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Bebop Spoken There

Stan Woodward: ''We're part of the British jazz scene, but we don't play London jazz. We play Newcastle jazz. The Knats album represents many things, but most importantly that Newcastle isn't overlooked". (DownBeat, April 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

17945 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 266 of them this year alone and, so far, 22 this month (April 8).

From This Moment On ...

April 2025.

Wed 09: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 09: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 09: Tannery jam session @ The Tannery, Hexham. 7:00pm.
Wed 09: Anatole Muster Trio @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £17.50., £12.50. concs.
Wed 09: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. CANCELLED?

Thu 10: Indigo Jazz Voices @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:45pm. £5.00.CANCELLED!
Thu 10: Magpies of Swing @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £12.00., £10.00., £7.00. A Globe fundraiser (all proceeds to the venue).
Thu 10: Exhaust: Camila Nebbia/Kit Downes/Andrew Lisle @ Jesmond URC, Newcastle. 8:00pm (7:30pm doors). £13.20., £11.00. JNE.
Thu 10: Jeremy McMurray & the Pocket Jazz Orchestra @ Arc, Stockton. 8:00pm. Feat. guests Ray Dales & Jackie Summers.

Fri 11: Zoë Gilby Quartet @ Auckland Castle, Bishop Auckland. 1:00pm. £8.00.
Fri 11: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 11: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 11: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 11: John Rowland Trio: The Music of Ben Webster @ Jesmond Library, Newcastle. 1:00pm. £5.00. Rowland (tenor sax); Alan Law (piano); Paul Grainger (double bass).
Fri 11: Imelda May @ The Fire Station, Sunderland. 7:30pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 11: Shunyata Improvisation Group @ Cullercoats Watch House. 7:30-9:00pm. Free (donations).

Sat 12: Jason Isaacs @ STACK, Seaburn. 3:30-5:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 12: Rob Heron & the Tea Pad Orchestra + House of the Black Gardenia + King Bees @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. 6:30pm (doors). £18.00.
Sat 12: Bright Street Big Band @ Washington Arts Centre. 6:30pm. £12.00. Event includes swing dance taster session, DJ dance session. Bright Street Big Band on stage 7:30-8:15pm & 8:45-9:30pm. SOLD OUT!
Sat 12: Milne Glendinning Band @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 12: Imelda May @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 7:30pm. £42.20. SOLD OUT!
Sat 12: Papa G’s Troves @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 13: Daniel John Martin with Swing Manouche @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00pm. £10.00.
Sun 13: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 13: Hejira: A Celebration of Joni Mitchell @ Wylam Brewery, Newcastle. 8:00pm (7:00pm doors). £22.50.
Sun 13: Wilkinson/Edwards/Noble + Chojnacki @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £13.20., £11.00. JNE.

Mon 14: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 14: Zoë Gilby Quintet @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £10.00.

Tue 15: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Michael Young, Paul Grainger, Abbie Finn.

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

Monday, October 19, 2020

Q & A with Dave Weisser & Jude Murphy - Part 2 of 3.

BSH: Dave, you are probably best known these days for the Take it to the Bridge sessions which, prior to these strange times, ran for many years at a variety of venues before becoming established at The Globe.

Dave: Yes, it started off when we came back from working abroad.  Terry Ellis and Bazz Ascroft were also at loose ends at the time, and I got them together at the Beamish Mary pub in No Place, County Durham.  That ran as a very popular jam session for several years before a change of pub management meant we were looking for other venues.  A short stint at the Bridge led to a really long residency at Jesmond’s Bluebell, then we moved on to the Egypt Cottage, the Tyne Bar, and eventually, The Chillingham Arms in Heaton.  Only when the Chilli was refurbishing did we find our way to the Globe, where we’re very happy.

BSH: As the recent interview with Matt Mackellar proved you have been a great one for nurturing young talent. Not in an academic way but giving them the chance to play in the real world of the jam session or, as you prefer, the jazz workshop. Apart from Matt, would you like to name any others who found their feet at, so to speak, your feet?

