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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

17733 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 53 of them this year alone and, so far, 53 this month (Jan. 20).

From This Moment On ...

January 2025

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. SOLD OUT!
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.

Sat 25: Boys of Brass @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 3:30-5:30pm. Free.
Sat 25: New '58 Jazz Collective @ Jackson's Wharf, Hartlepool. 6:30pm (doors). Free. A Burns' Night event. Jazz, swing, funk, soul, blues etc.
Sat 25: Edison Herbert Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 25: Red Kites Jazz @ Parish Hall, St Barnabas’ Church, Rowlands Gill. 7:30pm. £10.00. BYOB (tea & coffee available), raffle. Proceeds to St Barnabas’ Church. Performance feat. Shayo (vocals).
Sat 25: Jack & Jay’s Songbook @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 26: Musicians Unlimited @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 26: Graham Hardy Eclectic Quartet @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm.
Sun 26: Ruth Lambert Trio @ The Juke Shed, Union Quay, North Shields. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 26: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 26: Jazz Jam Sandwich! @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 26: Tweed River Jazz Band @ Barrels Ale House, Berwick-upon-Tweed. 7:30pm. Free.
Sun 26: Gratkowski, Tramontana, Beresford, Affifi @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £12.00. JNE.
Sun 26: Jazz Jam @ Fabio’s, Saddler St., Durham. 8:00pm. Free. A Durham University Jazz Society promotion. All welcome.

Mon 27: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 28: ???

Wed 29: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 29: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 29: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).

Thu 30: Matters Unknown (aka Jonathan Enser, Nubiyan Twist) + support TBA @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 8:00pm (7:00pm doors). £12.22 (gig & food); £9:04 (gig only).
Thu 30: Soznak @ The Mill Tavern, Hebburn. 8:00pm. Free.
Thu 30: Struggle Buggy @ Harbour View, Roker, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Rhythm & blues.

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

Friday, March 22, 2019

Andy Lawrenson Trio @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle - March 21

Andy Lawrenson (violin, vocals); Simon O'Byrne (guitar, vocals); Paul Grainger (double bass)
(Review by Russell) 

Andy Lawrenson described those taking their seats in Prohibition Bar as being part of a 'select' audience. On such occasions there seems to be a closer bond between musician and audience - the musician is there to play and the audience, such as it was, was there to listen.

The Andy Lawrenson Trio knows Prohibition Bar well having performed there last year although there was one major difference - Mitch Mitchell's gaff has since packed up lock, stock and barrel and crossed the Tyne from Brandling Street, Gateshead to Pink Lane, Newcastle. Otherwise, the place is much the same and, what's more, the late Keith Crombie would surely have approved of the changes made to what was once his gaff - that's the old Jazz Café - minus the clutter!  


Violinist Andy Lawrenson cuts a disarming, sober figure. Sharing the stand with him were Darlington's Simon O'Byrne playing guitar and singing one or two numbers and local lad, bassist Paul Grainger. Django and Stéphane featured, bien sur, cue Minor Swing. A good start here on Pink Lane as the soberly disarming Lawrenson swiftly moved on suggesting to his bandmates: Straight in. O'Byrne interjected, enquiring: What is it? Ah! said Lawrenson, It Had to be You

O'Byrne is a man with an interesting vocal style...imagine an east European baritone-to-bass larynx lubricated by liberal quantities of the local hooch brewed on the Russian Steppes, this is O'Byrne, one suspects not taking himself entirely seriously. The man's take on After You've Gone bristled with a playful vengeance as he enunciated the lyric. 

Mozart, yep, it was that kind of gig, to J'attendrai (O'Byrne's vocals) to Coquette, the AL3 certainly entertained the select few during a first set of fifty minutes. During the interval, your correspondent's attention was drawn to a discreetly hidden frieze depicting a series of saucy drawings/etchings/paintings. Your correspondent was shocked, yes, shocked...that he hadn't previously known about these masterworks!

Lawrenson teased us with a slow, convoluted intro to...ah! Honeysuckle Rose which then took off at a lick. A Celtic jig - Monaghan Jig - continued the eclectic nature of the evening before segueing into more familar Hot Club territory on Sweet Georgia Brown. Fado, of sorts, found O'Byrne indulging in a fun melodramatic interlude singing All of Me ahead of two attractive arrangements - Nuages and Django's Tiger - the latter featuring a fine solo from the man occupying the middle of Prohibition Bar's bijou stage, bassist Paul Grainger. 

Mozart first set, Bach second set (Tocata and Fugue in D minor) to an encore then a second encore, both featuring O'Byrne's vocals - I'll See You in My Dreams and a darkest of dark vodka-soaked Dark Eyes - rounded off a Hot Club and beyond evening's entertainment.       

Russell.

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