Bebop Spoken There

Ludovic Beier (Django Festival Allstars): ''Manouche means 'free man,' and gypsies have been travelers since they migrated west from India to Europe.'' (DownBeat March, 2026)

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

18361 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 18 years ago. 215 of them this year alone and, so far this month (Mar. 8 ), 25

From This Moment On ...

March

Thu 12: Boomslang @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Thu 12: Ray Stubbs R&B All Stars @ The Mill Tavern, Hebburn. 8:30pm. Free.

Fri 13: Paul Skerritt Quartet @ Bishop Auckland Methodist Church. 1:00pm . £9.00.
Fri 13: The SH#RP Collective @ Jesmond Library, Newcastle. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 13: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 13: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 13: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 13: Soothsayers + Rookie Numbers @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm (doors). £17.51., £14.33., £11.16.

Sat 14: The Too Bad Jims @ Claypath Deli, Durham. 7:00pm (6:30pm doors). £13.20., £11.00. R&B.
Sat 14: NUJO @ Venue, Newcastle University Students’ Union. Time TBC. £15.00. supporter; £10.00. standard; £5.00. student. Seated event.

Sun 15: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 2:30pm. Free.
Sun 15: The Too Bad Jims @ The Georgian Theatre, Stockton. 3:00pm. £12.00. R&B.
Sun 15: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 15: Rebecca Poole @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £14.00., £12.00., £7.00. Poole w. Dean Stockdale & Ken Marley. CANCELLED!

Mon 16: Milne Glendinning Band @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 1:00pm.
Mon 16: Friends of Jazz @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 16: Russ Morgan Quartet @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £10.00.

Tue 17: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Alan Law (piano); Paul Grainger (double bass); Scotty Adair (drums).

Wed 18: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 18: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 18: The ’58 Jazz Collective @ Hartlepool Cricket Club, West Park, 7:30pm. £7.00.
Wed 18: Brand New Heavies @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 7:30pm.
Wed 18: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

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

Sunday, October 04, 2020

Ray Shenton's Tuba

I noted in John Potts’s story that he said that Ray Shenton’s tuba was the oldest in Western Europe. Ray is my Dad and I have his tuba now (with all the old rubber bands and Gaffer tape holding it together) so he doesn’t feel tempted to have a blow and knock himself out.

I looked up the serial number on the Boosey and Hawkes website and it looks like it was made in January 1918. Dad tells me he got it from Lawrence McBriarty in about 1961, who rescued it for him from the territorial band headquarters on Barrack Road when they disbanded.

He did have another tuba before this one that was bought by Colin Hopper for £3 from a junk shop at the bottom of Westgate Road.
Mark Shenton

4 comments :

NeilC said...

Wonderful Story , thank you so much for sharing it with us .

carstairs said...

Although there are a lot older tubas in captivity. I used my little H B Jay c1909 for many gigs as it was easier to carry than my huge Conn recording bass. There's a really ancient Belgian tuba in the attic. Rita Wheatley gave me John's old tuba ( c1910) which I had restored - including a missing valve! Some of my friends regularly play instruments from the 1860s.

However, Ray Shenton was without doubt the hottest player in the North East.

Lance said...

I need some clarification here. Despite working in the music industry for over 30 years, I had little to do with tubas. However, in my youthful brass band days, there were Eb and BBb basses that were referred to as tubas and, somewhere along the line I came across references to a bombardon. To further complicate the issue, sousaphone players were often listed as playing tuba. Words of wisdom please Carstairs.

carstairs said...

One of the first tubaswas a long trumpet used the Romans! A valved tuba was invented in 1835 by Wieprecht. It quickly replaced the old Serpents and Ophicleides. They come in all shapes and sizes. By the 1860s the tuba family ranged from the Bass in C or Bb ( a tenor tuba) pitched the same as a tenor trombone down to 18ft BBb Contrabass. There was some snobbery in England where the player of an Orchestral tuba in F looked down on the Brass/Military bandsman's Eb and Bb bass - often termed a Bombardon. A circular bass or helicon , with the bell behind the player's left shoulder was often used in Military bands. The Sousaphone is simply a circular bass with the bell pointing forwards - Americans usually refer to it as a 'tooba'.
Many of the early Jazz musicians played brass bass, often doubling string bass and even bass Sax. I'm sure you could name many of them, from Wellman Braud, Billy Taylor to Red Callendar.

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