Bebop Spoken There

Donovan Haffner ('Best Newcomer' 2025 Parliamentary Jazz Awards): ''I got into jazz the first time I picked up a saxophone!" - Jazzwise Dec 25/Jan 26

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

18122 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 1086 of them this year alone and, so far this month (Dec. 31), 100

From This Moment On ...

JANUARY 2026

Mon 05: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 05: Saltburn Big Band @ Saltburn House Hotel. 7:00-9:00pm. Free. No session this week, rescheduled to Monday 12th.

Tue 06: Customs House Big Band @ The Masonic Hall, Ferryhill. 7:00pm. Free.
Tue 06: FILM: Blue Moon @ The Forum Cinema, Hexham. 7:00pm. Dir. Richard Linklater’s biopic of Lorenz Hart.
Tue 06: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Alan Law, Paul Grainger, Scotty Adair.

Wed 07: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 07: FILM: Blue Moon @ The Forum Cinema, Hexham. 2:00pm. Dir. Richard Linklater’s biopic of Lorenz Hart.
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.

Thu 08: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £5.00. Subject: Jazz Milestones of 1976.

Fri 09: The House Trio @ Bishop Auckland Methodist Church. 1:00pm. £9.00.
Fri 09: Nauta @ Jesmond Library, Newcastle. 1:00pm. £5.00. Trio: Jacob Egglestone, Jamie Watkins, Bailey Rudd.
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: Warren James & the Lonesome Travellers @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm. £15.00.
Fri 09: The Blue Kings @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £10.00. (£8.00. adv.). All-star band.

Sat 10: Mark Toomey Quintet @ St Peter’s Church, Stockton-on-Tees. 7:30pm. £12.00. (inc. pie & peas). Tickets from: 07749 255038.

Sun 11: New ’58 Jazz Collective @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 11: Am Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 11: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 11: Eva Fox & the Sound Hounds @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

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, April 28, 2021

Remembering Alex Welsh: Live at Jack's Place - April 28

(Screenshot by Russell)
Jamie Brownfield (trumpet); Andrzej Baranek (piano); Ed Harrison (double bass); Jack Cotterill (drums) 

Week thirteen at Jack Cotterill's place, this evening's live stream featuring the music of Alex Welsh. Initially Facebook played silly beggars resulting in a delay of some fifteen minutes. Host Jack Cotterill put another shilling in the meter and we were in business. New Orleans Masquerade stomped off with Jamie Brownfield firing on all cylinders. No time for inter-song chatter, straight on with a super-swift take on Chinatown, My Chinatown. Yes, things had gotten off to a flyer, as our American cousins might say. 

Brownfield in incendiary form, for sure, yet when the occasion demands he can take it down, our trumpeter doing just that in a duo rendition of Davenport Blues with pianist Andrzej Baranek (Alex Welsh and Fred Hunt!), bassist Ed Harrison leaning on his bull fiddle listening, Cotterill attending to streaming matters. Much of tonight's set drew from Welsh's Classic Concert album (recorded in Dresden in 1971), Maple Leaf Rag one such, typically spirited Dixieland fayre. Next up, Guess the tune, said Cotterill...Oh! Baby, swift as you like. Phew! time to take it down...Solitariness. And up again with Dippermouth Blues. It had been a typical Alex Welsh session! And out on a Basie swinger, Swingin' the Blues.         
Russell

Set list: New Orleans MasqueradeChinatown, My ChinatownSt Louis BluesDavenport BluesMaple Leaf RagOh! BabySolitarinessDippermouth BluesSwingin' the Blues.     

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