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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

18018 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 339 of them this year alone and, so far, 17 this month (May 7).

From This Moment On ...

MAY 2025

Tue 13: ???

Wed 14: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 14: Recital (stage 2): Leah Kirk (voice) @ The Band Room, Music Studios, Assembly Lane, Newcastle University. 3:00pm. Free.
Wed 14: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 14: Tannery jam session @ The Tannery, Hexham. 7:00pm.
Wed 14: Jerron Paxton @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £24.20. Excellent country blues multi-instrumentalist.
Wed 14: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. BACK IN BUSINESS, all welcome!

Thu 15: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: The Greatest in Jazz - Guitarists.
Thu 15: Pete Tanton & the Cuban Heels @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 15: New Ways of Moving in the Counterworlds @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 8:00pm (7:00pm doors). John Garner & John Pope.

Fri 16: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 16: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 16: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 16: Sophie Speed with the Dean Stockdale Trio @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 16: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 1:00-2:45pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Fri 16: Jason Isaacs @ STACK, Exchange Sq., Middlesbrough. 4:00-6:00pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Fri 16: Giles Strong Quartet @ Longframlington Memorial Hall. 7:00pm (doors). Tickets: £12.00. from 01665 570984.
Fri 16: Hot Club du Nord @ St Cuthbert’s Centre, Crook. 7:30pm. £10.00.
Fri 16: Peter Donegan & Anthony Donegan @ The Witham, Barnard Castle. 7:30pm. ‘Lonnie Donegan - The Stories’.

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: 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.

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

Tuesday, June 11, 2019

DJazz: Sunday - June 9

(Review by Russell)

What a difference a day makes! Blue skies overhead, Saturday's rain long gone, the DJazz outdoor stage was about to come into its own. First, a noon date with Kinesis in the pop-up space.

Drummer Abbie Finn and saxophonist Harry Keeble are Kinesis. Here at Durham's Riverwalk development the duo enlisted friend Paul Grainger to play the bass anchor role in a one hour set of classic numbers. Abbie, a postgraduate now picking up choice gigs as a professional musician (working with Simon Spillett is on the cv), works in partnership with soon-to-graduate Harry (Leeds College of Music) presenting a series of extended workouts ranging from Caravan to Cheese Cake. Bassist Grainger knows the pad inside and as an occasional trio, there is an obvious chemistry between the three musicians. The many early birds enjoyed a swinging set, probably the swinging set of the weekend. 

A common issue at festivals is competing or overlapping performances. A case in point was Kinesis' set clashing with a Durham University big band set. Little more than twenty metres from the pop-up a nineteen-piece big band assembled on the DJazz outdoor stage. The Big Band Project wowed the (dancing - see photo) audience basking in glorious sunshine with Durham's Cathedral and Castle providing a spectacular backdrop. The couple of numbers BSH caught sounded great and these guys don't hold chairs in the fully auditioned Durham University Big Band - that's the standard in Durham! 

Leeds continues to be a hothouse and one of the latest 'products' is Jasmine. A six-piece band led by alto saxophonist Jasmine Whalley offered a summer sun-filled set. Whalley cites Soweto Kinch as an influence although her alto sound is lighter and less insistent than that of the man from Brum. Original compositions (King Cobra and Cold Sweat) and Shabaka Hutchings' Joyous were given a mellow vibe treatment by Whalley's band; Ben Haskins, guitar, George MacDonald, piano, Owen Burns, bass and drummer George Hall

The Holy GrAle bottled beer emporium on Crossgate is neighbour to Durham City Workmen's Club and Institute. The idea of a cheap pint and a game of doms appealed but a rare appearance by a Scottish improv icon won the day. Holy GrAle's clientele preferred talk of Soviet poet Vladimir Mayakovsky and a recitation of works by Scottish poet Edward Morgan. Guitarist George Burt held court in a brick-lined, dimly lit cellar with hipsters and the like sitting at the feet (literally) of the brilliant Burt. 

In a world of fakery George Burt is a true original. Improv is what it is, no more, no less valid than any other 'art form' but it takes someone like Burt to separate the wheat from the chaff. One wonders what the hipsters made of the quietly spoken Scot incorporating GASbook guitar accompaniment à la Joe Pass, a blues riff and echoes of the Fab Four interspersed with volcanic eruptions of imperious improv (on occasion all of it in the space of a couple of bars!). A highlight of the weekend.

DJazz continued on the outdoor stage (Not Now Charlie) and in the pop-up (Archipelago's Between Waves project). BSH caught a few minutes of MacCalman/Pope/Alderson's collaboration with Fran Bundey including the oft-heard PuddlesGerms and an as yet untitled piece. Time was pressing, the big event on this final day of DJazz 2019 was looming...

Over Framwellgate Bridge, across Market Place, up Saddler Street to the big house on the hill. When it comes into view, no matter how many times, Durham Cathedral is one impressive piece of architecture. DJazz's 'Sunday Headliner' presented Paul Edis and Graeme Wilson in Durham's UNESCO World Heritage building. Reprising their performance at  last year's Ushaw Jazz Festival (in St Cuthbert's Chapel), pianist Edis and saxophonist Wilson presented an improvised set of some forty-five minutes. As the DJazz congregation took a pew (the joint was packed) Wilson, with tenor sax in hand, waited patiently in the nave as Dr Edis climbed the stairs to secrete himself in the organ loft. Could Edis see Wilson? Wilson couldn't see Edis. No matter, the duo, with Wilson's Glasgow Improvisers Orchestra colleague George Burt in the congregation, began to play. Cameras clicked and flashed (the humble mobile phone alongside the serious hardware). Photographing Wilson was straight forward, sighting Edis proved an impossibility, hidden as he was beneath the towering pipes. It could be said Edis (and Wilson) pulled out all the stops!

The Shakespeare beckoned, situated as it is half way down Saddler Street. A well-kept pint of London Pride served as a restorative. As the final event of DJazz 2019 was about to start the organisers-in-chief Carlo, Nick and Heather offered a few words of thanks. The crowded room erupted in applause for them - Carlo, Nick and Heather. And so to Slow Loris

A four-piece from Leeds, Slow Loris were selected by Jazz North to be beneficiaries of touring opportunities and professional mentoring with this Durham festival date part of the package. Sam Lowther, guitar, Sam Evans, guitar, Chris Sellers, bass and drummer Theo Goss combine a love of rock, metal and hip hop rooted in jazz. This festival appearance presented the rock and metal side of the band with the jazz element largely absent. Goss' hard-hitting, relentless drumming powered the band as, for one night only, jazz fans turned into head-banging metal freaks. 
Russell   

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