Bebop Spoken There

Dominick "Domo" Branch: ''Most people say drummers can't write, they're just time-keepers only beating on things. But I have a very musical brain.'' (DownBeat February, 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

18288 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 18 years ago. 142 of them this year alone and, so far this month (Feb. 14), 42

From This Moment On ...

February

Fri 20: Alex Clarke w. Dean Stockdale Trio @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT! Clarke w. Dean Stockdale, Mick Shoulder, Abbie Finn.
Fri 20: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 20: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 20: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 20: Squabble @ Warkworth Memorial Hall. 7:00pm. Steve Chambers (organ); Jude Murphy (double bass, vocals); Sid White (drums).
Fri 20: Jive Aces @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 7:00pm (6:30pm doors).
Fri 20: Alex Clarke w. Dean Stockdale Trio @ Sunderland Minster. 7:30pm. Clarke w. Dean Stockdale, Mick Shoulder, Abbie Finn.

Sat 21: ???

Sun 22: Musicians Unlimited: Big Band Blast @ West Hartlepool RFC. 1:00-3:00pm . Free.
Sun 22: Joe Steels Group @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm. A Blue Patch album tour.
Sun 22: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 22: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 22: Harben Kay Quartet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 23: Joe Steels Group @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 1:00pm. A Blue Patch album tour.
Mon 23: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 24: Finn-Keeble Group @ Newcastle House Hotel, Rothbury. 7:30pm. £11.00.
Tue 24: Liam Oliver & Shayo Oshodi @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Wed 25: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 25: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 25: Geordie Jazz Jam @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. Newcastle University jam session. All welcome.
Wed 25: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 26: Castillo Nuevo Orquesta @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £6.50.
Thu 26: Shalala @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £7.00 adv.
Thu 26: Mick Cantwell Band @ The Harbour View, Roker, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Blues.

Fri 27: Joe Steels Group @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. £8.00. SOLD OUT! A Blue Patch album tour.
Fri 27: Alan Barnes w. Mick Shoulder Trio @ Bishop Auckland Methodist Church. 1:00pm. £9.00. Trio: Rick Laughlin (piano); Mick Shoulder (double bass); Tim Johnston (drums).
Fri 27: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 27: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 27: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 27: Radio Hito + Eddie Prévost, Silvain Schmid & Tom Wheatley @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm (doors). £12.22., £10.10., £8.00.
Fri 27: Giacomo Smith w Strictly Smokin’ Big Band @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm.
Fri 27: Alan Barnes w. Mick Shoulder Trio @ The Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. £15.00. Trio: Rick Laughlin (piano); Mick Shoulder (double bass); Tim Johnston (drums).

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

Tuesday, February 02, 2021

James Pearson's Rhapsody in Light Blue live streaming from Ronnie Scott's - Feb. 1

James Pearson (piano); Jeremy Brown (double bass); Matt Skelton (drums); Pete Long (alto sax, clarinet); Callum Au (trombone, euphonium); James 'JT' Turner (tuned percussion); Alicja Smietana (violin). 

(Screenshots by Ken Drew)

James Pearson presented a live stream celebration of Rhapsody in Blue. Ronnie Scott's MD introduced an all-star chamber jazz ensemble to perform a selection of compositions from George Gershwin's earliest days on Tin Pan Alley to Porgy and Bess to his An American in Paris Days and the focus of this Monday evening concert, Rhapsody in Blue. 

The house trio is an attraction in itself, the addition of two of Ronnie's regulars (Pete Long, reeds, Callum Au, brass) and a couple of specialists (James 'JT' Turner, tuned percussion, Alicja Smietana, violin) assisted Pearson in creating something akin to the full orchestral voices available to Gershwin (and Paul Whiteman) almost a century ago. 

Swanee from 1919, a vehicle for star singer Al Jolson, made composer G. Gershwin, not yet twenty one, a small fortune. MD Pearson has yet to pen a chart-topper but he sure can play them! Our pianist's easy going commentary helped join the dots of Gershwin's rise and rise. Social distancing measures obliged the trio to take to the stage (joined from time to time by classical violin virtuoso Smietana) with Long (playing some hot Goodman-style clarinet) and Au (a one-man brass section) on the floor of the room, percussionist Turner to one side. 

A Porgy and Bess medley (inc. It Ain't Necessarily So, There's a Boat Dat's Leavin' Soon for New York), a Tubby Hayes' arrangement of Love Walked In (what's the betting Tubbs played it, with a modern jazz line-up to die for, in this very room?) featured Smietana and Long. Is Pete Long underrated? Does he have the same high profile as some of his contemporaries?*

Pearson in Oscar P mode on The Man I Love from the Broadway version of An American in Paris, Blue Lullaby (Prelude no.2) as a Pearson-Smietana duo feature, and on to the finale. Twenty minutes or thereabouts, Pearson directing the ensemble, the one we (some of us?) had been waiting for - Rhapsody in Blue, or as our MD preferred, Rhapsody in Light Blue.   

* Pete Long will be working with the Strictly Smokin' Big Band on an Ellington concert programme at Sage Gateshead next year (February 26, 2022). Book now at: www.sagegateshead.com.                 
Russell
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