Bebop Spoken There

John McLaughlin: ''It was then that Coltrane came along and single-handedly brought this dimension of spirituality into jazz. It was a pivotal experience to me.'' (DownBeat September, 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

18957 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 18 years ago. 821 of them this year alone and, so far this month (Sept. 30.) 100.

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

From This Moment On

October.

Tue 06: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Murray Oak, Paul Grainger, John Bradford.
Tue 06: Customs House Big Band @ The Masonic Hall, Ferryhill. 7:30pm. Free.
Tue 06: Black is the Color of My Voice @ Northern Stage, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Apphia Campbell’s one-woman stage play inspired by Nina Simone. First night of two.

Wed 07: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free. Wed 07: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 07: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 07: Black is the Color of My Voice @ Northern Stage, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Apphia Campbell’s one-woman stage play inspired by Nina Simone. Second night of two.

Thu 08: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ The Millstone, Mill Rise, South Gosforth, Newcastle. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 08: Pete Tanton’s Chet Set @ Newcastle Arts Centre. 7:30pm. Free (donations).
Thu 08: Indigo Jazz Voices w. Little Big Band @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:45pm. £5.00.

Fri 09: Dean Stockdale Trio @ Bishop Auckland Methodist Church. 1:00pm. £9.00. Dean Stockdale (piano); Mick Shoulder (double bass); John Bradford (drums).
Fri 09: John Rowland Trio @ Jesmond Library, Newcastle. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 09: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 09: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 09: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 09: Shalala @ The Globe, Newcastle.

Sat 10: Catfish Keith @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £19.00. + bf. Jumpin’ Hot Club.

Sun 11: Am Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 11: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 2:30pm. Free. Feat. guest Jack ‘Banjo’ Courtney (trumpet).
Sun 11: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 11: Harry Christelis Quartet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A Jazz Co-op-JNE co-promotion.

Mon 12: Jack Pearce Quintet @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 1:00pm.
Mon 12: Friends of Jazz @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Thursday, January 28, 2021

Live streaming from Jack's Place - Jan. 27

Jamie Brownfield (trumpet); Andrzej Baranek (keyboards); Ed Harrison (double bass); Jack Cotterill (drums)

A live stream from the comfort of Jack Cotterill's rented studio. As it's a working environment the quartet was operating within government guidelines. Drummer Cotterill and trumpeter Jamie Brownfield are often to be found in pre-swing era style outfits, this evening they moved on fifteen or so years to play, for the most part, some swing-to-bop material in the company of bop-to-modernists Andrzej Baranek and Ed Harrison. 

This first live stream session from Jack's temporary space encountered minor sound issues which were duly rectified - we were four numbers in before the guys realised Cotterill's mic wasn't switched on! What's more, our bandleader freely admitted he didn't know who composed this tune or that tune! The first tune, Monk's Green Chimneys, Cotterill had never heard, let alone played before. Much chatter, principally between drummer and trumpeter, led to Cotterill, on more than one occasion, guessing Wynton Marsalis had written the tune. He got one right as the quartet played the LCJO leader's Big Fat Hen featuring Herlin Riley's dominant New Orleans drum pattern. 

Remarkably, Cotterill had never previously made stage announcements. This was his debut! BSH last heard Cotterill live at the Keswick Jazz and Blues Festival, Brownfield at Saltburn Jazz Club, and Baranek and Harrison on Gaz Hughes' nationwide Art Blakey tour. This first weekly (Wednesdays) session roamed freely across a swing-to-bop-to-blues landscape - Parisian Thoroughfare (Cotterill confessing it was a difficult chart, Brownfield handling the Clifford Brown part), Bebop - with an excursion into Armstrong territory on Sleepy Time Down South. The closing number went unannounced. At its conclusion, as Brownfield looked for the live stream's 'off' button, Cotterill declared if anyone could guess the name of the tune they would win a prize. Log on to Cotterill's Facebook page next week (Feb 3) at eight o'clock to a) find out the tune's title, and b) discover what the prize will be!

Set list: Green Chimneys; I've Never Been in Love Before; Big Fat Hen; Parisian Thoroughfare; Sleepy Time Down South; Too Marvelous for Words; Bebop; ?.

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