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Bebop Spoken There

Sullivan Fortner: ''I always judge it by the bass player: If the bass player is happy, it's going to be a good night". (DownBeat, February 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

17777 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 98 of them this year alone and, so far, 23 this month (Feb.8).

From This Moment On ...

February 2025

Mon 10: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 11: Steve Summers Quintet @ Newcastle House Hotel, Rothbury. 7:30pm.

Wed 12: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 12: Jam session @ The Tannery, Gilesgate, Hexham. 7:00-9:00pm. Free.
Wed 12: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 12: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 13: Student Performances @ King’s Hall, Newcastle University. 4:00pm. Free. Inc. Olly Styles (tenor sax).
Thu 13: MOBO Awards Fringe 2025: Artist Showcase @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 7:00pm. Free (ticketed). Line-up inc. Hannabiell & Midnight Blue.
Thu 13: Indigo Jazz Voices @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:45pm. £5.00.

Fri 14: John Rowland Trio @ Jesmond Library, Newcastle. 12:30-1:30pm. £5.00. at the door. New second Friday in the month concert series.
Fri 14: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 14: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 14: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 14: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 4:00-6:00pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Fri 14: Archipelago + Anna Tempest @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm. £12.00., £10.00., £8.00.
Fri 14: Paul Jones & Dave Kelly @ Alnwick Playhouse. 7:30pm. Rhythm & blues.
Fri 14: Alexia Gardner Quintet @ The White Room, Stanley. 7:45pm.
Fri 14: Jazz Sabbath @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm.

Sat 15: Joseph Carville Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 15: James Birkett & Emma Fisk @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 7:30pm. £15.00. at the door; £14.35. (inc £0.35 bf) online, in advance.
Sat 15: Elkie Brooks @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 7:30pm. ‘The Long Farewell Tour’.
Sat 15: Milne Glendinning Band @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 16: Jason Isaacs @ STACK, Exchange Sq., Middlesbrough. 1:00-2:45pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sun 16: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 16: MOBO Awards Fringe 2025: BBC Introducing NE X MOBO Showcase @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 6:00pm. Free (ticketed). Line-up inc. Jambone, Knats, Rivkala, SwanNek.
Sun 16: The Shayo Experience @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 16: Gerry Richardson Quartet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Sun 16: Jazz Jam @ Fabio’s, Saddler St., Durham. 8:00pm. Free. A Durham University Jazz Society promotion. All welcome.

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, August 22, 2020

Lindsay Hannon sings the blues @ Prohibition Bar - August 21

Lindsay Hannon (vocals, ukulele, shakers)

Chaplin had the run of the place. First in, dodging the track and trace formalities at the door, Lindsay Hannon's canine companion staked out his territiory. Later he would be joined by his four-legged friend Elvin and his well-behaved master (a drummer of renown on his adoptive Tyneside). Proprietor Mitch had thought it through, unobtrusive Covid-secure measures were in place, this was as relaxed an environment as one could expect given the on-going pandemic.

Shown to a stage-side table by the ever-obliging Mitch, the beer of choice just had to be Prohibition Bar's Prohibition 33 Pale Ale (Allendale Brewery, 4%) brewed to commemorate and  celebrate the end of America's National Prohibition Act on Dec 5, 1933. Cheers! As Lindsay took to an adapted, Covid-secure, stage (a perspex screen separating performer from audience) the audience was shocked, yes, shocked, to learn our blues mama was drinking Diet Coke!  

No introduction, straight in, Lindsay was singin' the blues. Standing behind the screen, was she in the dock? In the pen? Oh, what had she done to deserve this?! In these stange, Covid-secure times, the idea was for the musician to perform at  'background' level volume and we, the audience, were to applaud quietly, politely. At the conclusion of the first number a collective amnesia set in as cheers, hollers and whistles reverberated around the room. Oops! Sorry guv'nor, we simply forgot ourselves! 

Vera Hall, Ozella Jones, names flagged-up during Lindsay's series of superb online, lockdown performances, were in the house, in spirit, of course. What had these women done to be treated so bad? Lindsay sang their song, telling it like it was/is. I'd Rather Go BlindJohn Henry (he of the hammer), Gallows Pole (traditional, from Leadbelly to Led Zeppelin) with audience participation, Lindsay interpreting Don't Explain, this is what we'd been missing, live performance, the connection between performer and audience.

Here we were in a Newcastle juke joint just off the mainline, listening to the story tellers - Bessie Jones, Tom Waits, Lindsay Hannon - digging deep, turning stones, revealing the oft hidden worlds of many across the US of A, across the globe and right here in our own backyard. Time for another bottle of the 33.     
Russell

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