Bebop Spoken There

Melissa Aldana: ''Having to play a ballads album, which is something very revealing for a saxophone player, would help me to question some new aspects of how to go deeper into sound." (DownBeat May, 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

18656 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 18 years ago. 520 of them this year alone and, so far this month (June 25) 72

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

June

Mon 29: Friends of Jazz @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 30: Alan Law Trio @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 2:00pm. Free.
Tue 30: Eva Fox & the Sound Hounds @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

July

Wed 01: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ 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: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ The Millstone, Mill Rise, South Gosforth, Newcastle. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 02: Paul Skerritt @ Angels' Share, St George's Terrace, Jesmond, Newcastle NE2 2SX. 8:00pm. Free. Booking advised (0191 200 1975). Skerritt w. backing tapes.
Thu 02: De’Sean Jones & Blaque Dynamite feat. Urban Art Orchestra @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). De’Sean Jones (MD, tenor sax); Blaque Dynamite (Mike Mitchell, drums); Jamie Murray (drums) with UAO horns & strings.
Thu 02: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm.
Thu 02: Howlin’ Mat @ Newcastle Arts centre. 7:30pm. Free. Acoustic

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: Paul Donnelly Quartet @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm.
Fri 03: Martin Taylor @ Arc, Stockton. 8:00pm. Taylor (solo guitar).

Sat 04: Spats Langham’s Hot Fingers @ St Augustine’s Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm. £10.00. Darlington New Orleans Jazz Club.
Sat 04: Michael Woods @ Cycle Hub, Quayside, Ouseburn. 1:30-2:30pm & 3:00-4:00pm. Free. Acoustic blues guitar. An Ouseburn Festival event.
Sat 04: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. £27.50. Tutor: Steve Glendinning. Take the ‘A’ Train to Summertime: From Melody to Masterclass. Enrol at: learning@jazz.coop.
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. Feat. guest TBC.
Sun 05: Michael Woods @ Cycle Hub, Quayside, Ouseburn. 1:30-2:30pm & 3:15-4:00pm. Free. Acoustic blues guitar. An Ouseburn Festival event.
Sun 05: Lydia Rae Quintet @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00pm. £10.00. Rae (vocals); Sam Lightwing (alto sax, tenor sax); Ben Lawrence (piano); Andy Champion (double bass); John Bradford (drums).
Sun 05: Sax Choir @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 05: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Table reservations (0191 261 8000). Skerritt w. backing tapes.
Sun 05: Storytellers Street Band @ Ouseburn Woodland, Ouseburn. 5:00-6:00pm. Free. An Ouseburn Festival event.
Sun 05: Gerry Richardson’s Big Idea @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Sun 05: Jambone @ Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:15-9:45pm. Free but ticketed.

Friday, April 24, 2020

Paul Edis: Lockdown Live! - April 24

Week six. It's your Friday date with Lunchtime Jazz - Paul Edis Solo live from our pianist's London home. Tea for Two opened the show with Edis commenting that to attempt to impersonate Art Tatum would be futile, adding Oscar P and Phineas Newborn Jr could, perhaps, get somewhere near to emulating the great Tatum.

Edis suggested a link between George Gershwin's Our Love is Here to Stay and St George's Day (yesterday, Thursday) - the two Georges, hmm, tenuous at best! Facebook comments came thick and fast; David from the Gt Lumley branch of the PEAS*, Jerry from out East, Brian E from Chester le Street, Lance from BSH HQ - all loving it, discussing numbers, versions, influences etc. Jerry imagined Bach, Lance suggested the MJQ, your scribe in line with Jerry's thinking (Bach, the MJQ, same bag). 


Prolific requester James M continued to suggest numbers, today Alan Broadbent's Alison's Waltz (Broadbent played a memorable concert just over three years ago at GIJF 2017 in the company of Georgia Mancio) got the nod from Dr Edis. Donna Lee went down a storm, then this week's (unlikely) highlight...Happy Birthday! Best wishes, said Edis, for sister Claire (on Facebook . Brian E wished Esther in Bensham a happy seventh birthday, today!). This was Edis at his brilliant best - a simple, if not mundane, tune transformed thanks to an imaginative 'variations on a theme' treatment. It worked, big time! 

The hour flew by; requests, original compositions, one or two vocal numbers (The Touch of Your Lips - Edis taking after Chet Baker/Roly Veitch!) and a plug for PayPal and/or Patreon platforms as our man commented that, for the time being, online gigs are the new normal. More of the 'new normal' same time next week (Friday 1 May, 1:00pm). 

* PEAS - Paul Edis Appreciation Society. Membership is free, there's a branch near you - join today! 
Russell
at

3 comments :

Lance said...

Paul is too modest. I remember one night at The Cherry Tree where he played a very acceptable version of Tatum's Tea For Two and even if he had been reading it from a transcription that in itself would have been no mean feat!

Re the MJQ. During Our Love is Here to Stay Paul quoted, either intentionally or accidentally (great minds think alike), from the third part of John Lewis' Fontessa Suite inspired by the Renaissance Commedia dell'arte and the character Pierrot.

Friday, April 24, 2020 3:31:00 pm
JERRY said...

I think I remember that Cherry Tree occasion. Was it requested by JC? The first reviews I did for BSH were all at Cherry Tree. That combination of great jazz and great food is much missed!

Friday, April 24, 2020 3:44:00 pm
Anonymous said...

Hi,Russell

I typed in PEAS there does not seem to be a appreciation branch near me in Fenham, I ended up back at Bebop Spoke Here.
I listen to Paul Edis a lot on YOU TUBE,its a godsend, I see what Paul does next Friday
One thing is for sure not missing the football season, they can cancel next season as well, goodbye sky and Tottenham Hotspur!

Take Care
BRIAN SHINE

Saturday, April 25, 2020 11:08:00 pm

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