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Bebop Spoken There

George Porter Jr.: ''To me, syncopation is like jazz. It wasn't meant for the masses. It was meant just for a hip few". (DownBeat, May 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

18043 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 364 of them this year alone and, so far, 42 this month (May 15).

From This Moment On ...

MAY 2025

Sat 17: Teresa Watson Band @ Billy Bootleggers, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. Blues.
Sat 17: The Society Quartet @ Hilton Garden Inn, Sunderland. 6:00pm. Tel: 0191 500 9494. £26.00 (inc. two course meal). Line-up: Jason Holcomb, Hannah Taylor, Alix Shepherd & Abbie Finn.
Sat 17: Milne Glendinning Band @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 17: Archie Brown & the Young Bucks @ Billy Bootleggers, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. Rhythm & blues, Americana etc.
Sat 17: Bellavana @ Newcastle Arts Centre. 7:30-10:00pm. Free. A Late Shows event.
Sat 17: Rockin’ Turner Brothers @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Rockabilly, Western swing etc.

Sun 18: Jason Isaacs @ STACK, Seaburn. 12 noon-2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sun 18: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 18: Ruth Lambert & Giles Strong @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 18: Steve Summers Quintet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 19: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 19: Lewis Watson Quartet @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £10.00.

Tue 20: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Stu Collingwood, Paul Grainger, Bailey Rudd.
Tue 20: Alexia Gardner Quintet @ Pleased to Meet You, Bridge St., Morpeth NE61 1ND. 8:00pm.

Wed 21: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 21: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public). b Wed 21: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 22: Nuevo Castillo Orquesta @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £5.00.
Thu 22: Anna Reay & Deon Krishnan @ STACK, Exchange Sq., Middlesbrough. 7:30-9:15pm. Free.
Thu 22: Pedal Point Trio @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Fri 23: Dean Stockdale Quartet @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. ‘Celebrating Oscar’.
Fri 23: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 23: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 23: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 23: Anna Reay & Deon Krishnan @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 4:00-6:00pm. Free.
Fri 23: Joe Steels Group @ The Pele, Corbridge. 7:00pm. £10.00. + £1.55. bf. A Northumberland Jazz Festival fringe event.
Fri 23: Spilt Milk @ STACK, Exchange Sq., Middlesbrough. 7:00-9:00pm. Free. Nolan Brothers (vocal harmonies).
Fri 23: Gaz Hughes Quartet @ Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm.
Fri 23: Strictly Smokin’ Big Band @ The Witham, Barnard Castle. 8:00pm. £19.00.; £17.00. ‘Time After Time’.

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

Sunday, March 10, 2019

Belinda Y Los Vinaleros @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle - March 9

Belinda Voshtina (vocals); Carlos Luis Rivera (percussion/vocals); Alan Law (piano); Paul Grainger (double bass); David Gray (trombone); Elliott Todd (trumpet/flugel).
(Review by Lance).

What better way to celebrate the latest of my countless birthdays than to spend a couple of hours in Havana and, without the hassle of going through customs? Yes to celebrate my birthday Cuba came to Newcastle albeit not weatherwise.

In the Prohibition Bar Cuba Libres were being downed as if we were in Havana's Jazz Café as opposed to Newcastle's former venue of the same name. The music added to the Caribbean ambiance that was in the air and there was little English in the lyrics that were sung so beguilingly by Belinda and Carlos. 


It had been some time since I'd last heard Belinda which was my loss. The voice, the tone is now more rounded and the words delivered more fluently. Perhaps Portuguese (Spanish?) comes more naturally to her. Carlos on congas and bongos provided the Latin drive as well as adding his own vocals to the mix. Alan Law is perhaps the greatest non-Cuban authority on the music and his playing would have been a credit to Chucho Valdes. The horns blended well with 'Showtime' as boisterous as ever and Elliott slotting easily into the idiom. Paul Grainger was, as always, un hombre para todas las estaciones.
Lance.
Photos.
Set 1
1 - El Cuarto de Tula (Sergio Gonzalez-Siaba)
2 - Comes Love  
3 - Agua De Beber (Jobim)
4 - Besame Mucho (Consuelo Velasquez)
5 - Chan Chan (Compay Segindo)
6 - Oye Como Va (Tito Puente)
7 - Quizás, Quizás, Quizás (Perhaps Perhaps Perhaps)
8 - Dos gardenias (Isolina Carrillo)
9 - Tristeza (Haroldo Lobo)

Set 2
10 - La Sitiera 
11 - Vasilon 
12 - La Distancia
13 - There Will Never Be Another You 
14 - Sway 
15 - Lágrimas Negras 
16 - Manha De Carnaval (Black Orpheus)
17 - Alacran
18 - Conque 

Encore
19 - Mandinga

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