For the past seventeen 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
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From This Moment On ...
MAY 2025
Mon 12: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 12: Gregory Porter + Jo Harrop @ Newcastle City Hall. 7:30pm. Support act: Jo Harrop!
Tue 13: ???
Wed 14: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 14: Recital (stage 2): Leah Kirk (voice) @ The Band Room, Music Studios, Assembly Lane, Newcastle University. 3:00pm. Free.
Wed 14: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 14: Tannery jam session @ The Tannery, Hexham. 7:00pm.
Wed 14: Jerron Paxton @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £24.20. Excellent country blues multi-instrumentalist.
Wed 14: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. BACK IN BUSINESS, all welcome!
Thu 15: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: The Greatest in Jazz - Guitarists.
Thu 15: Pete Tanton & the Cuban Heels @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 15: New Ways of Moving in the Counterworlds @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 8:00pm (7:00pm doors). John Garner & John Pope.
Fri 16: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 16: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 16: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 16: Sophie Speed with the Dean Stockdale Trio @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 16: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 1:00-2:45pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Fri 16: Jason Isaacs @ STACK, Exchange Sq., Middlesbrough. 4:00-6:00pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Fri 16: Giles Strong Quartet @ Longframlington Memorial Hall. 7:00pm (doors). Tickets: £12.00. from 01665 570984.
Fri 16: Hot Club du Nord @ St Cuthbert’s Centre, Crook. 7:30pm. £10.00.
Fri 16: Peter Donegan & Anthony Donegan @ The Witham, Barnard Castle. 7:30pm. ‘Lonnie Donegan - The Stories’.
Sat 17: Teresa Watson Band @ Billy Bootleggers, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. Blues.
Sat 17: The Society Quartet @ Hilton Garden Inn, Sunderland. 6:00pm. Tel: 0191 500 9494. £26.00 (inc. two course meal). Line-up: Jason Holcomb, Hannah Taylor, Alix Shepherd & Abbie Finn.
Sat 17: Milne Glendinning Band @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 17: Archie Brown & the Young Bucks @ Billy Bootleggers, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. Rhythm & blues, Americana etc.
Sat 17: Rockin’ Turner Brothers @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Rockabilly, Western swing etc.
Sun 18: Jason Isaacs @ STACK, Seaburn. 12 noon-2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sun 18: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 18: Ruth Lambert & Giles Strong @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 18: Steve Summers Quintet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Reviewers wanted
Monday, June 15, 2020
Telling it like it isn't!
Blog Archive
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2020
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June
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- Recipients Announced For 2020 Parliamentary Jazz A...
- Archipelago set to take to The Globe stage on July...
- Johnny Mandel (1925 - 2020)
- Emma Fisk's Hot Club du Nord set to take to The Gl...
- Jazz Quartet set to take to The Globe stage on Jul...
- Album review: Benn Clatworthy - The Pursuit
- Livestream: Tango Jazz Quartet – Jazz Coop June 28
- Mingus Mondays Live.
- Freddy Cole (1931 - 2020)
- Livestream: Haruka Kikuchi - June 28
- Adrian Cox's Sunday Service - June 28
- Livestream: LeedsJazz Lockdown #15 - June 28
- Livestream: Dom Pipkin's Saturday Piano Truth
- Help!
- Livestream: Rico, Martin and Jabbo - June 27
- No Jazz at Sunniside.
- JazzLeeds Lockdown Session - June 28 (1:30pm)
- Album review: Jeff Hamilton Trio - Catch Me If You...
- Ben Crosland Quintet: not at the Langtoun Jazz Fes...
- Streamin' Rico 'n' Martin - June 26
- Wendy Kirkland @ the (virtual) Langtoun Jazz Festi...
- Hexham Thursday Sessions #11 : Cantaloupe Island
- Album review: Kate Westbrook the Granite Band - Ea...
- Paul Edis - Livestream #15 - June 26
- Zoë Gilby & Andy Champion @ The (virtual) Langtou...
- Strictly Smokin' Big Band Live Stream - June 25
- New Podcast from WBGO
- John Donegan @ The (virtual) Langtoun Jazz Festiva...
