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Bebop Spoken There

Sullivan Fortner: ''I always judge it by the bass player: If the bass player is happy, it's going to be a good night". (DownBeat, February 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

17805 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 126 of them this year alone and, so far, 51 this month (Feb.16).

From This Moment On ...

February 2025

Sun 23: Musicians Unlimited @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 23: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 23: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 23: Mark Williams Trio @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm.
Sun 23: Ruth Lambert Trio @ The Juke Shed, Union Quay, North Shields. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 23: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 23: Jazz Jam Sandwich! @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 23: Mississippi MacDonald @ Georgian Theatre, Stockton. 3:00pm. Blues.
Sun 23: Mu Quintet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. CANCELLED!
Sun 23: Jazz Jam @ Fabio’s, Saddler St., Durham. 8:00pm. Free. A Durham University Jazz Society promotion. All welcome.

Mon 24: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 24: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 6:30pm. Free.

Tue 25: ?

Wed 26: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 26: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 26: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 27: Jamie McCredie @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Fri 28: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free. THIS WEEK ONLY JAMES BIRKETT (guitar)!
Fri 28: Luis Verde Quartet @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. £8.00. SOLD OUT!
Fri 28: Spilt Milk @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 7:00-9:00pm. Free. Nolan Brothers (vocal harmonies).
Fri 28: Castillo Nuevo Orquesta @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £8.00.
Fri 28: Knats @ Lubber Fiend, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £11.50. (inc bf.). Album launch gig. Support act TBC.
Fri 28: Black is the Color of My Voice @ The Gala, Durham. 7:30pm. Apphia Campbell’s one-woman show inspired by the life of Nina Simone, performed by Florence Odumosu.
Fri 28: Great North Big Band Jazz Festival: Musicians Unlimited @ Park View Community Centre, Chester-le-Street. 8:00pm. £10.00. (Weekend ticket £20.00., available on the door). Day 1/3. Musicians Unlimited in concert.
Fri 28: Redwell @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

MARCH 2025

Sat 01: Great North Big Band Jazz Festival @ Park View Community Centre, Chester-le-Street. 11:00am. £15.00. Day 2/3.
Sat 01: TJ Johnson Band @ St Augustine’s Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm. £10.00.
Sat 01: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. £25.00. Tutor: Steve Glendinning. Get your funk on! Enrol at: learning@jazz.coop.
Sat 01: Shunyata Improvisation Group @ The Watch House, Cullercoats. 2:00-3:30pm. Free.
Sat 01: Ray Stubbs R&B All Stars @ Billy Bootleggers. Ouseburn, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free.
Sat 01: Struggle Buggy @ The Peacock, Sunderland. 6:00pm. Blues band.
Sat 01: Edison Herbert Trio @ The Vault, Darlington 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 01: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00.
Sat 01: Jack & Jay’s Vintage 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

Tuesday, June 18, 2019

Tenement Jazz Band @ the Prohibition Bar, Newcastle - June 17











John Youngs (guitar/banjo/vocal); Charles Dearness (trumpet); Paddy Darley (trombone); Tom Pickles (soprano & alto sax); Doug Kemp (bass).
(Review by Lance).

For a brief moment, I was back in time at The Cavern. No, not that Cavern but the Beverly Cavern in Los Angeles where, in the late 1940s/early '50s, Kid Ory was the resident band and I was listening to Savoy Blues (the Mutt Carey version). No, I'd got it wrong, it was much earlier and I'd just graduated Summa Cum Laude from Austin High School and, along with my buddies Frank (Teschemacher) and Bud (Freeman), we were listening to Bix and His Gang - our pulses racing with Since My Best Gal Turned Me Down. This was when I awoke and discovered I'd been dreaming and was actually in Newcastle's version of Jimmy Ryan's, the Prohibition Bar, listening to the Tenement Jazz Band from Edinburgh.

It wasn't that outlandish a dream, the TJB has recaptured the spirit of jazz as performed anywhere from Storyville to Eddie Condon's and back again via Chicago, Natchez and Mobile - wherever the four winds blow. Tonight those four winds did indeed blow: trumpet, trombone, sop. sax and alto sax - they wailed! Frontman Youngs provides solid backing and chorded solos on both guitar and banjo which, along with newcomer Kemp, and Darley's foot dispensed with the need for a drummer.

Second time I've heard the band and both times I've been knocked out by them. This time it was slightly different as they included a few first-time numbers so, in a sense, we were guinea pigs. If they hadn't told us we wouldn't have known except maybe on, I think, Freddy Keppard's Stockyard Strut which required two takes - ah well, that's jazz!

Dearness, on trumpet, brought Bix to mind whilst Darley successfully alternated between Kid Ory and Big T. Pickles plays in the jaunty style of the early saxists and, happily, avoids the excessive vibrato favoured by Bechet on soprano.

The previous Tenement gig attracted a host of swing dancers but this time there were fewer - I'm told it clashed with a swing dance class out in the suburbs - unfortunate planning. Still, even without the dancers, it was a great night and with fewer distractions.

Come back soon.
Lance.

San Antonio Shout; Barataria; Dusty Rag; Copenhagen; Till We Meet Again; Meat on the Table; Chocolate Avenue; Parkway Stomp; New Orleans Wiggle; Since My Best Gal Turned Me Down.
-----  Tailgate Ramble; At a Georgia Camp Meeting; Down Home Rag; Hindustan; Stockyard Strut; Savoy Blues; Snake Rag; South; White Ghost Shivers; Shake it and Break it + 1.

1 comment :

Patti said...

Yeah, these guys are the bees knees, or the cats pj's ...... but I have to say, what about all the other local jazz fans?? Why didn't they turn up for this??

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