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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 2025

Wed 09: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 09: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 09: Jam session @ The Tannery, Hexham. 7:00pm. Free.
Wed 09: The Hopper-Watson Quintet @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 8:00pm (7:30pm doors). £10.00. + £1.00. bf.
Wed 09: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 10: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: Soloists, Orchestras & Hot Fives.
Thu 10: Side Café Orkestar @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Fri 11: Paul Skerritt Quartet @ Bishop Auckland Methodist Church, Cockton Hill Road, Bishop Auckland. 1:00pm. £8.00. A Bishop Auckland Jazz promotion. New venue (second Friday in the month)!
Fri 11: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 11: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 11: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 11: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ The Beehive, Earsdon NE25 0SZ. 5:00-7:00pm. Free.
Fri 11: Fiona Finden Jazz Express @ Flash House Brewery, North Shields NE30 1DS. 8:00pm. Free.

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.

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, January 20, 2020

Sunday Jazz @ Middlesbrough Town Hall - January 19

(Review by Russell)

A jazz gig in Newcastle beckoned on Sunday evening but first there was the small matter of four bands from north of the border performing at an afternoon showcase event on Teesside. Sunday Jazz is a monthly session featuring three bands drawn from across the north of England and further afield. January's edition presented no fewer than four bands, all of them from Scotland.

Top of the bill - and last on stage - was Tom Bancroft's In Common. Drummer/percussionist Bancroft was introduced as belonging to one of Scotland's musical clans. Gina Rae represented the Raes (Tom and Gina are a couple, on and off stage). Bandleader Bancroft spoke in glowing terms of the younger generation(s) of fine jazz musicians emerging on the Scottish scene, many of them award winning musicians. In Common comprises six experienced practitioners from the worlds of folk, jazz and Indian classical music; Bancroft, guitarist Graham Stephen (no stranger to north east audiences), Gina Rae (voice), Sophie Bancroft (voice) and two friends from India - Sharat Chandra Srivastava (violin) and Gyan Singh (tabla). 

Somehow Something opened In Common's set and it immediately became apparent that all six musicians spoke a similar language, that of improvising musicians communicating non-verbally, their instruments doing the talking for them. Flower Child came about following one of Bancroft's visits to India. Violin and tabla worked seamlessly with Graeme Stephen's guitar which, at times, adopted the role of the drone freeing Srivastava and Singh to take improvisatory flight. Bancroft's engaging manner drew the audience into the performance, at one point saying he wrote something - Nette Ball (dedicated to Ornette Coleman) - hoping the piece, with its jazz form, would be a challenge to his friends from India. A smiling Bancroft added, wryly: Unfortunately they were completely comfortable...            
 
Tom Bancroft's In Common: Sharat Chandra Srivastava (violin); Gyan Singh (tabla); Tom Bancroft (bodhran, drums); Graeme Stephen (guitar, loops); Sophie Bancroft (voice); Gina Rae (voice)  

It was an afternoon of award winners. Pianist Fergus McCreadie started in low key fashion. Contemplative, ruminative, slowly but surely stoking the fires with bassist David Bowden and drummer Stephen Henderson only too willing to pile on the hot coals as the trio played a selection of numbers, some of them from the album Turas including The Old Harbour. Musicianship of the highest order - flashing brilliance from McCreadie, Bowden dropping anchor, Henderson all over his kit, this was one tight trio.    

Fergus McCreadie Trio: Fergus McCreadie (piano); David Bowden (bass guitar); Stephen Henderson (drums)

Returning local hero Joe Williamson met up with his bandmates to play a stupendous set of four original compositions. Two cuts from Animal Society's eponymous EP recording plus one from a forthcoming CD and one, a soon to released single (a jazz single!) won huge applause from a sizeable audience in Middlesbrough Town Hall.  

Williamson first came to public attention as a promising guitarist in the Durham Music Service hothouse environment. Following a period of study in Glasgow, the award-winning Williamson stayed on, making Clydeside his home and here he was on stage in Middlesbrough fronting an amazingly talented young quintet. One or two names will be familiar to the Tyneside and wider north east audience - yet more award-winners in the shape of Alan Benzie, keyboards, and drummer Graham Costello. 

A dazzling Morning Star, the epic Kingdom (it'll be on the new album) and Ripples (check out the online video) blew away the audience; technique to burn, precision interplay, constant eye contact, frequent smiles, the quintet knew it was going well. What to call it all? Try 'jazz rock', fusion' - labels are inadequate. Go hear Animal Society on tour, experience it for yourself. A Newcastle date is on the itinerary - March 8. Recommended.            
 
Joe Williamson's Animal Society: Joe Williamson (guitar); Alan Benzie (keyboards); Craig McMahon (keyboards); Gus Stirrat (bass guitar); Graham Costello (drums)  

It's often the way...a new talent emerges via word of mouth, media coverage, online sources etc, yet, getting to see, or rather hear, a performer in concert is the best way to form an opinion. Opening January's Sunday Jazz in Middlesbrough Town Hall was a name on the radar, but no more, just a name. Georgia Cécile is the name. If you're yet to hear Ms Cécile sing then make it a priority to get along to one of the Glaswegian's gigs. The following names will mean something to a north east (and wider) audience...Nigel Stanger, Lewis Watson, Paul Edis, Andy Champion, Graeme Wilson, Zoë Gilby, Claude Werner, Cécile McLorin Salvant, Dan Garel, Jo Harrop, Alice Grace, the list goes on. Those who've heard any of the above will, no doubt, remember when and where they first heard them. In an instant each one became a favourite. Now, add to the roll call the name Georgia Cécile.  

It helps to work with A-list musicians and here in Middlesbrough Ms Cécile had travelled south with pianist Euan Stevenson and bassist Mario Caribé. In a captivating set mixing standards with original material vocalist Cécile won herself a room full of new fans. 'Assured' isn't the word, nor 'commanding', this was a revelatory performance. Phrasing, expression, presence, Ms Cécile is something else! 

Start the way you mean to go on is as good a way as any. Harry Warren's You're Getting to be a Habit, Irving Gordon's Be Anything but Darling be Mine (Cécile referencing Sarah Vaughan's At Mr Kelly's album), Harold Arlen's Come Rain, Come Shine, classic material all, and, taking its place in the set list, was a selection of Cécile's compositions including Always be Right for Me, Month of May (about a short-lived romance) and, in homage to Carole King, Bitter Sweet. This was jazz singing to die for, in fact, singing to die for! Georgia Cécile singed off with I Wish I Knew. One thing is certain - stardom beckons.      
      
Georgia Cécile (vocals); Euan Stevenson (piano); Mario Caribé (double bass).
Russell

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