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Bebop Spoken There

Francis Tulip: ''Music speaks louder than words''. (Jazzwise, June 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

17,550 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 514 of them this year alone and, so far, 92 this month (June 28).

From This Moment On ...

JULY 202

Sat 12: Jazz Stage @ Mouth of the Tyne Festival. From 12 noon. Free. Vieux Carré Jazzmen (12 noon); Rendezvous Jazz (1:00pm); Mississippi Dreamboats (2:00pm); Classic Swing (3:00pm); Abbie Finn Trio (4:00pm). Stage adjacent to Tynemouth Priory.
Sat 12: Making Music Seminar: Latin American Music v. Music of Latin America @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 1:00pm. £15.00. (£5.00. online). Jason Holcomb, Alix Shepherd & Carlos Luis Rivera.
Sat 12: Edison Herbert Trio @ The Vault, Darlington 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 12: Jude Murphy & Dan Stanley @ Lovaine Community Garden, North Shields. 7:00pm (doors 6:40pm). £6.00. Limited places, booking essential (via the Community Garden website). BYOF&D.
Sat 12: Hot Club du Nord @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm. Hall Two.
Sat 12: Sleep Suppressor @ Repas 7 by Night, Berwick. 8:00pm.
Sat 12: Anth Purdy @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle.8:00pm. Free. ‘Swing Jazz Guitar’. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 13: Jazz Stage @ Mouth of the Tyne Festival. From 11:00am. Free. Trilogy of Four (11:00am); East Coast Jazzmen (12:10pm); Delta Prophets Trio (1:20pm); House of the Black Gardenia (2:30pm); Mouth of the Tyne All Stars (3:40pm). Stage adjacent to Tynemouth Priory.
Sun 13: Giles Strong Quartet @ The Sele, Hexham. 12 noon. Free. ‘The Bandstand Sessions’.
Sun 13: Julie Dexter @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:30pm (doors). £20.00. ‘The Cluny Matinee Jazz Club’.
Sun 13: ’58 Jazz Collective, Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 13: Tyne Valley Big Band @ Bishop Auckland Town Hall. 2:00pm. Tea Dance. SOLD OUT! A Durham Brass Festival event.
Sun 13: Ferg Kilsby @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm. Kilsby (trumpet, flugelhorn); Luis Verde (alto sax); Ben Lawrence (piano); Andy Champion (double bass); John Hirst (drums).
Sun 13: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 13: Sloth Racket @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. JNE.

Mon 14: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club (1:00pm). Free.
Mon 14: Brass Bash @ Hardwick Park, Co. Durham. 6:00-8:00pm. Free. Various bands. A Durham Brass Festival event.
Mon 14: Brass Bash @ The Story, Mount Oswald, Co. Durham. 6:00-8:00pm. Free. Various bands. A Durham Brass Festival event.

Tue 15: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ The Victoria & Albert Inn, Seaton Sluice. Tel: 0191 237 3697. 12:30pm. ‘July Jazz Barbecue’. Tickets: £15.00.
Tue 15: Brass Bash @ Hackworth Park, Shildon, Co. Durham. 6:00-9:00pm. Free. Various bands. A Durham Brass Festival event.
Tue 15: Brass Bash @ The Witham, Barnard Castle, Co. Durham. 6:00-8:00pm. Free. Various bands. A Durham Brass Festival event.
Tue 15: Julian Lage Trio @ 1856 Exchange, North Shields. 7:30pm . Lage (guitar); Jorge Roeder (double bass); Joey Barron (drums).
Tue 15: Jools Holland’s Rhythm & Blues Orchestra @ The Hippodrome, Darlington. 7:30pm.
Tue 15: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. Stu Collingwood, Paul Grainger, Bailey Rudd.

Wed 16: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 16: Brass Bash @ Willington Town Park, Co. Durham. 6:00-8:00pm. Free. Various bands. A Durham Brass Festival event.
Wed 16: Brass Bash @ Market Place, Spennymoor, Co. Durham. 6:00-8:00pm. Free. Various bands. A Durham Brass Festival event.
Wed 16: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 16: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 17: Brass Bash @ Trimdon Community College, Co. Durham. 6:00-9:00pm. Free. Various bands. A Durham Brass Festival event.
Thu 17: Brass Bash @ Blackhill & Consett Park, Co. Durham. 6:00-8:00pm. Free. Various bands. A Durham Brass Festival event.
Thu 17: NONUNONU @ Elder Beer, Heaton, Newcastle. 7:00pm (doors). £11:55 (inc bf).

