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: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. £27.50. Tutor: Steve Glendinning. St Thomas & Bésame Mucho. Enrol at: learning@jazz.coop.
Sat 07: Side Cafe Oᴙkestar @ Café Under the Spire, Gateshead. 6:30pm. Table reservations: 0191 477 3970.
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

Monday, November 25, 2019

CD Review: Kelley Johnson - Something Good

Kelley Johnson (vocals); John Hensen (piano); Michael Glynn (bass); Kendrick Scott (drums) + Jay Thomas (sop sax/tenor sax/trumpet: tks 4,5,8).
(Review by Lance).

Kelley Johnson's yet another singer mining the GASbook and she seems to have struck gold going by DownBeat's assessment "...wisps of Carmen McRae's ginger snap, Betty Carter's yawning reach, Anita O'Day's feline purr and Nancy Wilson's crystaline enunciation." 

Wow! unlike DB I'm lost for words - crystaline enunciation - I'll file that one for future reference!

So, take the above as read, I'll merely add that it's a rather fine album. Karen Carpenter singing Goodbye To Love has long been one of my favourites and I'd often imagined it being sung by a jazzier singer. Well, Kelley steps up to the plate and, maybe she didn't hit it out of the park like Karen did in her own genre, but it didn't strike out either. The scat choruses certainly had that ginger snap and, if nothing else, KJ has moved the song into the repertoire and it will be interesting to see if any other jazz peeps take her lead.

Let's Do it brings in a few of the lesser known verses by Cole and it has a lovely swing to it.

No mistake, Ms. Johnson is the business and it's not just her crystaline enunciation that makes her a contender but also the feeling she has for the lyric, that ability to get inside a song, the sense that the title sums it up - Something Good.

And there's also something good going on around her. Piano, bass and drums - Kendrick Scott! - absolutely solid with Hansen, who collaborated with Johnson on the arrangements, superb. The icing comes in the form of Jay Thomas who not only blows tenor and sop sax but also chips in on trumpet - do the union pay him triple scale?. 
Lance

Anyone Can Whistle; Goodbye to Love; You Do Something To Me; Lullaby of Birdland; Let's Do It; Some Other Time; Tip Toe Gently; Unforgetable; You For Me; Something Good.

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