Total Pageviews

Bebop Spoken There

Sullivan Fortner: ''I always judge it by the bass player: If the bass player is happy, it's going to be a good night". (DownBeat, February 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

17777 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 98 of them this year alone and, so far, 23 this month (Feb.8).

From This Moment On ...

February 2025

Sun 16: MOBO Song @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 12 noon. Free, performances on the concourse. Line-up inc. Jazz Attack (on stage time TBC) & Jambone (12:20pm).
Sun 16: Jason Isaacs @ STACK, Exchange Sq., Middlesbrough. 1:00-2:45pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sun 16: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 16: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 16: MOBO Awards Fringe 2025: BBC Introducing NE X MOBO Showcase @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 6:00pm. Free (ticketed). Line-up inc. Jambone, Knats, Rivkala, SwanNek.
Sun 16: The Shayo Experience @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 16: Gerry Richardson Quartet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. .

Mon 17: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 17: Matt Forster Quartet @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 1:00pm. £9.00. at the door; £8.20. (inc £0.20 bf) online, in advance.
Mon 17: Russ Morgan Quartet @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £10.00.

Tue 18: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Alan Law, Paul Grainger, John Hirst.

Wed 19: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 19: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 19: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 20: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, Holystone. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 20: James Birkett & Emma Fisk @ King’s Hall, Newcastle University. 1:15pm. Free.
Thu 20: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: Jazz Milestones - 1975.
Thu 20: Renegade Brass Band @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors).
Thu 20: Orange Claw Hammer + Peony @ The Globe, Newcastle.7:30pm. Orange Claw Hammer play Captain Beefheart.
Thu 20: Jeremy McMurray & the Pocket Jazz Orchestra @ Arc, Stockton. 8:00pm. Featuring special guest Zoë Gilby.

Fri 21: JazzMain @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 21: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 21: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 21: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 21: Joe Steels Trio @ The Pele, Corbridge. 7:00pm. £10.00. TBC.
Fri 21: Emma Rawicz w. Strictly Smokin’ Big Band @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm.

Sat 22: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 12:30-2:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 22: Jason Isaacs @ Seaburn STACK, Seaburn. 3:30pm-5:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 22: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 22: Mississippi MacDonald @ Claypath Deli, Durham. 7:00pm. Blues.
Sat 22: Lindsay Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ Old Cinema Laundrette, Durham. 7:45pm. £16.50. SOLD OUT!
Sat 22: Michael Woods @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Country blues guitar & vocals.

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

Monday, February 08, 2021

Roy Marsh and the Foolscap Club

I'm wondering if I'm the only person who remembers The Foolscap Club? Situated at the top end of Gateshead High Street it was, as I remember, a club for, but not exclusively, journalists. I say, not exclusively, as I was an occasional visitor and any journalistic ambitions I may have had didn't surface until many years later.
However, the main reason I frequented the club - late 1960s/early 1970s - was because Roy Marsh played organ.

Marsh was one of the first outstanding British vibes player having recorded and broadcast with Harry Parry, Eric Winstone and other British bands in the 1940s and 1950s. Although he never topped the MM polls, from 1944 until 1959 he was always in the shake-up running second to Victor Feldman in 1950.

I don't think he stayed at The Foolscap very long and I don't think the club itself lasted very long, but I do, rather vaguely, remember his playing rising above the smoke-filled, incessant chatter that was so atmospheric of clubs at that time.

Amazingly, I have yet to meet many musicians who remember Roy Marsh playing up here and none at all who can remember the club. Someone tell me I wasn't dreaming!
Lance.
 
Vibes
1 Victor Feldman
2 Roy Marsh
3 Tommy Pollard
4 Martin Slavin

2 comments :

Alf Stone said...

Rest easy, Lance, you didn't dream it. I first came across the Fool's Cap Club in an old copy of The Stage from November 1964 when Wee Georgie Wood told them that he had travelled north for the grand opening. He said it featured Midgeley and Hawks who were very much in the style of Bob and Alf Pearson and it was run by Mr. and Mrs. Knox-Crichton. It was described in an ad thus: "Many amenities and a warm welcome to THE PROFESSION living in or visiting the North East". It didn't last long under the Knox-Crichtons and was under new management in May 1965 when Roy Marsh first seems to have appeared on the scene. It was at 91 High West Street, Gateshead which along with most of the area was demolished in the early 1970s. It had previously been what was claimed to be Gateshead's first night club and called The Coffee Pot.

Douglas-Knox Crichton appeared in a handful of films in the 1940s under the name of Knox Crichton but he was born Douglas Stewart Williams.

Lance said...

Thanks Alf. I recall a Knox-Crichton contributing an article to The World's Fair the magazine of The Showman's Guild. It was about the Sunday lunchtime jazz gigs at the Bluebell in Felling. This too would be in the 1960s and was probably the same guy. I still have the cutting somewhere. I guess it would be the same guy.

I recall The Coffee Pot although I don't think I was ever there when it was called that.

Blog Archive