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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

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. 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: 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

Saturday, May 04, 2019

Darlington Jazz Festival: Matt Roberts Sextet @ The Voodoo Cafe - May 3


Matt Roberts Sextet: Matt Roberts (trumpet); Josh Arcoleo (tenor sax); Alice Leggett (alto sax); Sam Watts (piano); Inga Eichler (double bass); Sam Gardner (drums)
(Review by Russell)

Our annual treat didn't disappoint, how could it with six of the best up from London? The opening night of the 2019 Darlington Jazz Festival once again found Matt Roberts in terrific form working alongside some seriously talented friends playing the music of the Darlington trumpeter's chosen subject: Blue Mitchell. 

Year after year, Roberts returns home to play the opening set of his home town's jazz festival with a trumpet hero the focus of attention - Miles, Freddie Hubbard, Nat Adderley, Fats Navarro, the list goes on. This year, from the Blue Note hard bop years through to seventies' funk, it was Blue Mitchell all the way.

Two new faces in the sextet line-up - alto saxophonist Alice Leggett (a favourite at Alex Garnett's Ronnie Scott's late night jam session...Alice, have you brought your horn? enquires Garnett when he sees the young alto player has walked in. Yeah replies Alice, Garnett delighted, he wants the best sitting-in). And on double bass this evening at the Voodoo Cafe not the marvellous Daisy George but the equally marvellous Inga Eichler. Our German bassist arrived in London ten years ago to study at the Royal Academy, stayed on and is as busy as anyone on the scene. 


The Thing to Do from '65 (featuring a young Chick Corea) opened Roberts' set. In previous years our trumpeter has been happy to train the spotlight on his brilliant bandmates and this year was no different except that this time around he really did step up to the plate, leading from the front. A first blistering solo, the room cheered as one. Many were there to hear Josh Arcoleo and they weren't to be disappointed as our tenor man followed Roberts blowing hard bop and beyond and yep, the place went bonkers!

Oh Mama Enit with its calypso rhythm Alice Leggett was tempted to show what she could do. Roberts assured us our altoist regularly blows away the opposition on the London scene and boy, here in Darlington she lived up to her star billing by playing killing alto. Roberts' presentational style is that of an enthusiast, effusive about his fellow musicians and about his subject - Blue Mitchell. Brother Ball from Mitchell’s first album way back in '58 closed a fine first set. Having arrived with not much time to spare before the scheduled nine o'clock start the sextet retired to the adjoining restaurant for a quick chilli.

At the start of the second set Roberts thanked the full house for sticking around...as if we were going anywhere! Good Humour Man resumed matters with our local hero saying: The nightlife in Darlington is poppin'. Well, not quite the Soho scene but there is something to say for the place! We were moving into modal territory with Perception said RobertsOur band leader went for it with a lung-busting solo (more cheering!) which was met with an 'out there' tenor blast that elicited more whooping and hollering and, to quote Roberts, 'an outer space ' bass solo by the fabulous Inga Eichler. 

The two Sams - pianist Sam Watts and drummer extraordinaire Sam Gardner - had a ball with the frontline fully appreciative of their engine room efforts. As eleven o'clock came and went the Matt Roberts Sextet kept on cookin'...PT Blues (bluesy alto to die for from Leggett), Day at the Mint from late period Mitchell then the final number of the evening - Fungi Mama - with all soloing as if there was no tomorrow. Yes, another memorable night at the Voodoo Cafe. Ink in Matt Roberts' 2020 Darlington Jazz Festival gig in the diary now - Friday, May 1st.         
Russell

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