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Bebop Spoken There

Steve Coleman: ''If you don't keep learning, your mind slows down. Use it or lose it''. (DownBeat, January 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

17719 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 39 of them this year alone and, so far, 39 this month (Jan. 15).

From This Moment On ...

January 2025

Sun 19: Glenn Miller Orchestra UK @ Glasshouse, Gateshead. 3:00pm. ‘Glenn Miller & the Rat Pack Era’.
Sun 19: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 19: Spilt Milk @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 5:15-7:00pm. Free. Nolan Brothers (vocal harmonies).
Sun 19: Tenement Jazz Band @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 19: Nick Ross Orchestra @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 7:30pm.
Sun 19: Freight Train (Tobin/Noble/Clarvis) @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Sun 19: Jazz Jam @ Fabio’s, Saddler St., Durham. 8:00pm. Free. A Durham University Jazz Society promotion. All welcome.

Mon 20: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 21: ???

Wed 22: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 22: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 22: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 22: Pasadena Roof Orchestra @ Fire Station, Sunderland. 7:30pm.

Thu 23: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, Holystone. 1:00pm. Free. Fortnightly.
Thu 23: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: Obituaries 2024.
Thu 23: Jason Isaacs @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 4:30-6:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Thu 23: Pedal Point Trio @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Fri 24: Zoë Gilby Quartet @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm.
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: Creakin’ Bones & the Sunday Dinners @ Lindisfarne Social Club, Wallsend. 9:00pm. Admission: TBC. Jazz, blues , jump jive, rock ‘n’ roll.

Sat 25: Boys of Brass @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 3:30-5:30pm. Free.
Sat 25: Edison Herbert Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 25: Jack & Jay’s Songbook @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

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 29, 2020

Mark Toomey Quartet live streaming from St Peter's Church, Stockton - Charlie Parker 100 Day (August 29)

Mark Toomey (alto sax); Jeremy McMurray (piano); Peter Ayton (double bass); Paul Smith (drums)

Alto saxophonist and Charlie Parker disciple Mark Toomey decided to plunge into the hitherto mysterious world of live streaming to capture for posterity his quartet's concert commemorating, exactly one hundred years to the day, the birth of Charlie Parker. Teesside based Toomey made no bones about it, live streaming on Facebook - and possibly YouTube - would be a new challenge...

Ornithology opened the set with a further five numbers to follow. The interior of St Peter's Church on Yarm Road looked rather grand. Mark's concert had been long in the planning with a string section booked to augment the regular quartet line-up. Needless to say, the pandemic put paid to that idea. Ornithology in front of an audience in such a setting on this historic day would have met with tumultuous applause. Mark consoled himself, remarking: Good. I enjoyed that

An echoing, cavernous space doesn't do any favours on a gig like this, but, the occasion was all important. Your reviewer met with constant buffering, perhaps others fared better. If there was one online event worth sticking with, however disruptive the cyber world gremlins, this was it. Mark didn't grandstand, he let the timeless numbers speak for themselves and his band mates were very much part of the show. Pianist Jeremy McMurray was his usual ebullient self, the unmistakeable drumming of Paul Smith reverberated across the pews and over the ether with a socially distanced Peter Ayton, bass, to his left. 

East of the Sun, then a 'slow blues', said Mark (Parker's Mood), the infectious ('accessible', said Mark) Little Suede Shoes would have had them dancing in the aisles, perhaps they were dancing at home. As he introduced If I Should Lose You Mark lamented the absence of strings. In these strange times Parker without strings was perfectly understandable. And to close, A Night in Tunisia. As the saying goes...BIRD LIVES!
Russell

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