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Bebop Spoken There

Sullivan Fortner: ''I always judge it by the bass player: If the bass player is happy, it's going to be a good night". (DownBeat, February 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

17777 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 98 of them this year alone and, so far, 23 this month (Feb.8).

From This Moment On ...

February 2025

Sat 15: Joseph Carville Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 15: James Birkett & Emma Fisk @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 7:30pm. £15.00. at the door; £14.35. (inc £0.35 bf) online, in advance.
Sat 15: Elkie Brooks @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 7:30pm. ‘The Long Farewell Tour’.
Sat 15: Milne Glendinning Band @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 16: MOBO Song @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 12 noon. Free, performances on the concourse. Line-up inc. Jazz Attack (on stage time TBC) & Jambone (12:20pm).
Sun 16: Jason Isaacs @ STACK, Exchange Sq., Middlesbrough. 1:00-2:45pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sun 16: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 16: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 16: MOBO Awards Fringe 2025: BBC Introducing NE X MOBO Showcase @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 6:00pm. Free (ticketed). Line-up inc. Jambone, Knats, Rivkala, SwanNek.
Sun 16: The Shayo Experience @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 16: Gerry Richardson Quartet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. .

Mon 17: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 17: Matt Forster Quartet @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 1:00pm. £9.00. at the door; £8.20. (inc £0.20 bf) online, in advance.
Mon 17: Russ Morgan Quartet @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £10.00.

Tue 18: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Alan Law, Paul Grainger, John Hirst.

Wed 19: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 19: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 19: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 20: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, Holystone. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 20: James Birkett & Emma Fisk @ King’s Hall, Newcastle University. 1:15pm. Free.
Thu 20: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: Jazz Milestones - 1975.
Thu 20: Renegade Brass Band @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors).
Thu 20: Orange Claw Hammer + Peony @ The Globe, Newcastle.7:30pm. Orange Claw Hammer play Captain Beefheart.
Thu 20: Jeremy McMurray & the Pocket Jazz Orchestra @ Arc, Stockton. 8:00pm. Featuring special guest Zoë Gilby.

Fri 21: JazzMain @ 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: Joe Steels Trio @ The Pele, Corbridge. 7:00pm. £10.00. TBC.
Fri 21: Emma Rawicz w. Strictly Smokin’ Big Band @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 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

Saturday, January 19, 2019

Adrian Cox: Profoundly Blue @ The Watchtower Gallery, Berwick - January 18

Adrian Cox (clarinet); Joe Webb (piano); Simon Read (double bass); Gethin Jones (drums) 
(Review by Russell)

A first visit to Berwick's Watchtower Gallery, the purpose, to hear Adrian Cox perform his Profoundly Blue concert. A capacity audience repeatedly thundered its applause during a thrilling, high octane gig that comes along once in a (profoundly) blue moon. 

The Watchtower Gallery, built in 1848 to house a Presbyterian church, stands on West End on the north bank of the Tweed and, for a number of years, has functioned as an art gallery, principally to exhibit the work of the late Ian Stephenson. Large abstract canvases formed a backdrop to clarinetist Cox, fellow Kansas Smitty's member, pianist Joe Webb, bassist Simon Read and drummer Gethin Jones. 
Dardanella, the first of twelve tracks on Cox's Profoundly Blue album, opened this evening's concert with the bandleader effortlessly projecting to the far reaches of the gallery accompanied by an ace rhythm section. A 1941 studio date produced clarinetist Edmond Hall's Profoundly Blue, the now historic recording that gave Cox's project its name, and here in Berwick, the excitement levels, already at fever pitch, threatened to go off the scale with pianist Webb, himself a dazzling performer, shouting encouragement as Cox wailed, and wailed again. 

Hall, the subject of Cox's research, made his way from Louisiana to the bright lights of NYC, along the way working with many of the jazz greats. Cox presented his scholarly efforts in an informative, entertaining manner and we were left in no doubt that Profoundly Blue is a labour of love. 

A super-charged High Society elicited whoops of delight as the quartet upped the ante; this was brilliant stuff, surely the standard couldn't be maintained? Maintained? Make that 'surpassed' as Rodgers and Hart's Where or When ensured the blistering pace blistered some more. Brilliant, quite brilliant. Cox peppered his commentary with the big names Hall knew, worked with or simply revered - Emmett Berry, Charlie Christian, Baby Dodds, Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, Art Tatum...

On a previous visit to Berwick Cox offered a free CD to anyone who could come up with all six titles in an Ellington medley. No such offer this evening as Bebop Spoken Here ticked-off the Duke's masterworks. Cox's quartet worked late into the night playing Hall's riotous Rumpus on Rampart St.Neighbors (a rare slackening of the pace) and the ballad Rose in Her Window

Adrian Cox's Profoundly Blue tour dates continue into the spring. For those in BSH's northeast of England catchment area put this date in the diary - Saturday 2nd March (12:30pm) at Darlington New Orleans Jazz Club (St Augustine's Parish Centre). You won't believe how good it'll be. If you need convincing further, consider this - in July Adrian Cox is taking his show to Dizzy's Club Coca Cola at Lincoln Center, NYC. Yes, it's that good!

Russell               

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