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

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’.

Sun 19: 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.
Sun 19: Jacob Egglestone Trio @ The Bandstand, The Sele, Hexham. 12 noon. Free.
Sun 19: Tyne Valley Big Band @ Bishop Auckland Town hall. 2:00pm. £7.00 (inc. bf). A Durham Brass Festival event.
Sun 19: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Table reservations (0191 261 8000). Skerritt w. backing tapes.
Sun 19: Michael Young Trio @ Engine Room, Sunderland. 2:30pm. Free.
Sun 19: Mejedi Owusu w. Francis Tulip Trio @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm.
Sun 19: SwanNek @ The Bandstand, The Sele, Hexham. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 19: Nomade Swing: Dos Guitars Trio @ Twelve 06, High St., Newbiggin-by-the-Sea NE64 6DR. 3:00pm. Free. Luco Allievi, Alessandro Brizio, Mariano Gallizio. ‘A Journey Through Swing, Gypsy Jazz, Soul & Pop’.
Sun 19: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 19: Castillo Nuevo Trio @ Hotel Gotham, Newcastle. 5:30pm. Free.
Sun 19: Dale Storr: The Sounds of New Orleans @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Solo piano. POSTPONED!

Mon 20: Friends of Jazz @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 20: Mejedi Owusu w. Francis Tulip Trio @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £10.00.

Sunday, April 12, 2020

Let's have some lists

Name ten musicians you wish you had seen. That is musicians who were/are alive in your lifetime so, unless you are very very old - Johnny Seb Bach and Wolfie Amadeus don't count.
Here's mine:

Frank Sinatra
Sonny Rollins
Billie Holiday
Bud Powell
Charlie Parker
Max Roach
Jack Teagarden
Benny Goodman
Artie Shaw
Lee Morgan.

These are in no particular order and I could easily name another ten tomorrow.

Let's have your choices.
Lance

18 comments :

Steve T said...

Had tickets for Sonny Rollins but he cancelled and probably hasn't played since. SinAtra yes; Bird, Bud Powell and Max Roach obviously, and preferably all together (with Mingus and Diz, or Miles).

Presumably we're strictly on jazz:

Duke, Diz, Mingus, Miles (any time before his retirement), Sonny Rollins, Trane (I'd have been very young), Dolphy (very very young), Cannonball, Herbie (still time), Freddie Hubbard.

A bit obvious?

Lance said...

Well, I saw Trane and Dolphy together in 1961 so you may have to add or subtract a'very'!

Steve T said...

Depends on the month Lance, though they say babies can hear music in the womb.

Anonymous said...

Wayne, Herbie, sonny rollins, Roy Hargrove, the Village people

Steve T said...

According to Roddy Doyle's decidedly dodgy novel Hi Fidelity, men are obsessed with lists: of books, films, albums, artists, anything we can think of, preferably our top tens, so apologies ladies for being from the naff end of the species, but by all means feel free to join in.

I stumbled across this quite by chance and was initially flabbergasted, until I looked past the top ten and found it improved enormously just outside.

So here are the 14 greatest jazz artists, according to a random website, followed by my own choices.

Please note these are not necessarily my personal favourites but the ones I consider the greatest. The first four will remain constant from day to day though the order will change; the next five will remain constant but the order will vary, but the final five may vary, and not just the order.

Apologies ladies that it's all male but, had it been restricted to the last 10/ 20/ 30 years, it may have been different.

Unspecified Website:

Art Tatum
Buddy Rich
Joe Pass
Django Reinhardt
Lionel Hampton
Duke Ellington
Louis Armstrong
Ella Fitzgerald
Charlie Parker

Billie Holiday
Miles Davis
John Coltrane
Dizzy Gillespie

And my own:

Duke Ellington
Miles Davis
Charlie Parker
Louis Armstrong
John Coltrane
Dizzy Gillespie
Charles Mingus
Thelonious Monk
Lester Young
Sonny Rollins

Wayne Shorter
Herbie Hancock
John McLaughlin
Coleman Hawkins

Russell said...

