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

18035 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 999 of them this year alone and, so far, 13 this month (Dec. 7).

From This Moment On ...

DECEMBER 2025

Mon 08: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 09: Jazz Jam Sandwich @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm

Wed 10: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 10: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 10: Jam Session @ The Tannery, Hexham. 7:00pm. Free.
Wed 10: Mike Lindup Jazz Trio @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £26.50 (inc. bf). Lindup, Yolanda Charles (bass), John Sam (drums).
Wed 10: Bold Big Band @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £12.00.

Thu 11: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: West Coast (cool ) / Wordsearch (cool) Cool Jazz or ‘Cold’, ‘Cool’, ‘Hot’, ‘Warm’ in the title or lyrics.
Thu 11: George Robinson @ Prohibition Bar, Albert Road, Middlesbrough TS1 2RU. 7:00pm (doors). £5.42 (inc. bf). Vienna’s Voice charity evening featuring ’15 year old singing sensation the ‘Redcar Crooner’ George Robinson’. Over 35s only. CANCELLED!
Thu 11: Paul Skerritt @ Chakh Dhoom, Jesmond, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Indian restaurant. Skerritt w. back tapes.
Thu 11: Ransom Van @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm.
Thu 11: Down for the Count Swing Orchestra @ Middlesbrough Town Hall. 7:30pm. £37.70 (inc. bf). ‘Swing into Xmas’.

Fri 12: Pete Tanton’s Chet Set @ Bishop Auckland Methodist Church. 1:00pm. £8.00.
Fri 12: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 12: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 12: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 12: Milne Glendinning Band @ Northumberland Club, Jesmond, Newcastle. 7:00pm. £15.00. ‘Xmas Soiree’.
Fri 12: A Jazzy Xmas @ St Cuthbert’s Centre, Crook. 7:30pm. £15.00. Paul Edis (MD, piano); Jo Harrop (vocals); Vasilis Xenopoulos (tenor sax, soprano sax); Matthew Forster (alto sax, clarinet); Sue Ferris (flute, piccolo); Graham Hardy (trumpet, flugelhorn); Jason Holcomb (trombone);Emma Fisk (violin); Andy Champion (double bass); Matt MacKellar (drums). SOLD OUT!
Fri 12: Tony Hadley: Xmas Big Band Tour 2025 @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 7:30pm.
Fri 12: Alexia Gardner @ The New Ship Inn, Newbiggin-by-the-Sea. 8:00pm. Gardner, Alan Law, Jude Murphy, Abbie Finn. CANCELLED!
Fri 12: Jive Aces: Swingin’ Xmas Show @ The Witham, Barnard Castle. 8:00pm.

Sat 13: A Jazzy Xmas @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 2:00pm. Paul Edis (MD, piano); Jo Harrop (vocals); Vasilis Xenopoulos (tenor sax, soprano sax); Faye Thompson (alto sax, clarinet); Sue Ferris (flute, piccolo); Graham Hardy (trumpet, flugelhorn); Jason Holcomb (trombone);Emma Fisk (violin); Andy Champion (double bass); Matt MacKellar (drums).
Sat 13: Milne Glendinning Band @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 13: Teresa Watson Band @ Billy Bootleggers, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. Blues.
Sat 13: Washboard Resonators @ The White Room, Stanley. 7:45pm. £14.09 (inc. bf).
Sat 13: Salty Dog @ Alnwick Playhouse. 7:45pm. Americana, blues, jazz.
Sat 13: A Jazzy Xmas @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm. Paul Edis (MD, piano); Jo Harrop (vocals); Vasilis Xenopoulos (tenor sax, soprano sax); Faye Thompson (alto sax, clarinet); Sue Ferris (flute, piccolo); Graham Hardy (trumpet, flugelhorn); Jason Holcomb (trombone);Emma Fisk (violin); Andy Champion (double bass); Matt MacKellar (drums).

Sun 14: Musicians Unlimited + Darlington Big Band @ West Hartlepool RFC. 12 noon-6:00pm. £9.00. Musicians Unlimited’s Xmas Party.
Sun 14: Am Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 14: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Skerritt w. backing tapes.
Sun 14: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 14: Alexia Gardner Quintet @ The White Room, Stanley. 6:30pm. £15.18 (inc. bf).
Sun 14: Paul Skerritt @ The Black Candle, South Shields. 6:30pm. Skerritt w. backing tapes.
Sun 14: Sean Noonan Trio @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. JNE.

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

Friday, November 06, 2020

EFG LONDON JAZZ FESTIVAL 2020 FRIDAY 13 - SUNDAY 22 NOVEMBER MOVES TO EXCLUSIVELY ONLINE PROGRAMME

(Press release)

The EFG London Jazz Festival will be going ahead as a huge range of shows and special events online, with live concerts now streamed from venues across London and remaining an integral part of the programme. There are a host of streams and online events in the Festival, many available free to view: new work, new collaborations, unique performances, bespoke productions from international artists, talks, family events and interactive sessions, bringing this exceptional 10-day event to audiences across the world.

The Festival’s signature Jazz Voice (Friday 13 November) opens both the programme and the EFG Elements Series.  Streamed from Cadogan Hall, it features China Moses, David McAlmont, Zara McFarlane, Luca Manning, Cleveland Watkiss and Vanessa Haynes, musically directed by Guy Barker and hosted by Jumoké Fashola. The EFG Elements Series also includes performances from Judi Jackson (Saturday 21 November) and Kansas Smitty’s House Band (Sunday 22 November), alongside a special concert live-streamed from the Barbican by Cassie Kinoshis SEED Ensemble, with special guests Shabaka Hutchings, Ashley Henry, Richie Seivwright and Yahael Camara-Onono (Saturday 14 November).