Dave: Well, there’s another very talented young drummer Matt Fairhurst, and Mike Papapavlou on guitar, and there was the late and much-lamented Darren Grainger on sax.  More recently we’ve had a couple of young international players showing up, Salvatore di Novo on clarinet and Fabio Vernuccio on bass.  And that’s not to mention our fantastic long term regulars, who may not count as “young talent” as such, but hey!  Of course we also had lots of people passing through who were already well established jazz players and who are very much local names, like Alan Law, Paul Gowland, Pete Gilligan, the list is endless really.

BSH: Dave, do you remember the Take it to the Bridge session at the Tanners' Arms when Claude Werner turned up and sat-in? It was like: Wow! Who's this?!  And again at the Egypt Cottage when David Carnegie walked in. It must be a thrill when such great players, new to the scene, seek out your workshop session. 

Dave: Yes, it’s always a privilege and it emphasises how the session is open to all ability and experience levels.

BSH: For as long as I can remember, Barrie Ascroft was on keyboards or bass guitar. His passing must have been a tremendous blow to you both.

Dave: We miss him so much.  He wrote a tune with a title that summed him up perfectly, Mr Rascal! We go back a very long way, to the late 1970s, when I went to see a very highly rated band called Technique at a club in Gateshead.  Little did I know I’d be flat sharing with the keyboard player a few years later and that we’d work together on a cruise.

Jude: Dave and Barrie were like the odd couple!

Bazz was such a huge loss.  Yes, he could be irascible, but that was all part of the hugely talented package – he was equally brilliant on keyboards and bass, and of course his writing was superb.  I personally have so much to thank him for.  He taught me lots about reading chord charts, and tolerated my first faltering steps at walking bass with the comment “It wasn’t TOO painful”, he even used to record regular editions of Coronation Street for me any time we were away and he was home!

BSH: Jude, correct me if I’m wrong, but you seemed to be a relatively late comer to the workshops. I remember you turning up at The Chilli one night and blowing everyone off the stand with your flute playing. Where had you been hiding? Next thing we knew you were blowing alto, playing bass and singing better than most of the so-called jazz singers!

Jude: When we came back from working the hotels, it was to have our daughter.  For a long time, apart from the occasional paid restaurant gig, I was primarily Jess’s mam, while simultaneously studying for an MA and PhD in History and starting out on a career in academia and adult ed.  So the only jams I got to were maybe one a year, when I could sort out babysitting!  But I did get to the Sage’s first jazz workshops, where I met Stu and Fiona Finden, and now we’re all in Budtet together.

BSH: You’ve also been playing in a few different bands. Soznak is one that springs to mind tell us about them.

Jude: I feel so privileged to be part of the Newcastle institution that is Soznak.  Paul Miskin, the band leader, has done so much through the decades to keep street arts vibrant, and nothing really compares with playing a tune and watching everyone around the Monument starting to move along with the beat.  This works with disco classics, reggae, jazz standards, out and out rockers, we just all love playing together and I think it’s infectious.  Somehow it helps you forget the sometimes sub-zero temperatures. Favourite moments: when we had a huge protest group in Anonymous masks boogying on down to One Step Beyond; and when I shared a mic with Lulu (yes, THE Lulu) on Steve Miller’s The Joker. 

BSH: Dave, over the years you’ve switched from trumpet to cornet – any particular reason? Plus you seem to have an amazing ear for a tune and I’ve never known you to forget a lyric

Dave: I found the cornet was easier to blow.  I’ve also played flugelhorn and love the tone of it, but the cornet is my long term favourite.  Ironic, because it’s by far my cheapest instrument.  I picked it up for £32 from the Quayside Market. It didn’t even have a case.  It was Terry Lambert, from the Barracudas, who spotted it and negotiated a discount for me because he was a stallholder at the time.

I don’t know where my memory for lyrics comes from.  Years of listening, I suppose.

(Continued tomorrow)

Part 1

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