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

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: Tweed River Jazz Band @ Barrels Ale House, Berwick. 7:00pm. 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.

Thu 19: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £5.00. Subject: Stephen Joshua Sondheim.
Thu 19: FILM: Köln 75 @ Forum Cinema, Hexham. 7:30pm. £10.00., £7.00., £3.00. Dir. Ido Fluk. Fictional account of Keith Jarrett’s 1975 Köln concert. A Tyne Valley Film Festival preview screening.
Thu 19: Ransom Van @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Fri 20: Gerry Richardson Quartet @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 20: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 20: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 20: Theon Cross + support @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm (doors). £17.51., £13.31., £11.16., £9.04. Support set feat. members of balletLORENT’s Creative Studio in association with NYJO.
Fri 20: Groove Crusade @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £15.00. CANCELLED!
Fri 20: Jason Isaacs Big Band @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £32.00.
Fri 20: Joe Steels Group @ Sunderland Minster. 7:30pm. £12.00. +bf, £15.00. on the door. A Blue Patch album tour. Old Black Cat Jazz Club.
Fri 20: Middlesbrough Jazz & Blues Orchestra @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 20: Rendezvous Jazz @ Riverdale Hall Hotel, Bellingham NE48 2JT. Tel: 01434 220254. 8:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 20: Mark Toomey Quintet @ The Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm.

Sat 21: Freetime Old Dixie Jazz Band @ St Augustine’s Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm. £10.00. Darlington New Orleans Jazz Club. FODJB (Holland).
Sat 21: NUJO Jazz Jam @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm (doors). £3.76.
Sat 21: Ray Stubbs R&B Allstars @ Billy Bootleggers, Newcastle. 7:00pm. 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

Saturday, January 16, 2021

A Wake-up Call for Bop Van Winkle

Jazz? Love it man! I really dig the jive. Now that I’ve woken up after my big sleep, boy that Brown Ale sure has a kick, I can’t wait to have a shave and get down to the New Orleans Club and hear Ronnie McLean and the Panama Jazzmen. That guy sure plays a mean trombone.

You’re telling me Ronnie’s gone – Gone where? Touring again with Disley and Hastings? Up there? Man, it just shows you that only the good die young although I guess they made an exception in Ronnie’s case. And now you’re telling me the club’s been turned into an Indian Restaurant. Is nothing sacred?

Well, I haven’t got eyes for a Vindaloo so I’ll head across town to The Downbeat for the all-nighter. My old buddy Crombie will be on the door, he’ll let me in. That Emcee Five plays my kind of bebop – Hey-ba-ba-re-bop!

The Downbeat’s no more? Crombie’s dead and so are the brothers Carr?

Newcastle’s finished! I’m gonna jump on the good old steam train and take me, my LPs and my Slim Jim ties down to London. Ronnie Scott’s opened a place on Gerrard St. Zoot Sims played there maybe Ronnie will book him again.

You’re kidding me? Ronnie’s dead? Zoot’s dead? And the club’s now in Frith St and it’s all posh?

England’s finished, I’m off to New York. 52nd St. here I come. Cut it with the cats at Bop City – they named me after that club, or was it the other way round? I’ll soon be hi-fiving it with Diz and Monk just you wait and see.

Bop City and all the clubs on The Street are gone? And if I go around hi-fiving I’ll end up in jail or joining Diz and Monk up there?

Maybe Paris then, Brexit? Don't know him but if he's good I wanna hear him - oh, I see, but I can still go to Paris can't I? Just gotta fill in the forms, get the jabs and wait and see.

You know what? I’m gonna go back to the Land of Nod. Best take a bottle of the old brown dog with me to help me on my way – I’m gonna need it. See you again or maybe not. Now where did I put that bottle opener ...?

Bop Van Winkle.

(Interview by Lance)

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