- The Ugly Duckling (1959)
- No jazz at J's & B's 'til next year
- Mainly Two: Marie Schreer & John Garner - LIVE Con...
- Album Review: The Dave Ingham Group – A Sea of Green
- SSBB: Livestream - June 25
- Album review: The Mark Masters Ensemble - Night Ta...
- New album: 3'Ain - 3'Ain
- Preview: Schreer & Garner - June 25
- Album review: Dario Savino Doronzo - Reimagining O...
- Tango Jazz Quartet Live From Argentina - This Sund...
- 2020 Lagavulin Islay Jazz Festival cancelled.
- RCS JAZZ AWARDS 2020
- Lockdown Lindsay - June 22
- "Vehicle" by the Tyne Valley Big Band led by Dave ...
- PRESS RELEASE NEWCASTLE JAZZ FESTIVAL COVID-19
- Father's Day in New Orleans w. Haruka, Z2, Nobu Oz...
- Adrian Cox's Sunday Service - June 21
- On Green Dolphin St.with the University of York Bi...
- Dom Pipkin: Saturday Piano Truth - June 20
- Album review: Rudresh Mahanthappa - Hero Trio
- Dress Up Saturday with Rico & Spats - June 20
- Lindsay makes JRR!
- Hal Singer, Trump and Tulsa
- 61. Ljubljana Jazz Festival: Collori & Momento Cig...
- Tomasso and Thomas livestreaming - June 19.
- Dulcie May Moreno: Lockdown Session - June 19
- Hexham Thursday Sessions #10 : Lullaby of Birdland
- Paul Edis: Lockdown Live #14 - June 19
- Jazz Time Aycliffe Radio Sundays 6.00 -7.30p.m. (O...
- Preview: Selma - BBC 2
- Album review: Zoöphyte - Signs of Life
- Mid-day Jazz from WBGO
- Grab your coat and get your hat ...
- Dame Vera Lynn (1917 - 2020)
- Album Review: Kathleen Grace with Larry Goldings –...
- 61. Ljubljana Jazz Festival: Žan Tetičkovič “The P...
- Preview: Steve Walker on Coastal Sound (Skegness c...
- No need to go to Montréal. Montréal is coming to you!
- Simon Spillett completes new book.
- Steve Garrett LIVE on Music from Scotland - tonigh...
- Ballads Before Bed IV - June 16
- Dan Burnett; Watch Party - June 16
- Wabash Blues w. Haruka Kikuchi & Z2 - June 14
- Preview: Tonite! Ballads Before Bed IV
- The Big Match: Facebook versus YouTube
- Telling it like it isn't!
- Album review: Mayita Dinos - The Garden is my Stage
- Keith Tippett R.I.P.
- Jazz Coop Livestream: Liane Carroll - June 14
- Daryl Sherman Livestreaming Tonight from Madison, NJ.
- Preview: Tonite! School for Harmonicas
- Adrian Cox: Sunday Service - June 14
- Livestream: Kai Hoffman - June 12
- Enrico Tomasso & Brian Kellock: Livestream - June 13
- Jo, Jamie & JRR
- Interview with Sonny Rollins by The New Yorker
- Charlie Parker with Woody Herman - Four Brothers
- Album Review: Walter Smith III & Matthew Stevens -...
- Streaming Rico 'n' Brian - June 12
- Hexham Thursday Sessions #9 : Whisper Not
- The familiar, the not so familiar and the local on...
- George Benson Announces 'Weekend In London' - New ...
- Paul Edis: Lockdown Live #13 - June 12
- Entries for Sarah Vaughan International Vocal Comp...
- Strictly Smokin' Livestream #3 - June 11
- Faye MacCalman & John Pope @ LIVE Concert at Home ...
- Who's the drummer?
- DANIEL HERSOG Q & A
- Review: Big Band Bash - June 10
- Album Review: Daniel Hersog Jazz Orchestra - Night...
- Wednesday Night National Youth Jazz Collective Liv...
- Album Reviews: Joel Fass - Melody Messenger & Jam ...
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June
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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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