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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

18043 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 364 of them this year alone and, so far, 42 this month (May 15).

From This Moment On ...

MAY 2025

Fri 16: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 16: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 16: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 16: Sophie Speed with the Dean Stockdale Trio @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 16: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 1:00-2:45pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Fri 16: Jason Isaacs @ STACK, Exchange Sq., Middlesbrough. 4:00-6:00pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Fri 16: Giles Strong Quartet @ Longframlington Memorial Hall. 7:00pm (doors). Tickets: £12.00. from 01665 570984.
Fri 16: Hot Club du Nord @ St Cuthbert’s Centre, Crook. 7:30pm. £10.00.
Fri 16: Peter Donegan & Anthony Donegan @ The Witham, Barnard Castle. 7:30pm. ‘Lonnie Donegan - The Stories’.

Sat 17: Teresa Watson Band @ Billy Bootleggers, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. Blues.
Sat 17: The Society Quartet @ Hilton Garden Inn, Sunderland. 6:00pm. Tel: 0191 500 9494. £26.00 (inc. two course meal). Line-up: Jason Holcomb, Hannah Taylor, Alix Shepherd & Abbie Finn.
Sat 17: Milne Glendinning Band @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 17: Archie Brown & the Young Bucks @ Billy Bootleggers, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. Rhythm & blues, Americana etc.
Sat 17: Bellavana @ Newcastle Arts Centre. 7:30-10:00pm. Free. A Late Shows event.
Sat 17: Rockin’ Turner Brothers @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Rockabilly, Western swing etc.

Sun 18: Jason Isaacs @ STACK, Seaburn. 12 noon-2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sun 18: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 18: Ruth Lambert & Giles Strong @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 18: Steve Summers Quintet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 19: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 19: Lewis Watson Quartet @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £10.00.

Tue 20: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Stu Collingwood, Paul Grainger, Bailey Rudd.
Tue 20: Alexia Gardner Quintet @ Pleased to Meet You, Bridge St., Morpeth NE61 1ND. 8:00pm.

Wed 21: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 21: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public). b Wed 21: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 22: Nuevo Castillo Orquesta @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £5.00.
Thu 22: Anna Reay & Deon Krishnan @ STACK, Exchange Sq., Middlesbrough. 7:30-9:15pm. Free.
Thu 22: Pedal Point Trio @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

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

Saturday, November 16, 2019

Jo Harrop & Jamie McCredie @ Holy GrAle, Durham - Nov 15

Jo Harrop (vocals); Jamie McCredie (guitar)
(Review by Russell)

Lumiere, Durham's spectacular lightshow festival, attracts thousands upon thousands of visitors but on Friday evening numbers were down ever so slightly as some preferred to spend their evening in an arched, brick-lined cellar on Crossgate. The big attraction at Holy GrAle was an intimate duo gig featuring two north easterners who base themselves in London but were 'up north' for a couple of days to play two gigs, one in Newcastle and this engagement in Durham City.


Hours earlier Jo Harrop and Jamie McCredie entertained a lunchtime full house at the Lit & Phil, here in Durham a select audience gathered for an eagerly anticipated performance of GASbook standards. 'S Wonderful sang Jo Harrop - how appropriate, this was absolutely wonderful! Holy GrAle's performance space is so small all present get an up close, front row experience. All evening there wasn't a lyric sheet in sight as Harrop chose a favourite tune, then another, her musicial partner Jamie McCredie supremely relaxed with the evolving set list. No Moon at All, Ellington's I've Got it Bad and That Ain't GoodCorcovado, Harold Arlen's As Long as I Live, a heart-rending I'm a Fool to Want You and from Harrop's Songs for the Late Hours, Vincent Youmans' More Than You Know. Harrop and McCredie's interpretations of timeless material were a joy to listen to.

Second set, more of the same - superb singing, the influences - Anita, Billie, Ella, Sarah - in the air, jazz guitar accompaniment of the highest order with impossibly fleet-fingered solos, it doesn't matter where you went - Ronnie's, the Village Vanguard - you wouldn't hear anything better than this. Love Me or Leave Me (up-tempo, the business!), Tom Waits' Temptation, Richard Rodgers' This Can't Be Love, a blues - Randy Newman's Guilty, if only Harrop and McCredie could've played all night! 

What a Little Moonlight Can Do (one of the few numbers reprised from the Newcastle performance), Fine and Mellow, it had been a memorable evening and, to close, Ms Harrop made the observation that they'd finish with the first number of their day. At one 'clock on Tyneside Burton Lane and Yip Harburg kick-started their Friday away day and so Harrop and McCredie said goodnight with That Old Devil Moon.     
Russell

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