Bebop Spoken There

Ludovic Beier (Django Festival Allstars): ''Manouche means 'free man,' and gypsies have been travelers since they migrated west from India to Europe.'' (DownBeat March, 2026)

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

18402 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 18 years ago. 266 of them this year alone and, so far this month (Mar. 31 ), 76

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

From This Moment On

April

Wed 01: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 01: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 01: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 02: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £5.00. Subject: Musicians playing classical & orchestral music.
Thu 02: The Noel Dennis Band @ Prohibition Bar, Albert Road, Middlesbrough TS1 2RU. 7:00pm (doors). £10.84. Quartet plus special guest Zoë Gilby. Over 21s only.
Thu 02: Renegade Brass Band @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors).
Thu 02: Shalala @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £7.00. adv..
Thu 02: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm.

Fri 03: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 03: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 03: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 03: King Bees @ Billy Bootleggers, Newcastle. 7:00pm (doors). Free. Chicago blues.

Sat 04: Jake Leg Jug Band @ St Augustine’s Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm. £10.00. Darlington New Orleans Jazz Club.
Sat 04: Tees Bay Swing Band @ The Blacksmith’s Arms, Hartlepool. 1:30-3:30pm. Free. Open rehearsal.
Sat 04: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. £27.50. Tutor: Steve Glendinning. Anthropology. Enrol at: learning@jazz.coop.
Sat 04: Wild Women of Wylam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:00pm (doors). £10.00.
Sat 04: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00.

Sun 05: Smokin’ Spitfires @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:45pm. £10.00.
Sun 05: Ian Bosworth Quintet @ Chapel, Middlesbrough. 1:00pm. Free Quintet + guest Neil Brodie (trumpet).
Sun 05: Mark Williams & Tom Remon @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00pm. £10.00.
Sun 05: Sax Choir @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 05: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 05: Jazzmain @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £14.00., £12.00., £7.00.

Mon 06: Friends of Jazz @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 06: Saltburn Big Band @ Saltburn House Hotel. 7:00-9:00pm. Free.

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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