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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

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: Red Kites Jazz @ Parish Hall, St Barnabas’ Church, Rowlands Gill. 7:30pm. £10.00. BYOB (tea & coffee available), raffle. Proceeds to St Barnabas’ Church. Performance feat. Shayo (vocals).
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

Monday, August 12, 2019

A brief history of the Newcastle Jazz Festival

(By Russell)

Once upon a time a big band MD came up with the idea of organising a jazz festival. Will it work? enquired some, It'll never work! declared others. Undaunted, the idea took root and in no time the event envisaged by Newcastle Big Band MD Andy Hudson began to take shape. Jazz North East's Honourary Secretary Chris Yates was enlisted to lend his expertise and went on to write the festival programme notes as well as assisting in the organisation for something like two decades. It was 1974 and the Newcastle Jazz Festival was born.

The Guildhall on Newcastle's Quayside staged ten nights of jazz; Chris Barber, Humphrey Lyttleton, Ronnie Scott, Back Door, SOS (John Surman-Mike Osborne-Alan Skidmore), Henry Lowther, Pete King, Graham Collier (a Tynemouth lad) alongside film screenings, lectures and a riverboat shuffle. In addition, a satellite venue hosted a programme of free jazz and free improvisation. Andy Hudson (MD, Newcastle Big Band) had seen his dream of a jazz festival on Tyneside come true to the extent that by the following year it had outgrown the Guildhall and moved on to the University Theatre, which became Newcastle Playhouse (now Northern Stage) and which remained its base for the following 20 years.

From '74 through to 1995 the Newcastle Jazz Festival developed into a truly international affair. Local authority and Arts Council funding allied to major sponsorship deals (regional radio stations included) enabled British names - Stan Tracey, George Melly, Mike Westbrook, Loose Tubes - to share the limelight with legendary American musicians including Bud Freeman, Wild Bill Davison, Roland Kirk, Art Pepper, Teddy Wilson, Barney Kessel and Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers. 

As the millennium loomed funding priorities began to change and when the plug was pulled the Newcastle Jazz Festival went down the drain...until now. 

Once upon a time (a few months ago!) a big band MD came up with the idea of reviving the Newcastle Jazz Festival. Michael Lamb, MD of the Strictly Smokin' Big Band set about putting together a one day event and, with the help of several of his SSBB mates, this Saturday (August 17) marks the relaunch of a fondly remembered event. The Tyne Bank Brewery on Walker Road (just east of the Ouseburn) is the place to be from early afternoon 'til late. The line-up, in running order - Zoë Gilby & Andy Champion, Alan Law Trio, Mark Williams Trio, Emma Fisk & James Birkett, Alexander Bone, Strictly Smokin' Big Band - offers something for everyone. Tickets £15, book now: www.newcastlejazzfestival.co.uk

3 comments :

Michael Lamb said...

Many thanks for this Russell - fascinating as well is the archive of images from NJF here: https://get.google.com/albumarchive/117692566320026872324/album/AF1QipPkGfc_0cB7uKB_phzwvyJI_cJC1mvB1qtp_cr3

Must mention that Jamie Toms has been equally involved in the organising of NJF 2019! :)

M

Patti said...

Brilliant to see this archive - what an amazing selection of posters, gig tickets, etc. All those iconic names from the past - and oh, to have been at some of those concerts! Plus, the more recent selection from local gigs and events. This is one fantastic collection, wherever it is!

rik said...

Humph in 1974 https://www.rikwalton.com/p82555427#hc94a107f

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