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
April
Thu 23: FILM: Big Mama Thornton: I Can’t Be Anyone But Me @ Tyneside Cinema, Newcastle. 6:15pm. Dir. Robert Clem (2025).
Thu 23: Castillo Nuevo Orquesta @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. £6.50. 7:30pm (doors).
Thu 23: Eva Fox & the Sound Hounds @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Thu 23: Jeremy McMurray’s Pocket Jazz Orchestra & Musicians Unlimited @ ARC, Stockton. 8:00pm. £19.00. inc. bf.
Fri 24: Noel Dennis Trio @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. Dennis, Mark Willams, Andy Champion. SOLD OUT!
Fri 24: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 24: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 24: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 24: Trio Grand @ Land of Oak & Iron, Winlaton. 6:00-9:00pm. Free.
Fri 24: Ben Vince + The Exu @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm (doors). £14.33., £11.16, £8.00. A ‘jazz adjacent’ gig!
Fri 24: Daniel John Martin w. Swing Manouche @ The Ship Isis, Sunderland. 7:30pm. £13.20 (inc. bf).
Fri 24: TBC @ The Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm.
Sat 25: Giles Strong Quartet @ Hindmarsh Hall, Alnmouth. 7:30pm. CANCELLED!
Sat 25: Daniel John Martin w. Swing Manouche @ The Old Cinema Launderette, Durham. 7:30pm (7:00pm doors). £13.20 (inc. bf).
Sat 25: ‘Portrait in Evans’: Noa Levy & Alan Barnes w. Paul Edis Trio @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm. £24.00. Sage Two. ‘Portrait in Evans’. Levy, Barnes, Edis, Andy Champion & Steve Hanley.
Sun 26: Musicians Unlimited: Big Band Blast @ West Hartlepool RFC. 1:00-3:00pm . Free.
Sun 26: Daniel John Martin w. Swing Manouche @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00pm. £10.00.
Sun 26: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 26: Ruth Lambert Trio @ Juke Shed, North Shields. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 26: Ni Maxine + Nauta @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm. £17.51., £14.33., £11.16.
Sun 26: Joe Steels @ The Pele, Corbridge. 7:00pm. Free (donations direct to the musicians). Joe Steels & Friends.
Sun 26: C.A.L.I.E @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £16.00., £14.00., £7.00.
Mon 27: Friends of Jazz @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 27: House of Blues @ the Globe, Newcastle. 7:00pm. £7.00., £5.00. advance. A student-led jazz session. ‘House of Blues’ is, perhaps, a misnomer.
Mon 27: Littlewood Trio @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £10.00 + bf, £7.00. + bf.
Tue 28: Long/Remon/Zilker @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. Tom Remon plays Irish folk!
Wed 29: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 29: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 29: Long/Remon/Zilker @ The Ship Isis, Sunderland. 7:00pm. £10.00. + £1.00. bf. Tom Remon plays Irish folk!
Wed 29: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 29: Hackney Colliery Band @ Alnwick Playhouse. 7:30pm. £25.00.
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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