Mingus

Sinatra - years ago I phoned the London box office (Albert Hall?) and was put off by the ticket price, at the time something like £40 (that's approx £200 today)

Coltrane

Monk

Louis Armstrong

Elvin Jones

Big Joe Turner - years ago a Jazz Journal reviewer urged fans to go hear Turner in a late-career residency in NYC. I thought about it...

Ellington

Wes Montgomery

Tubby Hayes

Steve - Rollins* announced his retirement years ago so you've missed out there (I saw him at Fairfield Hall, Croydon). I'm surprised you didn't see late-career Miles and how come you didn't get to see Herbie Hancock in Newcastle?

Lance - Max Roach played the Newcastle Jazz Festival and you weren't there?!

Lance said...

Russell: I remember Max Roach playing in Newcastle but can't remember why I wasn't there. Maybe I was there!

Digressing, I knew a guy whose lifelong ambition was to see Sun Ra. When a concert by the Arkestra was scheduled to take place in London he naturally bought a not inexpensive ticket. Unfortunately, he set off from Newcastle by train at the crack of dawn and opened the first can shortly after... The upshot is that by the time he got to the concert he was legless and slept right through it which was no mean feat at a Sun Ra concert.

The last time I saw him he was tinkling finger cymbals with a Hare Krishna group on Northumberland St.

Patti said...

Duke
Count B
Louis (that's A, not J)
Miles
Jack Teagarden
Artie Shaw
Charlie Parker
Art Blakey
Lester Young
Sonny Rollins
Dexter Gordon

Patti said...

Oooops - I forgot to include Ella and Billie! How remiss of me ......

Anonymous said...

Hi Lance
I'd choose quite a few of the iconic players already listed. But here are a few alternative players who are favourites of mine I'd love to have seen. I've included the Miles rhythm section. I have an album I've played endlessly over the years 'Full House' with this rhythm section paired with Wes & Johnny Griffin. A live recording. They are just fantastic.
Roly

Jim Hall
Rene Thomas
Ed Bickert
Richie Kamuca
Hank Mobley
Clifford Brown
Kenny Wheeler

& Miles R/Sec’n - -
Wynton Kelly
Paul Chambers
Jimmy Cobb

Steve T said...

Rollins was due to play London Jazz Festival about four years ago but cancelled due to ill health, though I still have the ticket. Late Miles wouldn't interest me at the time since I couldn't afford box ticking and I was living in West Yorkshire when Herbie played the Toon.

Steve T said...

One I did see too late in his career was Kenny Wheeler. Though I'm not a fan, it was embarrassing and sad.

Steve T said...

Rollins was actually nov 2013. Where do the years go!

Steve T said...

My Top Ten Greatest Living Jazz Artists:

1 Sonny Rollins.
2 Wayne Shorter.
3 Herbie Hancock.
4 John McLaughlin.
5 Chick Corea.
6 Ron Carter.
7 Archie Shepp.
8 Wynton Marsalis.
9 Kenny Garrett.
10 Jimmy Cobb.

Lance said...

I could also add/substitute, in no particular order:
Roy Haynes
Charles Lloyd
Barry Harris
Annie Ross
Benny Golson
George Benson
Pat Metheny
David Sanborn
Pete King
Cleo Laine

Lance said...

Whoops! Forgot Joshua Redman!

Russell said...

A list of ten living musicians I'd like to see (in no particular order)...
Roy Haynes
Jimmy Cobb
Maria Schneider
Toshiko Akiyoshi
Bill Charlap
Ron Carter
Jeff 'Tain' Watts
Fred Hersch
James Carter
Darcy James Argue

Steve T said...

Thought about Roy Haynes; Benny Golson really just because he goes back so far, and Benson would certainly scrape into a top twenty.
How about only people who emerged after the sixties.

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