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Bebop Spoken There

Stan Woodward: ''We're part of the British jazz scene, but we don't play London jazz. We play Newcastle jazz. The Knats album represents many things, but most importantly that Newcastle isn't overlooked". (DownBeat, April 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

17923 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 244 of them this year alone and, so far, 91 this month (March 31).

From This Moment On ...

April 2025.

Thu 03: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: Women in Jazz.
Thu 03: Eva Fox & the Jazz Guys @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 03: New ’58 Jazz Collective @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm. Free. A Tees Hot Club promotion. First Thursday in the month.

Fri 04: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 04: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 04: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 04: Ruth Lambert Quartet @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm. £12.00.
Fri 04: Tom McGuire & the Brassholes @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £20.00.
Fri 04: Nicolas Meier’s Infinity Group + Spirit of Jeff Beck @ The Forum, Darlington. 7:30pm.

Sat 05: Tenement Jazz Band @ St Augustine’s Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm. £10.00.
Sat 05: Sleep Suppressor @ Head of Steam, Newcastle. 5:30-6:00pm.
Sat 05: King Bees @ Billy Bootlegger’s, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 6:00pm. Free.
Sat 05: Raymond MacDonald & Jer Reid @ Lubber Fiend, Newcastle. 6:00-9:30pm. £7.72., £1.00. (minimum donation). MacDonald & Reid + Objections + Yotuns.
Sat 05: Jeff Hewer Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 05: Kamasi Washington @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 7:30pm. £33.00.
Sat 05: Vermont Big Band @ The Seahorse, Whitley Bay. 7:30pm. Tickets: £10.00 (from the venue).
Sat 05: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00.

Sun 06: Smokin’ Spitfires @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:45pm. £7.50.
Sun 06: Learning & Participation Showcase @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm (1:00pm doors). Free. Featuring participants from Play More Jazz! Play More Folk! Blue Jam Singers & more.
Sun 06: Joe Steels Group @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00pm. £10.00. Ferg Kilsby, Joe Steels, Ben Lawrence, Paul Susans, John Hirst.
Sun 06: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 06: Paul Skerritt @ The Hooch, Quayside, Newcastle. 6:00pm.
Sun 06: Leeway @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 07: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 08: ???

Wed 09: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 09: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 09: Tannery jam session @ The Tannery, Hexham. 7:00pm.
Wed 09: Anatole Muster Trio @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £17.50., £12.50. concs.
Wed 09: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. CANCELLED?

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, May 22, 2021

Mornington Lockett Quartet with Henry Lowther livestreaming from the 606 - May 22

(Screenshot by Lance)
Mornington Lockett (tenor sax); Henry Lowther (trumpet/flugel); Mike Gorman (piano); Geoff Gascoyne (bass); Mark Fletcher (drums).

One of the good old good ones from the Joe Henderson pad, a number beloved of jammers and hard-boppers - Recorda Me got things moving. Lockett doesn't go along with the theory that less is more he's a firm adherent of the school that says more is more and, in his case it's true. He played it every which way including, most importantly, the right way. The crowd actually present showed their appreciation, after some encouragement, by applauding the solos. I'd begun to think they'd forgotten how to do so the doors having been closed for so long.

(Screenshot by Lance)
Henry Lowther, a young 79 (everyone born after me is young) belied his years as the band, now a quintet, took another Henderson humdinger, Home Stretch, on a madcap gallop that culminated in exchanges of sixes rather than the expected fours. All five got into the act with Lowther the more restrained, albeit no less effective in his solos unlike Morny who took the altissimo range of the tenor to heights where even sopraninos would fear to tread.

(Screenshot by Lance)
Henry removed his cardigan and switched to flugel for a spine-tingling interpretation of I Fall in Love Too Easily. Sensitive backing from piano, bass and maybe brushes, suggested that if someone had dropped a pin they'd have been escorted from the premises for rowdy behaviour - nobody dropped anything, except maybe their jaw at the sheer tonal beauty obtainable from a piece of bent metal piping!

Lee Morgan's Ceora followed. Lowther said he thought it was a drink you used to get at the cinema (Kia-Ora) instead it was a nice, rather hypnotic, dreamy kind of tune which the next one wasn't. This was another Joe H - Jinirikisha.  Inspired, we were told, by a trip to Japan.

(Screenshot by Lance)

The final number - for those of us who were streaming - was Cole Porter's So in Love*.  It had a Latin, slightly jazz rocky feel to it - or was that Porter turning over in his grave? If it was, then shame upon him, they'd just given his maudlin opus a new lease of life.

And so ended another great livestream from the 606. For those who'd actually made it to the club in person this was only the first set - let's hope  their second set was better than that of Sunderland's second half this afternoon when they departed from the play-offs but hey, that's only football, this is music - a whole different ball game! Lance

* Lockett asked the audience if they knew which show So In Love came from. Nobody knew. I was yelling "Kiss Me Kate" but, as I was 250 miles away he didn't hear me although, if my neighbours did I'll be getting some knowing glances tomorrow!

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