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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

17719 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 39 of them this year alone and, so far, 39 this month (Jan. 15).

From This Moment On ...

January 2025

Wed 15: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 15: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 15: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 15: Hot Club of Heaton @ Elder Beer, Heaton, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘third Wednesday in the month’ session. TBC.

Thu 16: Pete Tanton & the Cuban Heels @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Fri 17: Lindsay Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 17: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 17: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 17: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 17: Joe Steels Trio w. Graham Hardy @ The Pele, Corbridge. 7:00pm. £10.00. (inc. a welcome drink & table reservation). Book at: www.drinks@thepele.co.uk. A ‘Jazz at the Pele’ promotion.
Fri 17: Russ Morgan Quartet @ Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. Opus 4 Jazz Club.
Fri 17: Redwell @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sat 18: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 18: Alter Ego + Jamie Toms/Graham Don Duo @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 7:30pm. £15.00. at the door; £14.35. (inc £0.35 bf) online, in advance.
Sat 18: Tweed River Jazz Band @ Repas 7 by Night, West St., Berwick TD15 1AS. 7:30pm. Free. Album launch gig.
Sat 18: Delta Prophets @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 19: Glenn Miller Orchestra UK @ Glasshouse, Gateshead. 3:00pm. ‘Glenn Miller & the Rat Pack Era’.
Sun 19: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 19: Spilt Milk @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 5:15-7:00pm. Free. Nolan Brothers (vocal harmonies).
Sun 19: Tenement Jazz Band @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 19: Nick Ross Orchestra @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 7:30pm.
Sun 19: Freight Train (Tobin/Noble/Clarvis) @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 20: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 21: ???

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, September 09, 2019

Northern Monkey Brass Band @ Gala Studio, Durham City – Sept. 6

Graham Hardy, Alastair Lord (trumpets); Sue Ferris (tenor sax); David Gray, Kieran Parnaby (trombones); Graham Wilson (tuba); Adam Sinclair (snare drum); Brendan Murphy (bass drum).
(Review/photos by Brian Ebbatson)

Graham Hardy’s NMBB’s return to Durham’s Gala kicked off this autumn’s Lunchtime Jazz series with their customary energy and pzazz.  The band entered the Studio from all corners with the familiar trumpet calls, punchy trombone blasts, sax and tuba echoes, before the snare and bass drums signalled the switch into their signature opener Loose in the Banana Patch, itself rolling straight into The A-Team theme.

For some in the audience this was perhaps, at first thought, not their usual music, but the infectious energy, the driving rhythms, and the pure musicianship of all the players soon had the audience responding with enthusiasm not just to each number but to every solo.

Although Northern Monkey are inspired by – and pay due tribute to – the traditional as well as contemporary New Orleans and New York street bands, they equally acknowledge their North East and contemporary musical roots, all mixed up with many of Graham’s own compositions and arrangements. And altogether they fulfil the programme promise to play their music “in a way you’ve never heard”.

The opener was followed by Graham’s The Sly Capuchin, one of four tracks from the Northern Monkey Business CD, featuring a lengthy trombone solo from “Growling” David Gray. We never heard the story behind this. There are records of Greyfriars in Durham and Hartlepool, but I don’t know if they were Capuchins. Or had Graham been captivated by a Capuchin monkey at a zoo somewhere?

Next came Water of Tyne, for me the star number, Alastair leading on the theme with Graham playing counter-melody behind, then bass and snare drums launch into a syncopated marching beat, leading with upbeat solos by Sue, David and Hardy. Truly of both worlds, although I missed the actual words, evocatively sung by George Welch on their CD.

Philip Oakley and Giorgio Moroder’s 1980’s Electric Dreams, took us back to that era, whilst Monkey Blood and High on Life  are more Hardy compositions from their 2019 Northern Monkey Business CD and their early EP-CD respectively. Other Hardy numbers were Ninja Princess (for Kuku, a New York trumpeter friend of Graham), and Always Forward, featuring a brilliant percussion duet by Adam and Brendan.  
 
In between came Sports Direct Infirmary Blues, with Graham’s languid muted intro, Sue’s mournful sax and David’s wailing trombone, as much a tribute to the New Orleans tradition as a blues for familiar tribulations on the Tyne.

Graham had delayed introducing the band members – there were three deps in Sue Ferris on sax, Kieran Parnaby on second trombone and Graham Wilson on tuba – “until they had done something” (a solo), but all players performed as if they were regulars and were enthusiastically applauded by the capacity audience before and after the encore of Stevie Wonder’s Superstition.

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