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.

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).

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

Wednesday, February 24, 2021

KSTV: Will Arnold-Foster Quartet - Feb.24

Will Arnold-Foster (guitar); Kit Downes (piano); Ferg Ireland (bass); Jas Kayser (drums).

(Screenshots by Ken Drew).

I think tonight was a co-operative effort with no designated leader so, as Will was doing the announcing I'll give him the credit.

This was one of those delightful vignettes that neither sends you to sleep nor keeps you wide awake but has you hovering in that never-never land in between the two extremes which tonight was a good place to be.

Kit Downes is often seen as a boundary-pushing avant-gardist but tonight, as he has done on previous occasions, he showed his compatibility with the more mainstream side of the genre. 

Arnold-Foster proved he he didn't get the gig because his name is Will although at Smitty's it does get your foot in the door if you are called Will*. No, it was his Jim Hall inspired playing that clinched it.

Ferg Ireland is, deservedly so, a KS regular and his ability to play a complex passage whilst adjusting his face mask simultaneously without missing a beat is in itself the stuff of legend.

Talking of legends, drummer Jas is herself becoming something of a celebrity having been pictured in the i newspaper and interviewed on BBC's Woman's Hour of recent and, as if that wasn't enough, when it comes to drummers she's a contender.

A nice mix of tunes including a Kit Downes original. 

The Shadow of Your Smile; Jim Hall's Waltz New (always reminds me of Someday my Prince Will Come); I'll Never Smile Again (as per Bill Evans); Kit's Army of Three; More Bill Evans with Interplay; Giuffre/Hall's Swamp People and finally, as sensitive a version of Georgia on my Mind as you're likely to have heard anywhere other than at The White House on election night.
Lance

*At least four of the KS regulars are called Will!

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