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Bebop Spoken There

Francis Tulip: ''Music speaks louder than words''. (Jazzwise, June 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

17,596 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 560 of them this year alone and, so far, 38 this month (July 13).

From This Moment On ...

JULY 2025

Wed 16: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 16: Brass Bash @ Willington Town Park, Co. Durham. 6:00-8:00pm. Free. Various bands. A Durham Brass Festival event.
Wed 16: Brass Bash @ Market Place, Spennymoor, Co. Durham. 6:00-8:00pm. Free. Various bands. A Durham Brass Festival event.
Wed 16: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 16: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 17: Brass Bash @ Trimdon Community College, Co. Durham. 6:00-9:00pm. Free. Various bands. A Durham Brass Festival event.
Thu 17: Brass Bash @ Blackhill & Consett Park, Co. Durham. 6:00-8:00pm. Free. Various bands. A Durham Brass Festival event.
Thu 17: NONUNONU @ Elder Beer, Heaton, Newcastle. 7:00pm (doors). £11:55 (inc bf).

Fri 18: Greg Abate w. Dean Stockdale Trio @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 18: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 18: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 18: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 18: Brass Bash @ Town Park, Newton Aycliffe, Co. Durham. 6:00-9:00pm. Free. Various bands. A Durham Brass Festival event.
Fri 18: Brass Bash @ North Terrace, Seaham, Co. Durham. 6:00-9:00pm. Free. Various bands. A Durham Brass Festival event.
Fri 18: Zoë Gilby Quartet @ Sunderland Minster. 7:30pm.
Fri 18: Knats: Masterclass & jam session @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 7:30pm. £15.00.
Fri 18: Rat Pack - Live in Concert @ Tyne Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm.
Fri 18: Greg Abate w. Dean Stockdale Trio @ Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. £15.00.
Fri 18: Front Porch Three @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. A Hoodoo Blues dance class & social. Social & Front Porch Three only from 8:30pm. £5.00.

Sat 19: Streets of Brass @ Durham City. From 10:00am. Free. Various street bands. A Durham Brass Festival event.
Sat 19: Mr Wilson’s Second Liners: BRASS Boat Cruise @ Elvet Bridge jetty (by the boat club & Tomahawk Steak), Durham City. 12 noon. £12.00.; £10.00.; £5.00. 60 mins cruise, 2 x sets. SOLD OUT! A Durham Brass Festival event.
Sat 19: Bollywood Brass Band @ Monument Metro Station & Haymarket Metro Station, Newcastle. 2:00pm & 3:00pm & 4:00pm (3 x 30 mins). Free. A Gem Arts Masala Festival event.
Sat 19: Diddy Sweg: BRASS Boat Cruise @ Elvet Bridge jetty (by the boat club & Tomahawk Steak), Durham City. 2:00pm. £12.00.; £10.00.; £5.00. 60 mins cruise, 2 x sets. A Durham Brass Festival event.
Sat 19: Brazen Brass Band: BRASS Boat Cruise @ Elvet Bridge jetty (by the boat club & Tomahawk Steak), Durham City. 12 noon. £12.00.; £10.00.; £5.00. 60 mins cruise, 2 x sets. A Durham Brass Festival event.
Sat 19: Party in the Park @ Wharton Park, Durham. 5:00-9:00pm. Free. Ten street brass bands. A Durham Brass Festival event.
Sat 19: Jeff Hewer Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 19: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sat 19: Tyne Valley Big Band @ Chopwell Community Centre. 8:00pm.

Sun 20: Streets of Brass @ Durham City. From 11:00am. Free. Various street bands. A Durham Brass Festival event.
Sun 20: Always Drinking Marching Band: BRASS Boat Cruise @ Elvet Bridge jetty (by the boat club & Tomahawk Steak), Durham City. 11:00am. £12.00.; £10.00.; £5.00. 60 mins cruise, 2 x sets. A Durham Brass Festival event.
Sun 20: New York Brass Band: BRASS Boat Cruise @ Elvet Bridge jetty (by the boat club & Tomahawk Steak), Durham City. 1:00pm. £12.00.; £10.00.; £5.00. 60 mins cruise, 2 x sets. A Durham Brass Festival event.
Sun 20: Das Brass: BRASS Boat Cruise @ Elvet Bridge jetty (by the boat club & Tomahawk Steak), Durham City. 3:00pm. £12.00.; £10.00.; £5.00. 60 mins cruise, 2 x sets. A Durham Brass Festival event.
Sun 20: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 20: Pope/Garner/Byrne/Alderson @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. JNE.

