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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

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.

Sat 25: Boys of Brass @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 3:30-5:30pm. Free.
Sat 25: Edison Herbert Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 25: Jack & Jay’s Songbook @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

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

Thursday, April 04, 2019

The April Showers' Jam session @ The Dun Cow - April 3

Paul Edis (piano); Paul Grainger (double bass); Rob Walker (drums) + Kay Usher (violin); John Rowland (tenor sax); Faye Thompson (alto sax); Roly Veitch (guitar) 
(Review by Russell)

Following hard on the heels of Tuesday's packed house with numerous sitters-in at the Black Swan events conspired to make Wednesday's monthly jam session at the Dun Cow a more cosy affair if not quite a damp squib. The house trio - Paul Edis, Paul Grainger and Black Swan jam session house drummer Rob Walker - set about rearranging the furniture...

One end of the Dun Cow was undergoing some sort of refit necessitating the temporary siting of the pub's pool table smack dab in the middle of the jam session's usual spot. What to do? The house trio moved tables and chairs from the conservatory space in order to set-up in time for an eight o'clock start. Would the sound be less than perfect? Would the pub's staff sort out the heating or would it be a winter overcoat night for audience and musicians alike? And the weather would have its say...


It was cold with numbers thin on the ground as Messrs Edis, Grainger and Walker made a start playing April in Paris (Jesmond). The proprietor of a fondly remembered (quality jazz) establishment on nearby Osborne Road arrived and in next to no time took the initiative seeing to it that the conservatory should be heated on a night such as this. Dun Cow staff put a shilling in the meter. 

Bassist Paul Grainger invited a togged-up Kay Usher to play some jazz. Our violinist decided upon Undecided to which the house trio responded with feigned confusion...why couldn't Usher make up her mind? Ha! Ha! Night and Day kept the former Northern Sinfonia string player on the stand until reinforcements arrived in the form of John Rowland, Faye Thompson and Blaydon Jazz Club's Roly Veitch. 

Rowland took off his bicycle clips, assembled his tenor sax and called I Can't Give You Anything but Love. Our lugubrious cyclist hung around to offer Love for Sale at which point the rain began to fall. It wouldn't be long before the elements would play a part in proceedings. Alto saxophonist Faye Thompson, fresh from cutting it the previous evening at the Black Swan, upped the tempo on Bag's Groove. Heads were nodding, feet tapping when pianist Edis looked up into the conservatory's rafters. The now torrential rain (April showers!) began to seep through the roofing. Water dripped onto Edis' keyboard. Water + electricity = potential disaster. Our pianist played on, along the way quoting Singin' in the Rain. Guitarist Veitch braved the elements and the next few numbers found the audience with an ear cocked to the cookin' jazz and an eye on the unfolding drip-drip drama up above. Your correspondent's notes became a tad smudged - the rain was finding alternative points of entry! 

Was that September (April) in the RainEverything Happens to Me? It had been a funny old night and the oddest thing...the Black Swan session had opened with Four and this Dun Cow session closed with Four. Now there's a thing!   

Russell

1 comment :

Patti said...

Sounds like an interesting jam session - and let's hope the Dun Cow owners decide to get that conservatory roof checked pronto! They surely won't want the rain dripping through onto their Sunday lunch dining crowd? Anyway, as Ted Lewis sang 'Into Each Life Some Rain Must Fall ......' Finally, kudos to Paul and co. for keeping the music going while the heavens opened.

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