Bebop Spoken There

Christian McBride: ''I believe we are living in a historically embarrassing moment in American history.'' - Downbeat December 2025

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

18061 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 1025 of them this year alone and, so far, 39 this month (Dec. 14).

From This Moment On ...

DECEMBER 2025

Thu 18: Paul Skerritt @ YOLO, Ponteland. 7:00pm. ‘Swing & Jazz Night’. Skerritt w. backing tapes.
Thu 18: Joe Steels & Friends @ The Pele, Corbridge. 7:30pm. Free (donations).

Fri 19: Fraser Urquhart @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. £8.00. SOLD OUT! .
Fri 19: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free..
Fri 19: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free..
Fri 19: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00..
Fri 19: Castillo Nuevo @ Hotel Gotham, Newcastle. 5:00pm. Free. .
Fri 19: Alexia Gardner @ FIKA Art Gallery, Morpeth. 6:30pm. Gardner, Alan Law, Jude Murphy..
Fri 19: Paul Skerritt @ Middlesbrough Town Hall. 7:00pm. Skerritt w. backing tapes. .
Fri 19: Giles Strong Quartet @ Sunderland Minster. 7:30pm. Old Black Cat Jazz Club..
Fri 19: Creakin’ Bones & the Xmas Dinners @ The White Room, Stanley. 7:45pm. £13.01 (inc. bf)..
Fri 19: Mark Toomey Quintet @ The Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. Opus 4 Jazz Club.

Sat 20: Jazz Attack @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 11:00am. Free.
Sat 20: Alexia Gardner @ FIKA Art Gallery, Morpeth. 6:30pm. Gardner, Alan Law, Jude Murphy. SOLD OUT!
Sat 20: Joseph Carville Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. CANCELLED!
Sat 20: Ray Stubbs R&B All Stars @ Billy Bootleggers, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 20: Hoodoo Blues @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:15pm (doors). £14.25, £11.55. Dance class, social dancing, live music & Xmas Party. Live music from 9:00pm - Ruth Lambert, Giles Strong, Ian Paterson & John Bradford (jazz and blues).
Sat 20: John Pope Quintet @ Blank Studios, Newcastle. 7:30-8:30pm. £7.70 (inc. bf). Album recording session.

Sun 21: New ’58 Jazz Collective @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 21: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. ‘Xmas Swingalong’. Skerritt w. backing tapes.
Sun 21: Ruth Lambert Trio @ Juke Shed, Union Quay, North Shields. 3:00-5:00pm. Free.
Sun 21: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 21: Strictly Smokin’ Big Band @ o2 City Hall, Newcastle. 6:00pm. £35.80., £33.25., £31.00.
Sun 21: The Globe Xmas Party @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. Live music.
Sun 21: Tweed River Jazz Band @ The Barrels Ale House, Berwick. 7:30pm. Free.

Mon 22: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 23: Paul Skerritt @ Chakh Dhoom, Jesmond, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Indian restaurant. Skerritt w. backing tapes.

Wed 24: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 24: Alexia Gardner @ The Townhouse, Bridge St., Morpeth. 1:30-4:30pm. ‘The A Capella Sessions’. Gardner, Paula Gardner, Alexia Hope Gardner Diamany.
Wed 24: Paul Skerritt @ Mambo Wine & Dine, South Shields. 1:30pm. Skerritt w. backing tapes.

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

Saturday, July 25, 2020

Peter Green dies at 73

The efforts of Chris Barber, Alexis Korner and others paved the way for American blues greats to visit Britain and Peter Greenbaum, from Bethnal Green, like many others of the post war 'baby boom' generation, developed an interest in the blues. Eric Clapton left the Bluesbreakers and John Mayall offered the job to Greenbaum, or rather, Peter Green.

Replacing Clapton couldn't have been an easy gig yet, in no time, Green, along with Mick Fleetwood, founded Fleetwood Mac and the rest, as they say, is history. To some there are two Fleetwood Macs - Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac and Fleetwood Mac. Green achieved fame, if not fortune, quit the band he co-founded, then left the music business, for many years struggling with mental health issues as his former band mates sought, and found, fortune. 

Green resurfaced from time to time and in the nineties played his first indoor gigs in many years, the first of them at a sold-out South Shields' Cellar Club. Your correspondent was there that night and, in truth, the man was a shadow of his former self. Peter Green died today (July 25) at the age of just 73.    
Russell

3 comments :

Roly Veitch said...

Sad news. A select breed of musicians have that indefinable something that makes them very special. It's in their touch, their feel, the deep emotion they convey. You can often respond to it in hearing just a few notes. Peter Green was one of them.

Steve T said...

A one-off, he named his band after the drummer and bass player and, when the money came rolling in, he was set to spread it around when his peers changed their minds and started hoarding, and still are.
He was one of the few rock guitarists who attracted praise from their blues forebears, from BB to Joe Louis Walker though, for me, he only got his swagger on when he turned his attention to Hendrix and the Clapton of Cream, turning Fleetwood Mac into perhaps the missing link between them and Led Zeppelin.
He also played in Durham on his return tour, but I had no desire to see him a pale shadow of his former self - legend has it, it was the Grateful Dead's Jerry Garcia who delivered the acid that pickled his brain for the rest of his life - and I only really like three of their records, though Oh Well is absolutely one of the all-time greatest rock records ever made (Rattlesnake Shake and Green Manilishi are the others); but avoid the proto prog of the album version and head straight for the single off any compilation.

NeilC said...

Such a talent up there with Clapton, Page , Hendrix in the guitar greats so sad he had the breakdown at a time when he was gaining the richly deserved recognition afforded to the greats. He had such a clean style of playing , he had some success after that enforced break with Splinter playing smaller venues unlike the huge arenas Mac went on to play . I don't know but I imagine he preferred those intimate venues . A very sad loss

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