Bebop Spoken There

Christian McBride: ''We knew back in the day that Emmet [Cohen] had it.'' (DownBeat July, 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

18699 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 18 years ago. 573 of them this year alone and, so far this month (July 11) 27

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

July

Sun 12: Jazz Stage: Mouth of the Tyne Festival (o/s Tynemouth Priory), Tynemouth. Free. Trilogy of Four (11:00am); River City Jazzmen (12:10pm); Delta Prophets (1:20pm); B.O.C.K.S. Set (2:30pm); Mouth of the Tyne All Stars (3:40pm). Day 2/2.
Sun 12: Phantom Bagman + OUTRI @ The Bandstand, The Sele, Hexham. 12 noon. Free.
Sun 12: 58 Jazz Collective @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00-3:00pm. Free.
Sun 12: Tyne Valley Big Band @ Easington Social Welfare Centre. 2:00-4:00pm. A Durham Brass Festival event.
Sun 12: Am Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 12: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Table reservations (0191 261 8000). Skerritt w. backing tapes.
Sun 12: Guisborough Big Band @ Zetland Park Methodist Church, Redcar. 2:00-4:00pm. Free. Charity gig in aid of Parkinson’s Society.
Sun 12: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 12: The Bridge Quartet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 13: Friends of Jazz @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 13: Shildon Little Brass Bash @ Locomotion, Shildon. 6:00-9:00pm. Free. Durham Brass Festival. Multi-bill of street brass bands.
Mon 13: Quarrington Little Brass Bash @ Quarrington Community Centre. 6:00-8:00pm. Free. Durham Brass Festival. Multi-bill of street brass bands.

Tue 14: Vieux Carre Hot 4 @ Victoria & Albert Inn, Seaton Delaval. 12:30pm. £15.00 (reservations: 0191 237 3697). ‘July Jazz Barbecue!’
Tue 14: Crook Little Brass Bash @ Crook Community Centre. 6:00-8:00pm. Free. Durham Brass Festival. Multi-bill of street brass bands.
Tue 14: Barnard Castle Little Brass Bash @ The Witham, Barnard Castle. 6:00-8:00pm. Free. Durham Brass Festival. Multi-bill of street brass bands.
Tue 14: Nomade Swing: Dos Guitars Trio @ Newcastle House Hotel, Rothbury. 7:30pm. £11.00. Tickets from Tully’s, Rothbury. Luco Allievi, Alessandro Brizio, Mariano Gallizio. ‘A Journey Through Swing, Gypsy Jazz, Soul & Pop’.
Tue 14: Jazz Jam Sandwich @ Newcastle Arts Centre. 7:30pm. Free.

Wed 15: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 15: Willington Big Brass Bash @ Town Park, Willington. 6:00-9:00pm. Free. Durham Brass Festival. Multi-bill of street brass bands.
Wed 15: Nomade Swing: Dos Guitars Trio @ Café Needle’s Eye, Promenade, Newbiggin-by-the-Sea NE64 6XE. 6:00pm. Free. Luco Allievi, Alessandro Brizio, Mariano Gallizio. ‘A Journey Through Swing, Gypsy Jazz, Soul & Pop’.
Wed 15: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 15: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 15: Side Café Orkestar @ The Cumberland Arms, Byker, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £15.00 (£11.00. adv.); £12.00 concs (£8.00. concs adv.).

Thu 16: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ The Millstone, Mill Rise, South Gosforth, Newcastle. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 16: Spennymoor Big Brash Bash @ Jubilee Park, Spennymoor. 6:00-9:00pm. Free. Durham Brass Festival. Multi-bill of street brass bands.
Thu 16: Coxhoe Little Brass Bash @ Village Green (Pit Wheel). 6:00-8:00pm. Free. Durham Brass Festival. Multi-bill of street brass bands.
Thu 16: Nomade Swing: Dos Guitars Trio @ Lollo Rosso, Morpeth. 7:30pm. Free. Luco Allievi, Alessandro Brizio, Mariano Gallizio. ‘A Journey Through Swing, Gypsy Jazz, Soul & Pop’.
Thu 16: Stevie Jay Duo @ Newcastle Arts Centre. 7:30pm. Free. Julija Jacenaite & Steve Glendinning.
Thu 16: DK Harrell @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £20.00 + bf. USA blues.
Thu 16: Paul Skerritt @ Angels' Share, St George's Terrace, Jesmond, Newcastle NE2 2SX. 8:00pm. Free. Booking advised (0191 200 1975). Skerritt w. backing tapes.

