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HOWAY THE LADS!

Bebop Spoken There

John McLaughlin: '' A Love Supreme coincided with my search for meaning in life". (DownBeat, March 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

17873 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 194 of them this year alone and, so far, 41 this month (March 14).

From This Moment On ...

MARCH 2025.

Sat 15: Hot Teapots @ St Augustine’s Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm.
Sat 15: Lagos to Longbenton + Belladonna @ Whitley Bay Big Social, Whitley Road, Whitley Bay. 2:00pm. Free. Afrobeat/jazz fusion + soul/funk/R&B
Sat 15: Creakin’ Bones @ Billy Bootleggers. Ouseburn, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free.
Sat 15: Joseph Carville Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 15: Is This Jazz? @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Tickets: www.eventbrite.co.uk. Performances by Mu Quintet, Jinjé, A Brief Utopia, John Pope & Co + André Marmot (author of Unapologetic Expression: The Inside Story of the UK Jazz Explosion) in conversation + DJ sets ‘til 3:00am. ‘A Festival of New Jazz’.
Sat 15: Vintage Explosion @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 7:30pm. SOLD OUT!
Sat 15: Alligator Gumbo @ The Forum, Darlington. 7:30pm. £15.00.
Sat 15: One Night Standards @ The White Room, Stanley. 8:00pm. £8.67 (inc. bf). Note - previously advertised Salty Dogs cancelled.
Sat 15: Howlin’ Mat @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Blues guitar.

Sun 16: Jason Isaacs @ STACK, Exchange Sq., Middlesbrough. 1:00-2:45pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sun 16: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 16: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 16: Pearl Blossoms @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Ragtime.
Sun 16: Hot 8 Brass Band @ Wylam Brewery. 7:30pm. ‘Big Tuba Tour’.
Sun 16: ARQ @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Sun 16: Air4ce @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 8:30pm (8:00pm doors). £12.00.; £10.00. Tom Atkinson’s all-star band (line-up inc. Lindsay Hannon & Sue Ferris).
Sun 16: Jazz Jam @ Fabio’s, Saddler St., Durham. 8:00pm. Free. A Durham University Jazz Society promotion. All welcome.

Mon 17: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 17: Jamie Toms Quartet @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £10.00.

Tue 18: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Laurence Harrison, Paul Grainger, Tim Johnston.
Tue 18: Phil Bancroft’s Beautiful Storm @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £13.20 & £11.00.. A JNE-Gem Arts co-promotion.

Wed 19: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 19: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 19: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 20: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, Holystone. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 20: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: Nicknames.
Thu 20: Terri Green Experience @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £15.90.
Thu 20: Lindsay Hannon Trio @ The Harbour View, Roker, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Hannon’s ‘Tom Waits for No Man’ set.
Thu 20: Ray Stubbs R&B All Stars @ Mill Tavern, Hebburn. 8:30pm. Free.

Fri 21: Paul Skerritt @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 21: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 21: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 21: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 21: Giles Strong Quartet @ 1719, Hendon, Sunderland. 7:30pm. CANCELLED!
Fri 21: New Century Ragtime Orchestra @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Featuring special guest Martin Litton (piano).

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

Friday, January 24, 2020

Frog and Henry @ Carlisle Jazz Club - January 23

(Review by Russell)

Frog and Henry's current British tour included a return visit to Carlisle Jazz Club. An idea sprung to mind...let's take a scenic Tyne Valley train journey to Cumbria's county town to hear the band for the third time in twelve months. Gigs in Darlington and Newcastle had been a great success and this unseasonably mild mid-winter date promised to live up to expectations. 

Carlisle Jazz Club meets on a weekly basis at Carlisle Rugby Club. As the band took to the stage club organisers confessed that musicians of this quality dont't come round every week! The Louisiana-Oxfordshire based five piece features two Canadians, one German, one American and one Brit - the in-demand Ewan Bleach who bases himself this side of the Atlantic with a busy schedule on the London scene and beyond. 

Armand J Piron is a source of inspiration to Frog and Henry and the evening's concert began with Ewan Bleach referencing the legendary bandleader's recording of Mama's Gone, Good Bye. Excellent ensemble work, the highest of standards set, would it be maintained? Hot Tempered Blues followed and, sure enough, the level didn't drop. Last year's concert performances were impressive but this January 2020 gig suggested Frog and Henry had, somehow, upped their collective game.

Kerman Arken's beguiling old timey fiddle adds something to the music, perhaps helping to root it in time (pre-Jazz Age years to Dust Bowl days) and place (Arken's Tennessee to Cajun country). Add occasional sweet vocals (Song of the Wanderer) and the fiddler metaphorically, if not literally, has another string to his bow. Tom Turpin's St Louis Rag impressed the Carlisle regulars and Artie Matthews'  Weary Blues impressed your correspondent!     
Bright Star Blues (recorded by Armand J Piron) opened the second set. Shadrack encouraged a sing-a-long, a rip-roaring Tiger Rag brought the house down as did Cushion Foot Stomp and before long a marvellous night of jazz drew to a close with A Thousand Goodbyes.   

The band's engine room comprising Canadians Ryan Baer and Dave Neigh functioned flawlessly and the front line - Ewan Bleach and the undemonstrative but excellent Laurin Hebart - gave a reeds' masterclass. The reception given to the band suggests Frog and Henry will return in the not too distant future. Meanwhile, north east fans can catch the band at Darlington New Orleans Jazz Club on February 8. Recommended.
           
Frog and Henry: Ewan Bleach (soprano sax, baritone sax, alto sax, vocals); Laurin Hebart (alto sax, tenor sax, clarinet, vocals); Ryan Baer (guitar, vocals); Kerman Arken (violin, vocals); Dave Neigh (tuba machine, banjo)

3 comments :

Lance said...

Russell, please explain to us the difference between a tuba and a tuba machine?

Russell said...

Dave Neigh came across a nineteenth century photograph showing a musician playing a 'tuba machine'. Canadian Neigh figured out how to construct a twenty first century version incorporating a series of wire attachments from valve to strapping on his legs enabling him to press down on the valves thus emitting the usual tuba sound and freeing his hands to play the banjo at the same time. .

Lance said...

Bring back the death penalty!

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