Fri 18: Greg Abate w. Dean Stockdale Trio @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 18: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 18: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 18: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 18: Brass Bash @ Town Park, Newton Aycliffe, Co. Durham. 6:00-9:00pm. Free. Various bands. A Durham Brass Festival event.
Fri 18: Brass Bash @ North Terrace, Seaham, Co. Durham. 6:00-9:00pm. Free. Various bands. A Durham Brass Festival event.
Fri 18: Zoë Gilby Quartet @ Sunderland Minster. 7:30pm.
Fri 18: Knats: Masterclass & jam session @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 7:30pm. £15.00.
Fri 18: Rat Pack - Live in Concert @ Tyne Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm.
Fri 18: Greg Abate w. Dean Stockdale Trio @ Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. £15.00.
Fri 18: Front Porch Three @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. A Hoodoo Blues dance class & social. Social & Front Porch Three only from 8:30pm. £5.00.

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

Sunday, October 27, 2019

Vasilis Xenopoulos with the Paul Edis Trio @ The Black Bull, Blaydon - October 27

Vasilis Xenopoulos (tenor & soprano saxophones); Paul Edis (piano); Ken Marley (double bass); Russ Morgan (drums)  
(Review by Russell/Photos courtesy of Roly Veitch).

A third gig in as many days for the man from west London as Vasilis Xenopoulos concluded his north east mini tour with an afternoon concert at Blaydon Jazz Club. The Black Bull's south facing lounge attracts the sun and on this Sunday afternoon curtains were drawn to block out a blinding light. Our welcome visitor has a new album - Dexterity - to promote and chose to open the set with the CD's sole Xenopoulos composition. 

Dexterology in concert is best described as one part Dexter Gordon, one part Vasilis Xenopoulos, one part sackful of quotes. A quick-witted member of the audience could, perhaps, attempt to write down the titles but the torrent of oh-so-fleeting quotes all but overwhelms the listener - better to sit back and enjoy the brilliance, one could say, the dexterity of it all. It was quite a start.

A wonderful bluesy opening to Hanky Panky with Xenopoulos on tenor set up Ken Marley to deliver the first of several mature, extended solos - just as the Manchester based bassist had done in Darlington and Crook on Friday and Saturday respectively. Our bandleader is renowned for blowing some seriously good tenor and he also possesses a ready wit. In teasing Paul Edis about being allocated the task of delivering a convincing shout of Soy Califa, he suggested a 'take two' to which our pianist nailed it with Soy Califa, Hinny! And off they went - Xenopoulos on soprano conjuring a Moorish-ish feel, similarly drummer Russ Morgan with brushes, sticks and hands. Fantastic!

Society Red with its two-head structure appeals to Xenopoulos and Blaydon Jazz Club's regulars were treated to chorus after glorious chorus from an inspired musician in full flow. Likewise Edis, superb, two-handed piano playing (Blue Monk was in there), ideas tumbling. Later, one observer commented: Paul never plays the same thing twice. A compliment, indeed.

Tadd Dameron's ballad If You Could See Me Now took it down with yet more masterful playing. The interval, the consensus - wonderful. 

Charlie Chapiln's Smile (heard for the first time on this visit) opened the second set. Xenopoulos was clearly enjoying himself playing with panache and 'old school' swagger. Two tunes back to back focussing on Dexter Gordon's time in Sweden - Tivoli (Marley soloing) and Montmartre - maintained the highest of standards and Second Balcony Jump provided further evidence of the swash and buckle which marks out Xenopoulos as one of the finest saxophonists of his generation. 

A bolero ballad - I'm a Fool to Want You - enticed a couple to take to the Black Bull's imaginary dance floor. Magically, Edis quoted from The Godfather. It was as if Don Corleone had taken out a contract - on whom and for what reason will forever remain shrouded in mystery...

It was time to go but not before Xenopoulos called Scrapple from the Apple. How do you think this one went? It went whoosh! It had been a fabulous afternoon of jazz. As and when Vasilis Xenopoulos returns - day or night - it's a dead cert it'll be yet another memorable occasion.     

As a postscript Greek born Xenopoulos revealed that as a young man he performed at Copenhagen's Jazzhus Montmartre jazz club as a member of the European Youth Jazz Orchestra. Two great saxophonists, generations apart, stood on the same stage. How good is that?!    
Russell

1 comment :

Patti said...

An evocative and colourful extended review here, from Russell - but I must point out that Copenhagen, of the Tivoli Gardens and Monmartre Jazz Club fame, is in Denmark, not Sweden.

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