Bebop Spoken There
Emma Rawicz: "In a couple of years I've gone from being a normal university student to suddenly being on international stages." DownBeat January 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
18246 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 100 of them this year alone and, so far this month (Jan. 31), 100
From This Moment On ...
JANUARY 2026
Wed 04: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 04: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 04: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Thu 05: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £5.00. Subject:Times of the Day & Trios.
Thu 05: Jeremy McMurray’s Pocket Jazz Orchestra @ Arc, Stockton. 8:00pm. Special guest Emma Wilson.
Thu 05: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm.
Fri 06: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 06: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 06: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 06: Durham Alumni Big Band & Saltburn Big Band @ Saltburn Theatre. 7:30pm. £12.00. Two big bands on stage together!
Fri 06: Nauta + Littlewood Trio @ Little Buildings, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Double bill + jam session.
Fri 06: FILM: Made in America @ Star & Shadow Cinema, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Ornette Coleman.
Fri 06: Deep Six Blues @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 7:30pm.
Sat 07: The Big Easy @ St Augustine’s Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm. £10.00. Darlington New Orleans Jazz Club.
Sat 07: Tees Bay Swing Band @ The Blacksmith’s Arms, Hartlepool. 1:30-3:30pm. Free. Open rehearsal.
Sat 07: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00.
Sun 08: Swing Tyne @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12 noon (doors). Donations. Swing dance taster class (12:30pm) + Hot Club de Heaton (live performance). Non dancers welcome.
Sun 08: Am Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 08: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 08: Gerry Richardson’s Big Idea @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Mon 09: Mark Williams Trio @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 1:00pm.
Mon 09: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Tue 10: Jazz Jam Sandwich @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
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
Many pubs have
closed (pub company closures and takeovers) yet, at the same time, micro pubs
have flourished opening up in all manner of premises. Over in the world of
recorded music some big chain stores have gone into receivership or gone the
journey but, as with beer, some hardy souls refuse to go quietly. Vinyl is
back!
Pip Piper's
film The Vinyl Revival (43 mins) is currently on a nationwide
tour and on Monday evening (Sep 23) it will be screened at JG Windows, Central Arcade, Newcastle. Graham Jones, author of The Vinyl Revival and the Shops That
Made it Happen and Last Shop Standing, will be
present to take part in a post-film Q&A. 
1 comment :
Marshall McLuhan - The Medium is the Message, 1967.
Vinyls Envy - a stage in which people who stream or play CDs experience anxiety upon realisation that they don't have any vinyls.
Vinyls Gazing - self indulgent or excessive contemplation of a singular issue, at the expense of a wider view.
Vinyls Retention - pays such attention that it becomes an obsession, to the detriment of the vinyls retentive person.
Making a film probably seemed a good idea last year after sales increased by just over a million in 2017, but less good when they collapsed to under 100k in 2018, hence the record companies desperate measures of not issueing selected albums on CD and releasing hordes of singles (which will no doubt all be included as units when the annual figures are released).
The 1% or so of the population who've so far gone along with the media, will no doubt relish spending another fiver for the cause, and wasting forty odd minutes of their time is probably no worse than the last vinyls album they listened to.
Music lovers should realise this isn't a game, and the survival of the great music of the post-war period (and not just the crap driving the alleged vinyls revival) is at stake.
While the vinyls gazers head to Windows, we should proceed to our nearest HMV and buy a CD; Darlington has some great jazz and reggae at the moment, and it's always funny watching the vinyls gazers desperately scouring the racks trying to find some memorabillia from a mythical time when teenybopping was cool and the best music was all over the pop charts.
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