The Barbican will also host a live-stream of Shabaka Hutchings with Britten Sinfonia (Wednesday 18 November), whilst Dinosaur (Sunday 15 November), Yazz Ahmed (Thursday 19 November) and Binker Golding (Saturday 21 November) will present online concerts from Kings Place.

A new partnership between the festival and Mixcloud will host a series of shows, including Emma Jean Thackray (Friday 13 November), Sarathy Korwar (Thursday 19 November) and Rosie Turton (Saturday 21 November), all filmed at Total Refreshment Centre.  Mixcloud will also present the concerts from the Between the Lines Festival: a night curated by Leafcutter John (Tuesday 17 November), Erased Tapes featuring Anne Müller, Daniel Thorne and Hatis Noit (Monday 16 November) and The Spectacular Empire featuring Loraine James, GLOR1A and more (Wednesday 18 November).  Tenderlonious Presents the Music of 22a (Sunday 22 November), a night featuring Ruby RushtonNick WaltersThe Piccolo and a DJ set from Dennis Ayler, and PALATIUM, presented by GAIKA with Azekel & Miink (Friday 20 November) will also be hosted by Mixcloud.

A series of exclusive streams by international artists include Armenian piano maestro Tigran Hamasyan (Saturday 14 November), jazz bassist Linda May Han Oh (Monday 16 November), the bass player of Pat Metheny, a collaboration between French guitarist Paul Jarrett and inspirational drummer Jim Black (Monday 16 November), a concert filmed in Paris by Vincent Peirani & Emile Parisien (Tuesday 17 November), a performance by Cuban pianist, Harold López Nussa (Tuesday 17 November) and a concert by Norwegian guitarist-composer Hedvig Mollestad (Thursday 19 November). Istanbul Psychedelic (Saturday 21 October) features special names in Turkish alternative music, Moğollar, Baba Zula, Islandman and Ilhan Ersahin’s Istanbul Sessions, whilst Vilnius Jazz transmits the very best of Lithuanian talent (Sunday 15 November), New Switzerland (Saturday 14 November) brings together Julie Campiche, IKARUS and Trio Heinz Herbert and New Sweden (Saturday 21 November) includes Fartyg 6 and POST-SUN-VISION.

Writer and broadcaster, Kevin Le Gendre, will present livestream sessions ARTicle10: Conversations in the Era of Black Lives Matter (Tuesday 17Wednesday 18Thursday 19 November), where he is joined by six special guests for a series of conversations on race, racism and the need for change within the music industry.  Guest speakers include Janine Irons (Tomorrows Warriors), Ammo Talwar (PUNCH), Carleen Anderson, Nicole Mitchell, Jason Moran and Orphy Robinson.

Gary Crosby, co-founder and artistic director of Tomorrow’s Warriors, makes a rare appearance in Church of Sound: Gary Crosby’s Groundation present the Charlie Parker Songbook and Originals (Friday 20 November), collaborating with alumni Nathaniel Facey, Shirley Tetteh and Moses Boyd.  The Festival continues its close relationship with Chicago’s ground-breaking label International Anthem, presenting Ben Lamar Gay (Sunday 15 November) and a performance by collective Irreversible Entanglements (Sunday 22 November), featuring front woman Moor Mother.

Multi-instrumentalist and composer  Orphy Robinson and composer/filmmaker/director Gabriel Finn collaborate to deliver Orphy Robinson’s Virtual Jazz Club Band (Saturday 21 November), and in a festival first, multi-instrumentalist and producer Shri Sriram will accompany mindful Jazz Yoga (Sunday 22 November). Singer Juliet Kelly will lead both ‘Songs From Life’ (Saturday 14 November) bringing reminiscence for African Caribbean elders, and Jazz Kids (Saturday 14 November), an interactive musical session for all the family.

Jazz history features at the Esquire Covers Club, in a specially-built digital exhibition hall that launches next week, with contrasting sleeves from the American and British releases of classic jazz albums. 

Films include a screening of Billie, documenting the life of the iconic Billie Holiday at the Barbican’s Cinema on Demand Platform running throughout the festival, with a Q&A with the film’s director James Erskine and co-producer Shianne Brown, hosted by Zakia Sewell  (Sunday 15 November). BBC Four Jazz 625 returns to celebrate the UK jazz boom with Sons of Kemet, Matthew Halsall, Sarathy Korwar, Moses Boyd Exodus, Ezra Collective, Nubya Garcia and Kokoroko (Friday 20 November) and hosts the final of the BBC Young Jazz Musician competition (Sunday 22 November).

BBC Radio 3 live broadcasts Jazz Voice, followed by jazz through the night, including J to Z Late live, featuring Kansas Smitty’s House BandCamilla George and Jas Kayser  and concerts by Chick Corea in 2012 and Wayne Shorter in 1995 from the Jazz Festival archive (Friday 13 - Saturday 14 November). BBC Radio 3 broadcasts will follow with another J to Z  EFG London Jazz Festival Special featuring exclusive performances from Festival shows (Saturday 14 November),  a concert by Abel Selaocoe and the BBC Concert Orchestra, conducted by Clark Rundell, from the Royal Festival Hall (Friday 20 November).  Jazz FM presents a host of interviews and a special programme dedicated to the Festival, hosted by Jez Nelson, on Saturday 14 November at 9pm.

The Festival will also feature a breadth of shows streamed from London’s grassroots clubs and venues with artists such as Gwilym Simcock, Trish ClowesNathaniel FaceyAnoushka Lucas, and Sam Leak, performing from Ronnie Scott’s, 606 ClubCLF Art LoungeGreen NoteOliver’s Jazz Bar, and more.

For a comprehensive guide to the festival and streaming links of these shows please go to: www.efglondonjazzfestival.org.uk/whats-on

No comments :

Blog Archive