Bebop Spoken There

Melissa Aldana: ''Having to play a ballads album, which is something very revealing for a saxophone player, would help me to question some new aspects of how to go deeper into sound." (DownBeat May, 2026)

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

18656 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 18 years ago. 520 of them this year alone and, so far this month (June 25) 72

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

From This Moment On

June

Mon 29: Friends of Jazz @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 30: Alan Law Trio @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 2:00pm. Free.
Tue 30: Eva Fox & the Sound Hounds @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

July

Wed 01: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 01: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 01: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 02: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ The Millstone, Mill Rise, South Gosforth, Newcastle. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 02: Paul Skerritt @ Angels' Share, St George's Terrace, Jesmond, Newcastle NE2 2SX. 8:00pm. Free. Booking advised (0191 200 1975). Skerritt w. backing tapes.
Thu 02: De’Sean Jones & Blaque Dynamite feat. Urban Art Orchestra @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). De’Sean Jones (MD, tenor sax); Blaque Dynamite (Mike Mitchell, drums); Jamie Murray (drums) with UAO horns & strings.
Thu 02: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm.
Thu 02: Howlin’ Mat @ Newcastle Arts centre. 7:30pm. Free. Acoustic

Fri 03: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 03: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 03: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 03: Paul Donnelly Quartet @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm.
Fri 03: Martin Taylor @ Arc, Stockton. 8:00pm. Taylor (solo guitar).

Sat 04: Spats Langham’s Hot Fingers @ St Augustine’s Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm. £10.00. Darlington New Orleans Jazz Club.
Sat 04: Michael Woods @ Cycle Hub, Quayside, Ouseburn. 1:30-2:30pm & 3:00-4:00pm. Free. Acoustic blues guitar. An Ouseburn Festival event.
Sat 04: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. £27.50. Tutor: Steve Glendinning. Take the ‘A’ Train to Summertime: From Melody to Masterclass. Enrol at: learning@jazz.coop.
Sat 04: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00.

Sun 05: Smokin’ Spitfires @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:45pm. £10.00.
Sun 05: Ian Bosworth Quintet @ Chapel, Middlesbrough. 1:00pm. Free. Feat. guest TBC.
Sun 05: Michael Woods @ Cycle Hub, Quayside, Ouseburn. 1:30-2:30pm & 3:15-4:00pm. Free. Acoustic blues guitar. An Ouseburn Festival event.
Sun 05: Lydia Rae Quintet @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00pm. £10.00. Rae (vocals); Sam Lightwing (alto sax, tenor sax); Ben Lawrence (piano); Andy Champion (double bass); John Bradford (drums).
Sun 05: Sax Choir @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 05: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Table reservations (0191 261 8000). Skerritt w. backing tapes.
Sun 05: Storytellers Street Band @ Ouseburn Woodland, Ouseburn. 5:00-6:00pm. Free. An Ouseburn Festival event.
Sun 05: Gerry Richardson’s Big Idea @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Sun 05: Jambone @ Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:15-9:45pm. Free but ticketed.

Saturday, July 27, 2019

A Sizzling, Smokin' Session @ The Bridge Hotel - July 25

(Review by Russell)

The Strictly Smokin' Big Band's latest public rehearsal mode outing found the band in scintillating form on a scorching evening in Newcastle city centre. The Bridge Hotel's upstairs function room is the SSBB's new base and this second open door event attracted a full house.

St Louis Blues big band style for starters and what a start! Rip-roaring big band jazz at its best. Can't We Be Friends? asked band vocalist Alice Grace. How could one refuse?! Ms Grace clearly enjoys working with the band and little wonder, it's the best band in town. A new chart - A Country Boy - featured an intro and soulful alto solo by birthday boy Keith Robinson. That's commitment for you...making a rehearsal session on your birthday! 

In a perfect early evening light AG sang I'm Beginning to See the Light against a picture postcard backdrop of mainline trains winding their way in and out of Central Station. One more tune before pulling into the sidings (ie a pint at the bar) and it was a good one...Beautiful Love. 

One short interval later the audience (regulars and new faces) met with a disconcerting sight...the five strong reeds' section, to a man (schoolboy?) filed in wearing shorts. Not so much a knees up rather a knees out. Arrgh! A Bruce Adams' chart resumed hostilities with MD Michael Lamb and Pete Tanton taking potshots at one another, just the sort of dust-up the pugnacious Adams relishes! 

Rollins' Doxy arranged for big band, Chick Corea's Spain with Jamie Toms blowing, Ms Grace leading a long and winding Caravan, could we have a third set? Chance would be a fine thing! Bing, Frank, Ella, they've all sung it, so why not AG? I Love Paris the tune, great stuff. Three weeks before the Newcastle Jazz Festival at the Tyne Bank Brewery the SSBB pulled out all the stops with depping drummer Dave Mckeague stoking the fires in the engine room alongside Michael Whent, Graham Don and Pav Jedrzejewski. 

As the SSBB Express hurtled down the track to its final destination (the Bridge Hotel's bar!) Ms Grace's Travelling Light nudged the ensemble into J Dilla hip-hop territory. Excellent. And that was it, save for MD Lamb's arrangement of Comes Love. It's no exaggeration to say a Strictly Smokin' Big Band rehearsal session is as good as a ten quid admission gig! 
Russell

Strictly Smokin' Big Band: Michael Lamb MD, Pete Tanton, Gordon Marshall, Dick Stacey (trumpets); Mark Ferris, Kieran Parnaby, David Barnes, John Flood (trombones); Jamie Toms, Dave Kerridge, Steve Summers, Keith Robinson, Laurie Rangecroft (reeds); Pawel Jędrzejewski (guitar); Graham Don (piano); Michael Whent (bass); Dave Mckeague (drums); Alice Grace (vocals) 
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