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

18122 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 1086 of them this year alone and, so far this month (Dec. 31), 100

From This Moment On ...

JANUARY 2026

Wed 07: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 07: FILM: Blue Moon @ The Forum Cinema, Hexham. 2:00pm. Dir. Richard Linklater’s biopic of Lorenz Hart.
Wed 07: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 07: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 08: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £5.00. Subject: Jazz Milestones of 1976.

Fri 09: The House Trio @ Bishop Auckland Methodist Church. 1:00pm. £9.00.
Fri 09: Nauta @ Jesmond Library, Newcastle. 1:00pm. £5.00. Trio: Jacob Egglestone, Jamie Watkins, Bailey Rudd.
Fri 09: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 09: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 09: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 09: Warren James & the Lonesome Travellers @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm. £15.00.
Fri 09: The Blue Kings @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £10.00. (£8.00. adv.). All-star band.

Sat 10: Mark Toomey Quintet @ St Peter’s Church, Stockton-on-Tees. 7:30pm. £12.00. (inc. pie & peas). Tickets from: 07749 255038.

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.

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

Saturday, April 18, 2020

James and Francis' New list idea: Ten favourite improvisers, not necessarily ones who are considered the greats...

1. Joe Henderson; 2. Freddie Hubbard; 3. Woody Shaw; 4. Trane; 5. Sonny Rollins; 6. Kenny Barron; 7. Tom Harrell; 8. Stan Getz; 9. Bird; 10. Booker Little
(James Metcalf)

----- 

1. Joe Henderson; 2. Freddie Hubbard; 3. Mike Moreno; 4. Trane; 5. Kenny Garrett; 6. McCoy Tyner; 7. Herbie Hancock; 8.Chick Corea; 9. Wayne Shorter; 10. Sonny Rollins
(Francis Tulip)

6 comments :

Lance said...

Great lists. And I think that all of the above would, today, be rated as greats. This opens another train (Trane?) of thought. Perhaps some of our older listeners, i.e. those younger than me, might care to offer their lists of favourites from earlier decades - come in Methuselah...

Steve Andrews said...

Hi Lance, Methuselah here! This is my list, written at twenty to one over the remains of a large vegetarian Grouse (a Famous Grouse) - by tomorrow it will probably have changed! In no particular order: Louis Armstrong (no.1, absolutely!!!), Bix Beiderbecke, Henry "Red" Allen, Coleman Hawkins, Lester "Red" or "Pres" Young, Benny Carter, Artie Shaw, Teddy Wilson, George van Eps, Stuff Smith.

Russell said...

Favourite rather than greatest - there is an endless list! Ten, off the top of my head, no particular order...Lewis Watson (in full flight, no one better!), Roland Kirk (ditto), Louis Armstrong, Taylor Ho Bynum (check him out, James!), Paul Rutherford, John Zorn, Graeme Wilson, Paul Edis, Joe Morris (check him out, Francis!), James Birkett (a master improviser on a melody).

Steve T said...

Ten great improvisers: Louis Armstrong, Charlie Parker, Fats Navarro, Bud Powell, Sonny Rollins, John Coltrane, Cecil Taylor, McCoy Tyner, Freddie Hubbard, John McLaughlin.

Ten favourite jazz artists, not on previous lists: Ben Webster, Gerry Mulligan, Clifford Brown, Sun Ra, Albert Ayler, Joe Zawinul, Eddie Henderson, Stanley Clarke, Zakir Hussain, David Murray.

Lance said...

Ten favourite tenor players - not necessarily the greatest but the ones that float my boat the most with apologies to Wayne, Trane, Sonny, Joe and Hawk.

In alphabetical order: Ben Webster; Brew Moore; Dexter Gordon; Guy Lafitte; Hank Mobley; Lester Young; Stan Getz; Tubby Hayes; Wardell Gray; Zoot Sims.

Living tenor players still active: Benny Golson; Courtney Pine, Dave O'Higgins; Eric Alexander; Karen Sharp: Leo Richardson; Paul Booth; Simon Spillett; Troy Roberts; Vasilis Xenopoulos.

Steve T said...

Ten names I'm surprised didn't make either of the 'lists' posts:
Roy Eldridge, Django Reinhardt, Stephane Grappelli, Art Tatum, Bill Evans, Ornette Coleman, Dave Holland, Keith Jarrett, Jaco Pastorius, Kurt Rosenwinkel.
Not to mention all those drummers.

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