Total Pageviews

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

17777 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 98 of them this year alone and, so far, 23 this month (Feb.8).

From This Moment On ...

February 2025

Sat 15: Joseph Carville Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 15: James Birkett & Emma Fisk @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 7:30pm. £15.00. at the door; £14.35. (inc £0.35 bf) online, in advance.
Sat 15: Elkie Brooks @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 7:30pm. ‘The Long Farewell Tour’.
Sat 15: Milne Glendinning Band @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 16: MOBO Song @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 12 noon. Free, performances on the concourse. Line-up inc. Jazz Attack (on stage time TBC) & Jambone (12:20pm).
Sun 16: Jason Isaacs @ STACK, Exchange Sq., Middlesbrough. 1:00-2:45pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sun 16: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 16: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 16: MOBO Awards Fringe 2025: BBC Introducing NE X MOBO Showcase @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 6:00pm. Free (ticketed). Line-up inc. Jambone, Knats, Rivkala, SwanNek.
Sun 16: The Shayo Experience @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 16: Gerry Richardson Quartet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. .

Mon 17: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 17: Matt Forster Quartet @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 1:00pm. £9.00. at the door; £8.20. (inc £0.20 bf) online, in advance.
Mon 17: Russ Morgan Quartet @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £10.00.

Tue 18: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Alan Law, Paul Grainger, John Hirst.

Wed 19: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 19: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 19: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 20: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, Holystone. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 20: James Birkett & Emma Fisk @ King’s Hall, Newcastle University. 1:15pm. Free.
Thu 20: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: Jazz Milestones - 1975.
Thu 20: Renegade Brass Band @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors).
Thu 20: Orange Claw Hammer + Peony @ The Globe, Newcastle.7:30pm. Orange Claw Hammer play Captain Beefheart.
Thu 20: Jeremy McMurray & the Pocket Jazz Orchestra @ Arc, Stockton. 8:00pm. Featuring special guest Zoë Gilby.

Fri 21: JazzMain @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 21: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 21: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 21: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 21: Joe Steels Trio @ The Pele, Corbridge. 7:00pm. £10.00. TBC.
Fri 21: Emma Rawicz w. Strictly Smokin’ Big Band @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm.

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

Wednesday, July 10, 2019

Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle - July 9


(Review by Russell)

It was a rainy night in Geor...sorry, wrong town, it was a rainy night in Newcastle. Perhaps the weather would deter both sitters-in and listeners alike. At eight o'clock in a sparsely populated Black Swan the house trio made a start with They Can't Take that Away from Me.  

Triste (João Gilberto recorded Jobim's number) played out to the hardcore before the trio lit the blue touchpaper with a scorching take on Billie's Bounce. Messrs Stockdale, Grainger and Walker went for it, not least jam session kingpin Mr G fuelled by who knows what...spinach? It was time to invite the first (the only?!) sitter-in to join the trio. All the way from Cleveland, Jan Spencelayh! The Nearness of You for starters, Devil May Care with pianist Stockdale suggesting 'last four' as he helped chart our most welcome guest through Bob Dorough's timeless composition. Similarly, Stockdale suggested 'last twelve' on Almost Like Being in Love. We'll be hearing more from Spencelayh, that's for sure.

Well, look who's in town...Andrea Pattison, no less! AP's contribution was brief- What a Difference a Day Makes - and then she was gone, not from the premises, you understand, but to take her seat in a, by now, slowly but surely filling Black Swan.


Matt MacKellar is in town for a few weeks before heading back to Berklee and readily gave Rob Walker a spell on Joyspring. Another visitor from the Tees Delta, Mr Bob Caswell, joined Stockdale and co to sing Moonlight in Vermont. An observer commented to the effect: When Bob's on form he's great. Agreed.

CALLING ALL BASS PLAYERS! The usual dearth of jam session bass players prompted PG to declare the trio would be taking five. Time for another bottle of Old Peculier...

Clad in cycling gear, John Rowland blew tenor until Jordan Alfonso arrived, this week toting his alto horn. JA suggested Nostalgia in Times Square. Stockdale said: It's one of my favourite numbers. Little did JA know it's one of the tracks on the pianist's excellent Origin CD! Tremendous playing all round with the still depping MacKellar's brushwork something to behold. Don't you just love jam sessions?! 

Summertime gets short shrift from BSH Editor-in-Chief LL, principally on the grounds he's heard it done a million times, but this outing proved a turn up for the books. Jamie Mackay was in town (with his Telecaster!) and squeezed onto a now bulging stage - trio, the horns and, wait for it, Mr Alec J Gamble. Was he here to dance? Blow bugle? No, tonight our Swing Tyne dancer sat by the piano and played a fine bluesy guitar solo, encouraged by bassist PG to 'keep going'. Stockdale took five with Marcus Tham sitting-in. Our affable Singaporean hung around long enough to play My Favorite Things, a super-swift, buoyant I Wish I Knew and then, we knew it was coming sooner or later, Marcus was making his final contribution to Newcastle's top flight jam session scene. St Thomas - joyous, with all blowing - bade farewell to Marcus as he is soon to return home to Singapore. Thanks Marcus, we'll hold you to your promise to return one day. You know where to find us - fortnightly Tuesdays in the Black Swan.         
Russell

Dean Stockdale (piano); Paul Grainger (double bass); Rob Walker (drums) + Jan Spencelayh, Andrea Pattison, Bob Caswell (vocals); John Rowland (tenor sax); Jordan Alfonso (alto sax); Alec J. Gamble, Jamie Mackay (guitars) ; Matt MacKellar (drums); Marcus Tham (piano).

1 comment :

Lance said...

Just like to offer my best wishes to Marcus. If I'd known you were leaving us so soon I'd have risen from my sick bed to wish you well.
It has been a pleasure hearing you play.

Blog Archive