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

18573 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 18 years ago. 437 of them this year alone and, so far this month (May 28) 91

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

May

Sun 31: Musicians Unlimited: Big Band Blast @ West Hartlepool RFC. 1:00-3:00pm . Free.
Sun 31: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Table reservations (0191 261 8000). Skerritt w. backing tapes.
Sun 31: Sinfonia of London: Tea Dance @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 3:00pm. Free. John Wilson ensemble performing on the concourse. Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, George & Ira Gershwin & more.
Sun 31: Ruth Lambert Trio @ Juke Shed, North Shields. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 31: NUJO Jazz Jam @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm (doors). £3.76.
Sun 31: Joe Steels @ The Pele, Corbridge. 7:00pm. Free (donations direct to the musicians). Joe Steels & Friends.
Sun 31: Ben Haskins Quartet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £14.00., £12.00., £7.00.

June

Mon 01: Friends of Jazz @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 01: Saltburn Big Band @ Saltburn House Hotel. 7:00-9:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Mon 01: CW Stoneking @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). Blues, Americana.

Tue 02: Mark Williams Trio @ Newcastle House Hotel, Rothbury. 7:30pm. £11.00.
Tue 02: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Alan Law, Paul Grainger, John Hirst.
Tue 02: Customs House Big Band @ The Masonic Hall, Ferryhill. 7:30pm. Free.

Wed 03: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 03: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 03: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 04: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ The Millstone, Mill Rise, South Gosforth, Newcastle. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 04: Postmodern Jukebox @ Glasshouse, Gateshead. 7:30pm.
Thu 04: 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 04: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm.

Fri 05: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 05: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 05: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 05-Thu 11: FILM: Köln 75 @ Tyneside Cinema, Newcastle. Dir. Ido Fluk. Drama based on the true story of Keith Jarrett’s 1975 concert in Cologne. Screenings TBC.
Fri 05: Pete Tanton & Alan Law @ Jesmond Library, Newcastle. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 05: House of the Black Gardenia: Summer Tyne Swing Festival @ Northumbria University Students’ Union, Newcastle. 7:00pm. £130.00; £95.00; £70.00; £50.00. Note: all day dance event (classes & socials). House of the Black Gardenia evening performance. Day 1/3.
Fri 05: Strictly Smokin’ Big Band + IKS Big Band @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £24.00. Big band double bill. IKS Big Band (Germany).
Fri 05: Jeremy McMurray’s Pocket Jazz Orchestra @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm. £15.00

Sat 06: Struggle Buggy @ Billy Bootleggers, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 3:00pm. Free. Blues.
Sat 06: Teresa Watson Band @ Billy Bootleggers, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 6:00pm. Free. Blues.
Sat 06: Lindsay Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ Dry Water Arts, Amble. 7:00pm (6:30pm doors). £15.00.
Sat 06: IKS Big Band: Summer Tyne Swing Festival @ Northumbria University Students’ Union, Newcastle. 7:00pm. £130.00; £95.00; £70.00; £50.00. Note: all day dance event (classes & socials). IKS Big Band evening performance. Day 2/3.
Sat 06: Tyne Valley Big Band @ Northumbrian Revival, West Benridge Farm, nr. Morpeth NE61 3RZ. 7:30-9:30pm. £21.47 (£2.77. child). 82nd D-Day anniversary event.
Sat 06: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00.
Sat 06: FILM: The Magic City: Birmingham According to Sun Ra @ The Star & Shadow Cinema, Newcastle. 9:30pm. £7.00., £5.00. Dir. Guillaume Maupin & Pablo Guarise.

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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