Fri 17: Mejedi Owusu w. Francis Tulip Trio @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 17: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 17: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 17: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 17: Seaham Big Brass Bash @ Terrace Green, Seaham. 6:00-9:00pm. Free. Durham Brass Festival. Multi-bill of street brass bands.
Fri 17: Newton Aycliffe Big Brass Bash @ Town Park, Newton Aycliffe. 6:00-9:00pm. Free. Durham Brass Festival. Multi-bill of street brass bands.
Fri 17: Ray Stubbs R&B Allstars @ Billy Bootleggers, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free.
Fri 17: Mejedi Owusu w. Francis Tulip Trio @ Sunderland Minster. 7:30pm. Old Black Cat Jazz Club.
Fri 17: Zoë Gilby Quartet @ St Cuthbert’s Centre, Crook. 7:30pm.
Fri 17: Nomade Swing: Dos Guitars Trio @ Repas 7 by Night, Berwick. 8:00pm. Free. Lollo Rosso, Morpeth. 8:00pm. Luco Allievi, Alessandro Brizio, Mariano Gallizio. ‘A Journey Through Swing, Gypsy Jazz, Soul & Pop’.

Sat 18: Streets of Brass @ Market Place, Durham City. 10:00am-4:00pm. Free. Durham Brass Festival. Multi-bill of street brass bands.
Sat 18: Brass Boat Cruise @ Boathouse, Elvet Bridge Jetty, Durham City. Departures at 10:30am, 12 noon, 1:30pm, 3:00pm. £12.00., £10.00., £5.00 (all prices + bf). Durham Brass Festival. Various bands.
Sat 18: Party in the Park @ Wharton Park, Durham City. 5:00-9:00pm. Free. Durham Brass Festival. Multi-bill of street brass bands. Entrance o/s Durham Railway Station (Northbound platform).
Sat 18: Zoë Gilby & Dean Stockdale @ FIKA Art Gallery, Morpeth. 6:30pm.
Sat 18: Mejedi Owusu w. Francis Tulip Trio @ Claypath Deli, Durham. 7:00-9:00pm. £10.00.
Sat 18: Tyne Valley Big Band + Revolutionaires @ Pelton Community Centre. 7:00pm. A Durham Brass Festival event.
Sat 18: Dale Storr @ The Straw Yard, The Barracks, Berwick. 7:30pm. £15.38. Solo piano.
Sat 18: Nomade Swing: Dos Guitars Trio @ Red Lion Inn, Alnmouth. 8:30pm. Free. Lollo Rosso, Morpeth. 8:00pm. Luco Allievi, Alessandro Brizio, Mariano Gallizio. ‘A Journey Through Swing, Gypsy Jazz, Soul & Pop’.

Friday, March 20, 2020

Summertime (Black and) Blues

(By Lance)

Perhaps I should expand on my views regarding Gershwin's Summertime. Don't get me wrong, it's a great song that I loved hearing the first thousand or so times around but it has been covered that many times by that many great musicians and singers that you wonder why it is still being flogged to death.

Billie, Ella and other singers did it justice - they had an inkling of what they were singing about whereas young singers today, fresh out of college, haven't a clue about jumpin' fish or high cotton. Porgy and Bess produced some great songs - including the aforementioned - but, at the end of the day, these were two Jewish guys writing about black slaves. 
An even, socially, worse song is Black and Blue.* The tune, composed by Fats Waller with lyrics by Andy Razaf, is a staple part of most (white) trad bands' repertoire. I cringe with embarrassment when I hear some white guy singing "What did I do to be so black and blue?" Maybe he should look in the mirror!

