Bebop Spoken There

Donovan Haffner ('Best Newcomer' 2025 Parliamentary Jazz Awards): ''I got into jazz the first time I picked up a saxophone!" - Jazzwise Dec 25/Jan 26

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

18146 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 24 of them this year alone and, so far this month (Jan. 7), 24

From This Moment On ...

JANUARY 2026

Sun 11: New ’58 Jazz Collective @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 11: Am Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 11: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 11: Eva Fox & the Sound Hounds @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 12: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 12: Saltburn Big Band @ Saltburn House Hotel. 7:00-9:00pm. Free.

Tue 13: Milne Glendinning Band @ Newcastle House Hotel, Rothbury. 7:30pm. £11.00. Coquetdale Jazz.
Tue 13: Jazz Jam Sandwich @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Wed 14: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 14: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 14: Jam Session @ The Tannery, Hexham. 7:00pm. Free.
Wed 14: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 15: Mark Toomey Quartet @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm. Free. Quartet + guest Paul Donnelly (guitar).

Fri 16: Giles Strong Quartet @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. £8.00. SOLD OUT!
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: Darlington Big Band @ The Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. Opus 4 Jazz Club.
Fri 16: Leeds City Stompers @ Billy Bootleggers, Newcastle. 9:00pm. Free.

Sat 17: Homer’s Lane + John Garner & John Pope @ St John’s Church, Riding Mill. 2:00-4:00pm. Free. Gabriele Heller’s audio play + Garner & Pope.
Sat 17: Martyn Roper @ Billy Bootleggers, Newcastle. 5:00pm. Free. Roper’s ‘One Man Blues Band’.
Sat 17: Ray Stubbs R&B All Stars @ Billy Bootleggers, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 17: Alexia Gardner Trio @ FIKA Art Gallery, Morpeth. 7:00pm (6:30pm doors). Gardner, Alan Law & Jude Murphy.

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

Thursday, July 02, 2020

A funny thing happened on the way to the men's room ...


BSH's County Durham correspondent Tony Eales filed the following tale which he assures me is true ... 

As a big band aficionado TE thinks nothing of hopping on a plane to travel halfway across the globe to hear some of the great big band outfits. A few short years ago on a trip to Los Angeles to attend a big band festival our man was in a hotel lobby minding his own business when he was approached by an elderly gentleman who asked directions to the men's room. Our globetrotting friend pointed this way and that, up a staircase, along a corridor. Our elderly gentleman expressed thanks and wandered off ...

A while later our big band aficionado's new-found friend returned. He hadn't been able to find the men's room. Ever eager to be of assistance TE offered to take his new-found friend to the men's room. Off they went ...


Now the best of pals, it transpired our elderly gentleman was none other than Johnny Mandel! What's more, the late, great American composer and arranger was delighted to discover our man from County Durham was something of a big band fan and the pair sat and had a good old chat about all things big band. The phrase 'you couldn't make it up' springs to mind.

On another occasion, again in America, TE offered similar assistance to an unassuming American gent. Off they went to the men's room, our American gent walking with the aid of a stick. Our guide from England opened the door and took hold of the elderly gent's walking stick as he went about his most urgent business. Making their way back to the hotel lobby TE struck up a conversation. They were on the West Coast and, would you believe it, the man with the walking stick was none other than Howard Rumsey! Yes, the man who will forever be associated with the legendary West Coast jazz venue, the Lighthouse at Hermosa Beach. When Mr Rumsey found out TE was a big band fan, indeed a Stan Kenton fan, well, you can imagine, they talked about Kenton, Kenton and Kenton! Yes, funny things can - and do - happen on the way to the men's room.      
Russell
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