Bebop Spoken There

Donovan Haffner ('Best Newcomer' 2025 Parliamentary Jazz Awards): ''I got into jazz the first time I picked up a saxophone!" - Jazzwise Dec 25/Jan 26

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

18146 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 24 of them this year alone and, so far this month (Jan. 7), 24

From This Moment On ...

JANUARY 2026

Sun 11: New ’58 Jazz Collective @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 11: Am Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 11: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 11: Eva Fox & the Sound Hounds @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 12: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 12: Saltburn Big Band @ Saltburn House Hotel. 7:00-9:00pm. Free.

Tue 13: Milne Glendinning Band @ Newcastle House Hotel, Rothbury. 7:30pm. £11.00. Coquetdale Jazz.
Tue 13: Jazz Jam Sandwich @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Wed 14: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 14: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 14: Jam Session @ The Tannery, Hexham. 7:00pm. Free.
Wed 14: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 15: Mark Toomey Quartet @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm. Free. Quartet + guest Paul Donnelly (guitar).

Fri 16: Giles Strong Quartet @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. £8.00. SOLD OUT!
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: Darlington Big Band @ The Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. Opus 4 Jazz Club.
Fri 16: Leeds City Stompers @ Billy Bootleggers, Newcastle. 9:00pm. Free.

Sat 17: Homer’s Lane + John Garner & John Pope @ St John’s Church, Riding Mill. 2:00-4:00pm. Free. Gabriele Heller’s audio play + Garner & Pope.
Sat 17: Martyn Roper @ Billy Bootleggers, Newcastle. 5:00pm. Free. Roper’s ‘One Man Blues Band’.
Sat 17: Ray Stubbs R&B All Stars @ Billy Bootleggers, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 17: Alexia Gardner Trio @ FIKA Art Gallery, Morpeth. 7:00pm (6:30pm doors). Gardner, Alan Law & Jude Murphy.

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

Wednesday, March 04, 2020

Pasadena Roof Orchestra (second set) @ Whitley Bay Playhouse - March 1

(By Russell)

As the results were announced at the end of a long day of competitive action at the Great North Big Band Jazz Festival in Chester le Street a mad dash to Whitley Bay meant the Pasadena Roof Orchestra's first set at the Playhouse had been and gone. Arriving in the nick of time to take a seat in the auditorium as the lights went down for the second thoughts - and ears - turned from big band jazz to Cotton Club-era hot jazz.

White tie and tails, the Pasadenas' frontman Duncan Galloway strolled on to stage as the band played High Society. The boys in the band appeared to be well oiled - musically, what else?! Galloway didn't try too hard to look like Gary Cooper as he sang Puttin' on the Ritz...super duper. 

Gershwin's Change Partners, Dinah, Galloway on and off stage, the Pasadenas' ace line-up certainly got the chance to play - Robert Fowler impressed, likewise reeds partner Oliver Wilby. The engine room boys were in cruise mode - Spats Langham appeared to be having a ball, mainly on guitar with a little banjo (virtuosic on each instrument) sitting alongside the PRO's new boy, percussionist Jack Amblin*     

Two highlights - Fletcher Henderson's hotter than hot Business in F and Cotton Club Ellington's East St Louis Toodle-oo. Tremendous, well worth the dash from County Durham to North Tyneside! The Original Dixieland Jass Band (Galloway keen to emphasise 'Jass') guaranteed a frenetic finale on Tiger Rag and as an encore Galloway and the Pasadena Roof Orchestra went out on She's a Latin from Manhattan and, of course, (Home in) Pasadena.   

* Jack Ambin can be heard again with Martyn Roper at the Punch Bowl Hotel in Jesmond, Newcastle on May 13 when they play a duo gig as the Washboard Resonators. 
Russell

Duncan Galloway (vocals); Malcolm Baxter (trumpet); Robert Fowler (alto sax, tenor sax, clarinet); Oliver Wilby (tenor sax, clarinet); Dai Pritchard (alto sax, clarinet); Nick Mills (trombone, sousaphone); Simon Townley (piano); Tom 'Spats' Langham (guitar, banjo); Jack Amblin (drums, washboard) 
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