Perhaps if he'd substituted black and blue with white and red/blue it would have made more sense but no, Black and Blue ain't a song for Caucasian crooners.
Lance
* The first time I heard Black and Blue was hearing Louis singing it with the All-Stars on record at the memorable concert at Boston's Symphony Hall. I was only about 15 at the time but it opened up my eyes to, not only the racial situation in America, but how it existed even closer to home. 

A few years earlier, Peggy, a black girl, lived a couple of doors down from us in Jarrow and she was beautiful and used to sing and dance with us kids when we were playing out in the street. Not every one was happy about her living in the street but, if I'd been ten years older I'd have asked her to marry me!
Peggy where are you?
Lance
at

8 comments :

Steve T said...

Miles Davis and Gil Evans version cannot be bettered for me. Everybody should watch the Live at Montreux with Quincy Jones; I wept like a baby the first five or six times I saw it.

Saturday, March 21, 2020 3:17:00 am
Anonymous said...

Benson - uptown
Is a cool version... Part of the problem is that people at jams call theses tunes (I. E summertime, Stella, ATTYa etc) just because someone told them to learn these tunes and half they time they don't really know the tunes or have a good reason for playing them.

Saturday, March 21, 2020 5:59:00 am
Anonymous said...

Also Steve, Kenny Garrett is baaaad on that version! As per...

Saturday, March 21, 2020 6:06:00 am
Brian Bennett said...

Sorry to disagree, Lance, but I think every singer/band (regardless of their colour or creed) should sing/perform 'Black and Blue'. The poignant lyrics are a stark reminder to everyone just how difficult life was for black people in the 20’s and 30’s. Whenever we (the VCJ) play it I always prompt the audience to listen carefully to the lyrics and when Fred Thompson or Jim McBriarty sing it you can hear a pin drop.
Yes, it’s a number performed and sang by all the New Orleans/Dixieland bands and the reason for that is, it’s a fab tune with brilliant lyrics - a classic jazz standard in fact.

BLACK and BLUE Fats Waller, Andy Razaf 1929. R - Louis Armstrong ’29
Cold, empty bed, springs hard as lead
Pains in my head, feel like old Ned
What did I do to be so black and blue?

No joys for me, no company
Even the mouse ran from my house
All my life through I've been so black and blue

I'm white inside, it don't help my case
'Cause I can't hide, what is on my face, oh!

I'm so forlorn, life's just a thorn
My heart is torn, why was I born?
What did I do to be so black and blue?

'Cause you're black, folks think you lack
They laugh at you, and scorn you too
What did I do to be so black and blue?

Saturday, March 21, 2020 12:56:00 pm
Steve T said...

Disagree's good; we like disagreement.

Saturday, March 21, 2020 3:22:00 pm
Lance said...

I agree it's a great tune - what Fats Waller tune isn't? And yes, it's a great lyric - when sung by a black person. Sung by a white person it reminds me of the Black and White Minstrels or Al Jolson blacking up to sing Mammy...

Saturday, March 21, 2020 3:30:00 pm
Brian Bennett said...

Over the years I’ve heard BLACK and BLUE performed by many vocalists including local band singers Annie Jenkins, Dave Hedley, Fred Rowe, Jim Ruddick, Colin Aitchison, Maureen Hall, Olive Rudd, etc. and never once did the Black & White Minstrels or Al Jolson pop into my head - how strange!

Saturday, March 21, 2020 4:21:00 pm
Anonymous said...

From Ann Alex, I'd never paid too much attention to the lyrics of 'Black and Blue' until this blog discussion. I object mainly to the line 'I'm white inside' which suggests that whiteness is somehow the standard to reach for. Why should that be the case? Black and White are equal.
I suppose the song is trying to say 'we are all the same inside' but it makes a bad job of expressing this. Personally I'd rather not sing this song.

Saturday, March 21, 2020 8:31:00 pm

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