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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

18069 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 390 of them this year alone and, so far, 68 this month (May 222).

From This Moment On ...

MAY 2025

Sat 24: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 12:30-2:15pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 24: Tyne Valley Big Band @ Bywell Hall, Stocksfield. 1:30pm. Northumberland County Show.
Sat 24: Jason Isaacs @ STACK, Seaburn. 3:30-5:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 24: Ray Stubbs R&B All Stars @ The Peacock, Sunderland. 6:00pm.
Sat 24: Dean Stockdale Quartet + Mingus Sings @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 7:00pm. Admission: see website: www.queenshall.co.uk. Stockdale (piano); Tim Williams (guitar); Gavin Barras (double bass); Gaz Hughes (drums) + Mingus Sings: Sara Oschlag (vocals); Alan Barnes (reeds); Tim Lapthorn (piano); Arnie Somogyi (double bass); Clark Tracey (drums). A Northumberland Jazz Festival event.
Sat 24: Joseph Carville Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 24: Saltburn Big Band @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm. £12.00.
Sat 24: NUJO Jazz Jam @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 8:00pm (7:00pm doors). £3.00. + bf.
Sat 24: Papa G’s Troves @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 25: Northern Monkey Brass Band @ Spanish City Plaza (outdoor stage). 11:30am & 1:00pm. Free. A Whitley Bay Carnival event.
Sun 25: Zoë Gilby & Andy Champion: Bandstand Sessions @ The Sele, Hexham. 12 noon. Free. A Northumberland Jazz Festival event.
Sun 25: Musicians Unlimited @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 25: Ruth Lambert Trio @ Juke Shed, North Shields. 1:30pm. Free.
Sun 25: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 25: Catriona Bourne Quartet @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm. Admission: see website: www.queenshall.co.uk. Bourne (harp), Francis Tulip (guitar), James Owston (double bass), Joe Bainbridge (drums). A Northumberland Jazz Festival event.
Sun 25: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 25: Struggle Buggy @ The Tyne Bar, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. Blues.
Sun 25: Joe Steels Group + Norma Winstone (vocals); Nikki Iles (piano); Mike Walker (guitar); Steve Watts (double bass). 7:00pm. Admission: see website: www.queenshall.co.uk. Steels (guitar); Ferg Kilsby (trumpet, flugelhorn); Ben Lawrence (piano); Paul Susans (double bass); John Hirst (drums). A Northumberland Jazz Festival event.
Sun 25: Jazz Jam Sandwich! @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 25: Xhosa Cole/Neil Charles/Mark Sanders @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A JNE promotion. Note: Xhosa Cole replaces Nicole Mitchell.

Mon 26: Catriona Bourne Quartet @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 1:00pm. £9.00. at the door; £8.20. (inc £0.20 bf) online, in advance.
Mon 26: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 27: Bold Big Band @ Newcastle Arts Centre, Newcastle. 7:00pm (doors). £12.00. & £10.00.
Tue 27: Alexia Gardner Quintet @ Newcastle House Hotel, Front St., Rothbury NE65 7UT.7:30pm. £12.00.; £10.00. adv. from Tully’s (opp. venue).

Wed 28: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 28: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 28: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 29: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: That’s the Blues, Dad.
Thu 29: Nova.sol + Mikoudi @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Thu 29: Front Porch Three @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Americana, blues etc.

p>Fri 30: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 30: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 30: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 30: Rivkala @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Fri 30: Ian Millar & Dominic Spencer @ Middleton & Tonbridge Village Hall. 7:30pm.

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 26, 2019

Ushaw Jazz Festival (Day Three, Evening) Buck Clayton Legacy Band - August 26

Matthias Seuffert (tenor sax); Robert Fowler (alto sax); Menno Daams (trumpet); Ian Smith (trumpet); Adrian Fry (trombone/arranger); Martin Litton (piano); Alyn Shipton (double bass); Clark Tracey (drums).
(Review by Lance).

The jewel in the crown of the Ushaw Jazz Festival 2019  or so  
we all thought. Up to now audiences had been reasonable in numbers so surely this would be the one where they'd be turning people away.

It wasn't. Had they all gone to Headingley? Had the heatwave drawn them to the seaside or had those who were knocked out by Xhosa Cole and Francis Tulip migrated to their gig held in Newcastle?

Answers are needed.

No questions were needed musically. For those who were aware that there was jazz before Robert Glasper - even before John Coltrane (honest!) - this was the time and the setting to worship.

Buck Clayton's place in jazz history was established back in the 1930s when he joined Count Basie and, years later, with his own bands and jam sessions. For this concert the emphasis, said leader, bassist and BBC broadcaster Alyn Shipton, is on how a Buck Clayton band may have interpreted the music of Duke Ellington and Johnny Hodges.

As those masters are now all long gone - this was Buck Clayton in Hi-Fi - live. 

Close your eyes and you would have believed that Ushaw had raised the dead - reincarnation lives! Buck, Emmett Berry, Clark Terry, Nanton and Blanton, Jimmy Hamilton and Paul Gonsalves, Woodyard and Bellson. Johnny Hodges was there, and so many more - tell me, why weren't they breaking down the door?

After Johnny Hunter at the previous gig only one drummer could follow - Clark Tracey (pictured with Matthias Seuffert).

Trombonist Adrian Fry appeared to be the straw boss and his solos were merely sensational! Not only that, if they ever decide to remake The Glenn Miller Story - now that James Stewart is gone - Adrian is the man.

Fowler = Hodges & Bigard, Seuffert = Gonsalves and Hamilton, Daams & Smith = Clayton/Terry with Litton just a sittin' and a rockin' as Ellington and Shipton playing the role of Jimmy Blanton.

Sad that so few showed but, when I meet the absentees, I will feel so so superior!
Lance
Outer Drive:; Rockin'  in Rhythm; Creole Love Call; Satin Doll; Mood Indigo; Globetrotter; I Got it Bad; C Jam Blues; Take the A Train; Shady Side of the Street; Newport Up; Don't Get Around Much Anymore; Broadway Babe; The Jeep is Jumpin'; Sophisticated Lady; Perdido;Sir Humphrey.

3 comments :

Pam said...

Hi Lance in answer to your question, yes some of us were at the Bridge for the Xhosa Cole / Francis Tulip gig. It was amazing these young guys are the real deal. Xhosa and Francis were joined by the extremely talented base player Shivraj Singh who we saw at Ushaw on Saturday and The wonderful Ben Lawrence on keys and a last minute drum seat taken by a fabulous young guy who had driven up from Birmingham to do the gig and was going to drive back! He was an absolutely power house, sadly to my shame I can't remember his name but I'm sure someone can supply it. It was a brilliant night of really top class musicians. Jazz is safe in the hands of the young.

Anonymous said...

Matthew Holmes is the name of the drummer at the Bridge last night!

Pam said...

Thank you apologies to Matthew

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