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Bebop Spoken There

Van Morrison: ''Basically, I'm coming from jazz. Not pop, not rock, not what's commercial. That's where I started, and that's still where I am. I feel the same as I did when I was listening to Louis Armstrong, Lead Belly, Jelly Roll Morton''. (The Northern Echo, 12 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

17,533 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 497 of them this year alone and, so far, 75 this month (June 23).

From This Moment On ...

JUNE 2025

Wed 25: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 25: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 25: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 25: The Magpies of Swing @ The Roxy, Leadgate, Co. Durham. 7:30pm. A Ginger Jitterbugs swing dance event, all welcome.

Thu 26: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: Brass Instruments & the use of mutes.

Fri 27: Lewis Watson Quartet @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm.
Fri 27: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 27: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 27: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 27: Strictly Smokin’ Big Band @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 8:00pm. ‘Time After Time’.

Sat 28: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Linskill Centre, North Shields. 4:00-10:30pm. Free, but ticketed (over 18s only). A multi-bill, multi-genre ‘Canny Shiels - North Shields 800’ event. Three Kings Brewery on site.
Sat 28: Joseph Carville Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 28: Jude Murphy & Dan Stanley @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 29: Jude Murphy & Dan Stanley @ Wallington, Northumberland. 12 noon-1:00pm & 2:00-3:00pm. Tel: 01670 773606. National Trust admission prices apply. ‘Tunes in the Blooms’.
Sun 29: Bal Bruch Social Dance @ As You Like It, Sandyford, Newcastle. 12:30pm. Free. Dance event with Hot Club de Heaton performing live (2:00-3:00pm). A ‘Jar on the Bar’ event.
Sun 29: Glenn Miller Orchestra UK @ The Fire Station, Sunderland. 3:00pm. Ray McVay & co.
Sun 29: Ruth Lambert Trio @ Juke Shed, North Shields. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 29: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 29: Zoë Gilby w. Ryton Choral Society @ Corbridge Middle School NE45 5HX. 5:30pm. £15.00. Gilby w jazz trio & choir. ‘An evening of jazz song for choir’.
Sun 29: Jazz Jam Sandwich! @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 29: John Wilson & the Sinfonia of London @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 7:30pm. ‘Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Greatest Hits’.
Sun 29: Out Front @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. JNE.

Mon 30: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club (1:00pm). Free.

JULY 2025

Tue 01: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Joe Steels, Paul Grainger, Mark Robertson.
Tue 01: Customs House Big Band @ Masonic Hall, Ferryhill. 7:30pm. Free.

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, December 01, 2018

More vin (extra) ordinaire - Hot Club du Nord @ St Augustine's Parish Centre, Darlington - Dec 1

Emma Fisk (violin); James Birkett (guitar); Dave Harris (guitar); Bruce Rollo (double bass) 
(Review by Russell)

A rain-lashed Darlington didn't dissuade a full house from turning out for Darlington New Orleans Jazz Club's year-ending concert promotion. 

Honeysuckle Rose for starters. The first solo of the day conjured by James Birkett won applause and that set the pattern for Hot Club du Nord's lunchtime performance at St Augustine's - one stellar solo after another from Dr Birkett, co-six stringer Dave Harris, bassist Bruce Rollo and, of course, bandleader, Emma Fisk. 

Oriental ShuffleBellevilleNuages, familiar numbers but never less than expertly played, this the expected standard of one of the hottest - Hot Club or otherwise - bands on the circuit. 

Violinist Fisk's informative introductions - recording dates, in some cases identifying personnel on the sides in question, biographical detail about Django and Stéphane - served as a narrative of the Hot Club de France's pre and post WWII years. Dinah (the legendary outfit's first recorded number, way back in '34), I Can't Give You Anything but Love, Baby, a first-rate Dave Harris solo on I Found a New Baby, the setlist couldn't have been better.

Emma Fisk's exquisite reading of A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square eased the band into the first set closer - Undecided - which unleashed the dynamic guitar duo of Birkett and Harris. St Augustine's audience lapped it up and the second set couldn't come soon enough. 

Coquette resumed matters, Django's Viper's Dream (an eleven bar blues, said Fisk) maintained the momentum and then a request - I'm Confessin' - played for Patti (there was surely only one Patti present) with, first Fisk's exposition, then Dr Birkett's masterful solo. It couldn't get any better, could it?

The Charleston hasn't featured frequently over the years but proved its worth in the set list, no such qualms about Ain't Misbehavin' or It Had to be You, the tunes kept coming thick and fast. Hot Club du Nord couldn't get away without playing Minor Swing, and they didn't, they played it with all four musicians excelling. With the three o'clock finish fast approaching Fisk explained that Dave Harris needed to make a sharp exit. A long drive up to Glasgow to play three one hour sets...in cowboy boots. We should, suggested Fisk, express our sympathy for Mr Harris. Well, perhaps, but not so much for the long drive ahead of him, nor the arduous task of playing three sets, but cowboy boots! Yeah, sympathy alright. Think of the gig fee, Dave, that'll make it all worthwhile!

Si Tu Savais (recorded in 1947) found erstwhile Djangologist Harris at the top of his game playing, perhaps, the solo of the day. Time to go, save for Sweet Georgia Brown, as good a way as any to finish. The audience wanted more so Emma and her boys went out on J'attendrai. It had been an afternoon to remember.    
Russell

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