiree’.
Fri 12: A Jazzy Xmas @ St Cuthbert’s Centre, Crook. 7:30pm. £15.00. Paul Edis (MD, piano); Jo Harrop (vocals); Vasilis Xenopoulos (tenor sax, soprano sax); Matthew Forster (alto sax, clarinet); Sue Ferris (flute, piccolo); Graham Hardy (trumpet, flugelhorn); Jason Holcomb (trombone);Emma Fisk (violin); Andy Champion (double bass); Matt MacKellar (drums). SOLD OUT!
Fri 12: Tony Hadley: Xmas Big Band Tour 2025 @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 7:30pm.
Fri 12: Alexia Gardner @ The New Ship Inn, Newbiggin-by-the-Sea. 8:00pm. Gardner, Alan Law, Jude Murphy, Abbie Finn.
Fri 12: Jive Aces: Swingin’ Xmas Show @ The Witham, Barnard Castle. 8:00pm.

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

Monday, December 17, 2018

Budtet @ The Globe + Jam Session. Jazz Coop Xmas Party - Dec. 16.

Stu Finden (baritone sax/vocal); Fiona Finden (tenor sax/vocals); Dave Weisser (cornet/vocals); Jude Murphy (alto sax/flute/vocals); Jim Crinson (guitar); Andrew Porritt (bass); Eric Stutt (drums).
(Review by Lance).

The party season is now in full swing. Down south in Hartlepool, Musicians Unlimited and Alice Grace were serving up the musical mince pies, way out west, in Blaydon, it was the Paul Edis Trio and guests pulling the crackers whilst here in town, at the Globe, it was Budtet who carved the bird.

It was an impressive set with Stu Finden blowing his recently acquired baritone with a facility that reminded me of my favourite bari-player, the late Cecil Payne. Hank Mobley's This I Dig of You set the standard and it was high. Everyone soloed and there were no passengers tonight. Boplicity, Take the A Train and a familiar sounding funky feely number kept the mercury bubbling over. Dave scatted and Jude fluted - is there a better jazz flautist around? Not many.

Time to cool it. You Go to my Head sang Fiona - mine too Fi, I thought, as she sang with so much feeling.

Back to 52nd St., for Dave Weisser's take on Annie Ross' take on Wardell Gray's take on Twisted - "My analyst told me..." you know the one. More flute from Jude and Fi took her cap off and let her hair down. On a sartorial note, all four horn-players wore some form of headgear. The rhythm section of Crinson, Porritt and Stutt may have been bare-headed but they were sure-footed as a team, keeping it all together and filling in the cracks with sound and solid solos.

Jude sang a number in Portuguese - or was it Peltonese? - whilst Keith and Nicola tripped the light fantastic.

Yardbird Suite not only had solos from all but concluded with some four-part vocalese from the frontline. Lambert, Hendricks, Ross and Weisser ride again.
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Keith Barrett (guitar); Sam Young (keys); Jim Crinson (bass); Matthew Fairhurst (drums); Debra Milne (vocals); Jude Murphy (alto); Johannes Dalhuijsen (soprano sax); Nigel Robson (trombone).

A break for nibbles and raffles and a jam session to round off the evening. Unfortunately, I couldn't stay for it all and so I missed some of the notables who were 'loaded for bear' and awaiting the call.

Bernie's Tune and Beautiful Love were the openers. Sam Young impressed on keyboard and Keith Barrett proved to be as good a guitarist as he is a dancer. Dalhuijsen played soprano sax and, undeterred by the calibre of saxmanship that had preceded, he made his mark. Robson blew trombone with great gusto and was applauded accordingly. Matthew Fairhurst, as ever, showed great empathy with his surrounds whilst Jim Crinson took the transition from guitar to double bass in his stride.

Debra, as befits a leading light of the Jazz Coop Board of Directors, took centre stage for Stomping at the Savoy and a poignant tribute to Nancy Wilson with Save Your Love For Me. This was made even more emotional when Jude leaped up to blow an alto solo that eclipsed just about all that had gone before. She captured the mood and I caught the metro.
A splendid evening of cooperative jazz.
Lance.

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