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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

17655 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 929 of them this year alone and, so far, 74 this month (Dec. 31).

From This Moment On ...

January 2025

Sun 05: Smokin’ Spitfires @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:45pm. £7.50.
Sun 05: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 05: Salty Dog @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Americana, jazz & blues.
Sun 05: Papa G’s Troves @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free (donations).

Mon 06: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 07: Customs House Big Band @ The Masonic Hall, North St., Ferryhill DL17 8HX. 7:00pm. Free.

Wed 08: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 08: The Tannery Jam Session @ The Tannery, Gilesgate, Hexham. 7:00-9:00pm. Free.
Wed 08: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 08: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).

Thu 09: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: John H Hammond.
Thu 09: FILM: Soundtrack to a Coup D’Etat @ Tyneside Cinema, Newcastle. 2:35pm. Documentary (dir. Johan Grimonprez) ‘about jazz, (de)colonial history and activism featuring Louis Armstrong, Nina Simone and Dizzy Gillespie’.
Thu 09: Happy Tuesdays @ Ye Olde Cross, Ryton. 7:30pm. Free.
Thu 09: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. Ragtime piano. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 09: Mark Toomey Quartet @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm. Free. A Tees Hot Club promotion. The session now monthly, next one Thursday 2nd Feb, then first Thursday in the month thereafter.

Fri 10: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 10: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 10: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 10: Joe Steels Trio @ The Pele, Corbridge. 7:00pm. Free.

Sat 11: Jason Isaacs @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 12:30-2:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 11: Under the Wellie @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. 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 23, 2019

The Tenement Jazz Band @ Theatre Hullabaloo, Darlington - Nov 22

John Youngs (banjo, guitar, vocals); Charles Dearness (trumpet); Paddy Darley (trombone); Tom Pickles (alto sax, soprano sax); Doug Kemp (string bass)
(Review by Russell)

Darlington New Orleans Jazz Club continues to go from strength to strength. For twelve months and more Saturday lunchtime concerts at St Augustine's Parish Centre have attracted ever increasing audiences and this welcome trend encouraged organisers to take a chance on promoting an evening event at Hullabaloo on Borough Road. Theatre Hullabaloo is Darlington Hippodrome's studio theatre space and on Friday evening a near capacity audience turned up to hear the Tenement Jazz Band. 

The five piece Tenement Jazz Band has had a meteoric rise since its formation less than two years ago. It is often the case that musicians playing New Orleans' jazz are of a similar vintage to their ageing audience but on this occasion the Edinburgh based band was of a younger generation. Countless gigs (including a series of standing-room-only gigs at this year's Edinburgh Fringe), a sold out first CD (the band ordered several hundred additional copies in an attempt to meet demand) and invaluable coverage in the jazz media (at home and in America) has enabled the Tenements to build a word-of-mouth fan base. 

Bogalusa Strut from the band's New Orleans Wiggle album opened the Hullabaloo show. Thanks to their instrumental virtuosity five young men with a commitment to, and passion for, the music of 1920s' New Orleans wowed the audience. From the first number of the night to the last some two hours later, Hullabaloo's audience found itself in the Big Easy (New Orleans) on the Mississippi. 

The Tenements' John Youngs made the introductions with an endearing line in self-deprecating humour. The man originally from Norwich now living north of the border sat with his band mates on a homely carpet which travels with the band from gig to gig. Legendary characters featured during the evening. Trumpeter Chuck Dearness rose to the challenge of emulating the likes of Joe 'King' Oliver and Louis Armstrong and trombonist Paddy Darley took on the role of Kid Ory and others. 

Dusty Rag, That's A Plenty (hot jazz!), Milenberg Joys (Youngs made the case for the tune's Scottish origin!), Chocolate Avenue (composed by the man who claimed to be from Saturn, Sun Ra!), White Ghost Shivers (the New Orleans Owls) and New Orleans Wiggle entertained an appreciative crowd which, at the end of the night, formed an orderly queue to snap up the few remaining copies of the band's rightly popular debut recording.      
Russell

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