Bebop Spoken There

Ethan Hawke (starring as Lorenz Hart in Blue Moon): ''Larry [Lorenz] Hart would be so happy that his music and his words and his poetry are still alive.'' - The Northern Echo 27 November 2025

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

18000 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 964 of them this year alone and, so far, 73 this month (Nov. 24).

From This Moment On ...

DECEMBER 2025

Sun 07: Ian Bosworth Quintet @ Chapel, Middlesbrough. 1:00pm. Free. Feat. special guest Donna Hewitt (sax, clarinet).
Sun 07: Finn-Keeble Group @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00pm. £10.00.
Sun 07: Sax Choir @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 07: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Skerritt w. backing tapes.
Sun 07: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 2:30pm. Free. Trio + Ruth Lambert.
Sun 07: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 07: Jason Isaacs Big Band @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 5:15pm (4:00pm doors). £21.50 (inc. bf).
Sun 07: Paul Skerritt @ 3 Stories, High St. West, Sunderland. 6:30pm. Skerritt w. backing tapes.
Sun 07: Lindsay Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Support set from Play More Jazz! course participants. Note earlier start.

Mon 08: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 09: Jazz Jam Sandwich @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm

Wed 10: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 10: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 10: Jam Session @ The Tannery, Hexham. 7:00pm. Free.
Wed 10: Mike Lindup Jazz Trio @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £26.50 (inc. bf). Lindup, Yolanda Charles (bass), John Sam (drums).
Wed 10: Bold Big Band @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £12.00.

Thu 11: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: West Coast (cool ) / Wordsearch (cool) Cool Jazz or ‘Cold’, ‘Cool’, ‘Hot’, ‘Warm’ in the title or lyrics.
Thu 11: George Robinson @ Prohibition Bar, Albert Road, Middlesbrough TS1 2RU. 7:00pm (doors). £5.42 (inc. bf). Vienna’s Voice charity evening featuring ’15 year old singing sensation the ‘Redcar Crooner’ George Robinson’. Over 35s only.
Thu 11: Paul Skerritt @ Chakh Dhoom, Jesmond, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Indian restaurant. Skerritt w. back tapes.
Thu 11: Ransom Van @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm.
Thu 11: Down for the Count Swing Orchestra @ Middlesbrough Town Hall. 7:30pm. £37.70 (inc. bf). ‘Swing into Xmas’.

Fri 12: Pete Tanton’s Chet Set @ Bishop Auckland Methodist Church. 1:00pm. £8.00.
Fri 12: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 12: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 12: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 12: Milne Glendinning Band @ Northumberland Club, Jesmond, Newcastle. 7:00pm. £15.00. ‘Xmas Soiree’.
Fri 12: A Jazzy Xmas @ St Cuthbert’s Centre, Crook. 7:30pm. £15.00. Paul Edis (MD, piano); Jo Harrop (vocals); Vasilis Xenopoulos (tenor sax, soprano sax); Matthew Forster (alto sax, clarinet); Sue Ferris (flute, piccolo); Graham Hardy (trumpet, flugelhorn); Jason Holcomb (trombone);Emma Fisk (violin); Andy Champion (double bass); Matt MacKellar (drums). SOLD OUT!
Fri 12: Tony Hadley: Xmas Big Band Tour 2025 @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 7:30pm.
Fri 12: Alexia Gardner @ The New Ship Inn, Newbiggin-by-the-Sea. 8:00pm. Gardner, Alan Law, Jude Murphy, Abbie Finn.
Fri 12: Jive Aces: Swingin’ Xmas Show @ The Witham, Barnard Castle. 8:00pm.

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

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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