Bebop Spoken There

Dominick "Domo" Branch: ''Most people say drummers can't write, they're just time-keepers only beating on things. But I have a very musical brain.'' (DownBeat February, 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

18288 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 18 years ago. 142 of them this year alone and, so far this month (Feb. 14), 42

From This Moment On ...

February

Fri 20: Alex Clarke w. Dean Stockdale Trio @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT! Clarke w. Dean Stockdale, Mick Shoulder, Abbie Finn.
Fri 20: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 20: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 20: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 20: Squabble @ Warkworth Memorial Hall. 7:00pm. Steve Chambers (organ); Jude Murphy (double bass, vocals); Sid White (drums).
Fri 20: Jive Aces @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 7:00pm (6:30pm doors).
Fri 20: Alex Clarke w. Dean Stockdale Trio @ Sunderland Minster. 7:30pm. Clarke w. Dean Stockdale, Mick Shoulder, Abbie Finn.

Sat 21: ???

Sun 22: Musicians Unlimited: Big Band Blast @ West Hartlepool RFC. 1:00-3:00pm . Free.
Sun 22: Joe Steels Group @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm. A Blue Patch album tour.
Sun 22: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 22: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 22: Harben Kay Quartet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 23: Joe Steels Group @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 1:00pm. A Blue Patch album tour.
Mon 23: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 24: Finn-Keeble Group @ Newcastle House Hotel, Rothbury. 7:30pm. £11.00.
Tue 24: Liam Oliver & Shayo Oshodi @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Wed 25: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 25: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 25: Geordie Jazz Jam @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. Newcastle University jam session. All welcome.
Wed 25: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 26: Castillo Nuevo Orquesta @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £6.50.
Thu 26: Shalala @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £7.00 adv.
Thu 26: Mick Cantwell Band @ The Harbour View, Roker, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Blues.

Fri 27: Joe Steels Group @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. £8.00. SOLD OUT! A Blue Patch album tour.
Fri 27: Alan Barnes w. Mick Shoulder Trio @ Bishop Auckland Methodist Church. 1:00pm. £9.00. Trio: Rick Laughlin (piano); Mick Shoulder (double bass); Tim Johnston (drums).
Fri 27: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 27: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 27: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 27: Radio Hito + Eddie Prévost, Silvain Schmid & Tom Wheatley @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm (doors). £12.22., £10.10., £8.00.
Fri 27: Giacomo Smith w Strictly Smokin’ Big Band @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm.
Fri 27: Alan Barnes w. Mick Shoulder Trio @ The Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. £15.00. Trio: Rick Laughlin (piano); Mick Shoulder (double bass); Tim Johnston (drums).

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, June 19, 2020

Paul Edis: Lockdown Live #14 - June 19

Paul Edis (piano, vocals)

Strike Up the Band commanded George Gershwin and so began today's 'Lockdown Live' lunchtime set by Paul Edis. YouTube the platform, pianist Edis the performer, no fewer than eleven tunes this sunny Friday afternoon with PEAS* members looking in from near (sunny Ashington, Gateshead and Newcastle) and far (rainy season Saigon).


The first of two vocal numbers - Sammy Fain and Paul Webster's Secret Love - continued the one hour piano  masterclass. If there was a remake of Calamity Jane who would play the Doris Day role and would Dr Edis be cast riding shotgun on the Deadwood Stage? From the wonderfully ridiculous, technicolor Wild West to the prodigiously talented Michel Petrucciani. French pianist Petrucciani died way too young (your reviewer caught him in concert at the Jazz Cafe, Camden in a triple bill with, if memory serves, John Scofield and Tommy Smith) and today's selection - Looking Up - was a request by Colin Muirhead. Be sure to log on to Colin's Jazz on the Tyne programme at: www.capne.org (Saturdays, noon and Wednesdays 9:00pm for a quick repeat) broadcasting from Hive Radio's Jarrow studio.

Bill Evans' Very Early (Edis is a fan of fellow pianist Evans), another Colin Muirhead request, this time for My Foolish Heart (Victor Young/Ned Washington) with our host taking the opportunity to plug and praise Jo Harrop and Jamie McCredie's recently released album Weathering the Storm which includes a sublime version of the GASbook number, followed by a 'guess the composer' tune...Make Me Rainbows. Any ideas (it won't help but Edis briefly quoted Satin Doll)? Dr Google came to the assistance of one YouTube watcher...John 'Johnny' Williams (of Star Wars fame and, undoubtedly, fortune). At its conclusion Edis glanced at a screen: Ah, Dr Google, that's cheating! said our London lockdown performer in the middle of his fourteenth consecutive weekly Friday live stream set.

Baroque contrapuntal keyboard brilliance framed Miles' Solar, the kind of playing that elicits cheers at high-octane jam sessions (remember them?), Lerner and Loewe's Almost Like Being in Love. These Foolish Things (comp. Jack Strachey/lyrics Holt Marvell - thanks to Dr Google) offered Edis a second opportunity to sing a number and the love theme continued with There is no Greater Love (comp. Isham Jones/lyrics Marty Symes) with another sleight-of-hand quotation thrown in for good measure, this time I'm Beginning to See the Light. Today's session (hard to believe it was week number 14!), with our exiled north-eastener in playful mood throughout, drew to a close with Jimmy McHugh and Dorothy Fields' On the Sunny Side of the Street. More next week, one o'clock sharp.

PEAS = Paul Edis Appreciation Society.      
Russell  

No comments :

Blog Archive