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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

17719 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 39 of them this year alone and, so far, 39 this month (Jan. 15).

From This Moment On ...

January 2025

Sat 18: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 18: Alter Ego + Jamie Toms/Graham Don Duo @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 7:30pm. £15.00. at the door; £14.35. (inc £0.35 bf) online, in advance.
Sat 18: Tweed River Jazz Band @ Repas 7 by Night, West St., Berwick TD15 1AS. 7:30pm. Free. Album launch gig.
Sat 18: Delta Prophets @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 19: Glenn Miller Orchestra UK @ Glasshouse, Gateshead. 3:00pm. ‘Glenn Miller & the Rat Pack Era’.
Sun 19: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 19: Spilt Milk @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 5:15-7:00pm. Free. Nolan Brothers (vocal harmonies).
Sun 19: Tenement Jazz Band @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 19: Nick Ross Orchestra @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 7:30pm.
Sun 19: Freight Train (Tobin/Noble/Clarvis) @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Sun 19: Jazz Jam @ Fabio’s, Saddler St., Durham. 8:00pm. Free. A Durham University Jazz Society promotion. All welcome.

Mon 20: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 21: ???

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.
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.

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

Wednesday, December 05, 2018

NUJO Small Combo @ The Hatton Gallery, Newcastle University - Dec 5

Matt Green (alto sax); Tom Alcorn (trumpet); Tom McDonald (trombone); James Cuxson (guitar); Jack Deere-Jones (bass guitar); Archie Williamson (drums)
(Review by Russell)

Exploding Collage is a series of three exhibitions inspired by Kurt Schwitters' Merzbarn*. Three contemporary artists are currently exploring the twentieth-century avant-garde response to the collage art form. Today's musical happenings in the Hatton Gallery were, supposedly, an attempt to create an immersive, improvised response to the gallery's artworks.  

Let's forget the premise and get to the jazz. The lunchtime concert began a little late...they are students, you know! The six-piece combo, drawn from the ranks of Newcastle University Jazz Orchestra, was about to get things underway when its MD, guitarist James Cuxson, went in search of an amp. The ready-to-go quintet decided to play Autumn Leaves

Blue BossaNica's Dream, Rodgers and Hart's Isn't it Romantic? and Watermelon Man - varied fayre, if nothing else. But wait, this was good stuff! Solid ensemble work - MD Cuxson quickly rejoined his bandmates making it a sextet - and a student backpack-full of fine solos. The horns - Matt Green, Tom Alcorn and Tom McDonald - have been heard mixing it at recent jam sessions and this afternoon's gig found them shooting from the lip. Trumpeter Alcorn impressed with his never less than assured, bold approach, similarly Green on alto and former Durham County Youth Big Band 'bone man McDonald. 

Drummer Archie Williamson's recent flurry of appearances at jam sessions has marked him down as one to watch and he did all that was required on this session as did six-string bassist Jack Deere-Jones, reading the dots alongside MD Cuxson. 

Green and Alcorn negotiated Misty as if they'd been playing it for decades and to close the concert on a dank day in town, McDonald thought it a good idea to send us on our way with The Girl from Ipanema.
Russell.
Kurt Schwitters' WWII creation is a permanent installation in the Hatton Gallery.      


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