For the past eighteen years we've been updating the world about jazz in the north east of England and updating the north east of England about jazz in the world. WINNER of the Jazz Media Category in the 2018 All Party Parliamentary Jazz Awards. Contact lanceliddle@gmail.com
JANUARY 2026
Fri 30: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 30: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 30: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 30: Castillo Nuevo Trio @ Hotel Gotham, Newcastle. 5:30pm. Free.
Fri 30: Pete Roth Trio @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). Feat. Bill Bruford.
Fri 30: Jive Aces @ Alnwick Playhouse. 7:30pm.
Fri 30: Tweed River Jazz Band @ Northern Edge Coffee, Silver St., Berwick. 7:00pm.
Fri 30: Dan Coulthurst Quintet @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 7:30pm (7:00pm doors). £10.00 + £1.00. bf (www.wegottickets.com). Coulthurst (trumpet); Joel Steadman (bass clarinet, flute); Nico Widdowson (piano); Fergus Quill (double bass); Theo Goss (drums).
Sat 31: Darling Dollies @ St George’s Church, Jesmond, Newcastle. 3:00pm. £10.00. Vocal trio.
Sat 31: Brass Fiesta @ Revoluçion de Cuba, Newcastle. 10:30pm. Free.
FEBRUARY 2026
Sun 01: Smokin’ Spitfires @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:45pm. £10.00.
Sun 01: Ian Bosworth Quintet @ Chapel, Middlesbrough. 1:00pm. Free. Quintet + guest Bill Watson (trumpet, flugelhorn).
Sun 01: Sax Choir @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 01: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 01: Annie & the Caldwells @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £25.00. adv. Gospel/soul.
Sun 01: Jive Aces @ Alnwick Playhouse. 7:30pm.
Sun 01: Olly Styles Experience + Jenny Baker @ the Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Mon 02: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 02: Saltburn Big Band @ Saltburn House Hotel. 7:00-9:00pm. Free.
Tue 03: Customs House Big Band @ The Masonic Hall, Ferryhill. 7:30pm. Free.
Tue 03: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Joe Steels, Paul Grainger, Abbie Finn.
Wed 04: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 04: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 04: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Thu 05: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £5.00. Subject:Times of the Day & Trios.
Thu 05: Jeremy McMurray’s Pocket Jazz Orchestra @ Arc, Stockton. 8:00pm. Special guest Emma Wilson.
Thu 05: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm.
5 comments :
Perhaps it's not so much bias as politic not to say what you really think. Some who would be on the receiving end of a less than complimentary review may not speak to you again, that's assuming they deign to speak to you in the first place!
This is something that has given me sleepless nights ever since BSH started over 12 years ago. By and large, if I don't like an album, I simply don't review it. But is that fair? When it's someone you know personally it becomes even more difficult - particularly if it's a live gig and your presence is noted.
If I hear, say a sax player, who's a much better player than me but I don't like what he's doing, how do I point out the error of his ways when I couldn't do it better myself?
Then again, if you praise a bad player you are equally doing him/her a disservice whereas you should be offering advice, in a friendly way.
The answer of course is objectivity which, unfortunately, usually means boring writing. The public en masse prefer the lurid headlines of a tabloid to the more strait-laced headings of the "the quality papers" even though they may be saying the same thing.
However, it's not just BSH who may (very occasionally) promote the bad to mediocre, the mediocre to good and the good to fantastic. The jazz mags rarely give anything less than 3 stars and the Blindfold Tests where, once upon a time, the testers would never mince their words now find that everything's fine and maybe it is.
Someone once said to me he can get something out of any music he hears whether it be good or bad - even if it's learning what not to do!
At the end of the day, the top and bottom of it is, if you've got the guts to get up and play or record you should be encouraged.
Having said that, would Charlie Parker have become the giant he was if Jo Jones hadn't thrown his cymbal at him?
Lance has made very fair comment, I usually review women singers and don't generally like scat at all, but I have to consider it impartially as it has a valid place in jazz singing. Just 1 small example. I've found that playing an instrument (awkwardly In my case) helps a critic to understand just a bit more about jazz, including knowing the differences between playing a single line instrument and one that can produce chords.
Interesting Ann. The big question is, should a critic be a musician or not? The musician invariably is impressed by the technique of the performer often to the detriment of the content.
For the non-musician he judges by what he hears irrespective of whether or not he knows that the performer is playing in six sharps on a crap reed with a pianist who doesn't play the "right chords".
What do other folk think?
I've said before, Music is not just for musicians, any more than houses are just for builders. As a listener and occasional commentator, I want to be educated and/or entertained and would try to point out why either or neither of these things have been fulfilled.
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