Mon 21: Gerry Richardson Quartet @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 1:00pm. £9.00. at the door; £8.20. (inc £0.20 bf) online, in advance.
Mon 21: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club (1:00pm). Free.
Mon 21: New Century Syncopated Seven @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £10.00.

Tue 22: Lewis Watson Quartet @ Newcastle House Hotel, Rothbury. 7:30pm.

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

Monday, May 18, 2020

John Cumming (1948 - 2020)

(Press release from Serious) 
The Serious family is saddened by the loss of one of its founders John Cumming – a much-loved colleague and friend.
John loved jazz, theatre and especially his family. He met the love of his life, his wife Ginnie, when they were studying at Edinburgh University, and they had a daughter, Kate.
From the late 1960s, he worked primarily in theatre as a director, lighting designer and occasional writer. As well as designing lights for Lindsay Kemp and the Welfare State, he co-founded the Pool Theatre in Edinburgh. Although he is celebrated for his work in music, it was that sense of theatre that drove him to create inspiring festivals and produce extraordinary musical collaborations.

John joined South Hill Park Arts Centre in 1973 to run the theatre and music programmes, and started the Bracknell Jazz Festival, building it into an international platform for contemporary jazz and improvised music. Turning freelance in 1977, he worked as a production and tour manager for Contemporary Music Network in the UK, and internationally for George Russell (creating the Anglo-American Living Time Orchestra), Carla Bley and Charlie Haden's Liberation Orchestra. He programmed the Camden Jazz Week and continued to work as lighting designer for the Albany Empire, IOU Theatre Company and Mike Westbrook.
In the mid-80s, he founded Serious Productions with John Ellson, working with Orphy Robinson, Andy Sheppard and John Surman. David Jones joined them to form Serious Speakout in 1992 and they launched what has become one of the world's great music festivals, the EFG London Jazz Festival. In 1996, Claire Whitaker joined, and they formed Serious as it is known today.
John loved pushing at the boundaries of jazz, reclaiming and underlining the radical inspiration of the music and exploring links with hip-hop and dance culture. He was close to so many major American artists, including Cecil Taylor, Max Roach, Jack DeJohnette and Robert Glasper, but he was particularly passionate about the creative forces inside European jazz. He touched many lives in the UK jazz scene and it gave him great satisfaction that he lived to see a new generation of jazz musicians delighting huge audiences.

John was at his best when he worked closely with colleagues and partners, sharing ideas, drinks, enthusiasms and elliptical Scottish jokes ("What is a Partick Thistle?" asked one bemused tour manager), and helping Serious to develop younger producers who have gone on to work across the world. He received Awards for Services to Jazz at both the BBC Jazz Awards and the Parliamentary Jazz Awards, and in 2014 he was made an OBE for Services to Jazz.
John stepped back from Serious last year, but he stayed connected right to the end. Just a couple of weeks ago, he was working on the European tour of his last international production, Harlem Hellfighters, which featured a new generation of young musicians from Tomorrow's Warriors working with Jason Moran. Combining film, literature, theatre and a dazzling range of black music, it was a complex and thrilling piece - a final statement by an inspiring producer who was loved by everyone who knew him.
Everyone at Serious sends all our love to Ginnie, Kate and his family.
In his own words...
2017: Gilles Peterson interviews John on Worldwide FM's Brownswood Basements about where his love of jazz originated, anecdotes from his career, and his selected tracks. Listen from 1:04:00
2017:  'Jazz is a living, breathing entity' John celebrates EFG London Jazz Festival's 25th anniversary in this MusicWeek interview


2013: John chats to Jazz FM about the growth of EFG London Jazz Festival into one of the largest pan-city music events, plus some track selections in this standalone audio interview

2012: John reveals highlights from his own record collection in this interview with Record Collector

The photographs here were taken by David Sinclair, who shared a passion for jazz and Scottish football with John, and are reproduced by kind permission of his son Malcolm Sinclair

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