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Bebop Spoken There

Steve Coleman: ''If you don't keep learning, your mind slows down. Use it or lose it''. (DownBeat, January 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

17655 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 929 of them this year alone and, so far, 74 this month (Dec. 31).

From This Moment On ...

January 2025

Sun 05: Smokin’ Spitfires @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:45pm. £7.50.
Sun 05: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 05: Salty Dog @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Americana, jazz & blues.
Sun 05: Papa G’s Troves @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free (donations).

Mon 06: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 07: Customs House Big Band @ The Masonic Hall, North St., Ferryhill DL17 8HX. 7:00pm. Free.

Wed 08: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 08: The Tannery Jam Session @ The Tannery, Gilesgate, Hexham. 7:00-9:00pm. Free.
Wed 08: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 08: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).

Thu 09: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: John H Hammond.
Thu 09: FILM: Soundtrack to a Coup D’Etat @ Tyneside Cinema, Newcastle. 2:35pm. Documentary (dir. Johan Grimonprez) ‘about jazz, (de)colonial history and activism featuring Louis Armstrong, Nina Simone and Dizzy Gillespie’.
Thu 09: Happy Tuesdays @ Ye Olde Cross, Ryton. 7:30pm. Free.
Thu 09: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. Ragtime piano. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 09: Mark Toomey Quartet @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm. Free. A Tees Hot Club promotion. The session now monthly, next one Thursday 2nd Feb, then first Thursday in the month thereafter.

Fri 10: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 10: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 10: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 10: Joe Steels Trio @ The Pele, Corbridge. 7:00pm. Free.

Sat 11: Jason Isaacs @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 12:30-2:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 11: Under the Wellie @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

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

Saturday, April 24, 2021

Spring is Here with Paul & Vasilis - April 23

(Screenshot by Russell)
Paul Edis (piano); Vasilis Xenopoulos (tenor sax)

Spring has sprung. Jazz gigs and residencies are beginning to be confirmed up and down the land. Here on Tyneside the first outdoor, socially distanced gig is just five days away, indoor events are set to resume from May 20. What this means for the live stream remains to be seen. 

On Friday evening Paul Edis and Vasilis Xenopoulos presented a third monthly live stream gig from west London. It could be that it turns out to be the duo's final stream with the prospect of a return to live performance looming on the horizon. Perhaps they'll live stream a gig, watch this space! For now, their late April edition live stream from Rokit Studios took as its theme 'spring'. Eight compositions - six of them with 'spring' in the title, two others making the set list due to the spring-time month of April being part of the song titles - were heard across the hour, Paul playing the studio's upright piano, Vasilis his trusty tenor sax. 

Clifford Brown's Joy Spring never fails to score with an audience and this evening's virtual assembly no doubt applauded long and loud. Geat playing by both men, it'll be a treat to hear them once again, live in concert. Michel Legrand's heart-rending You Must Believe in Spring tugged at the strings, Freddie Hubbard's Up Jumped Spring restored faith, and on to Spring is Here with quite brilliant piano playing by Paul, Vasilis in tremendous form, our duo making it all look so easy on this reading of Rodgers and Hart's classic number. 
  
A brisk take on I'll Remember April, Vasilis commanding on Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most, this is how to live stream! To close out a marvellous hour, It Might as Well be Spring (it is!) followed by Vernon Duke's classic April in Paris. Next month there could be a live stream, perhaps not. Stay tuned for up-to-the-minute news.   
Russell 

Set list: Joy Spring; You Must Believe in Spring; Up Jumped Spring; Spring is Here; I'll Remember April; Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most; It Might as Well be Spring; April in Paris.
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