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.
Thu 12: Ray Stubbs R&B All Stars @ The Mill Tavern, Hebburn. 8:30pm. 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).

Wed 18: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 18: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 18: The ’58 Jazz Collective @ Hartlepool Cricket Club, West Park, 7:30pm. £7.00.
Wed 18: Brand New Heavies @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 7:30pm.
Wed 18: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

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, May 26, 2021

Saxophone quartet to take viewers on “extraordinary adventure” with Journey to the Impossible premiere

(Press release)

Groundbreaking ensemble the Apollo Saxophone Quartet is to premiere Journey to the Impossible, its unique set mixing music with “crazy and wonderful” films from the early years of the silent movie era.

Established in 1985 at the Royal Northern College of Music, the ensemble has made the largest single contribution to the saxophone quartet repertoire in the UK, commissioning and premiering over 100 works.

Journey to the Impossible, originally commissioned in 1998 by the Phoenix Arts Theatre in Leicester and one of the quartet’s most popular works, is now set to be streamed online for the first time via stream.theatre.

The hour-long performance will premiere on Monday May 31, with nightly streams scheduled until June 6, and will then be available via VOD from June 7-13. 

Past and present members of the Apollo Saxophone Quartet have composed elements of the quirky Journey Across the Impossible score, which has been set to an imaginative and often hilarious series of black and white films that date back to the early 1900s.

The ensemble sourced the films during a day at the British Film Institute in London, trawling through old filing cabinets and cupboards to uncover a mesmerising collection of short films, some of which had been untouched for years.

Rob Buckland, one of the original co-founders of the Apollo Saxophone Quartet, said the films will take viewers on an “extraordinary adventure”.

He said: “They feature some of the really early techniques that were being used in silent film and include some of the great luminaries of the time like Georges Méliès, who took the medium of film and pushed it into areas that it was never meant to go.

“If you join us on this Journey Across the Impossible you will travel to the moon, meet dancing pigs and acrobatic flies and all sorts of other crazy and wonderful things.”

A regular international touring ensemble, the Apollo Saxophone Quartet has featured in live broadcasts on Classic FM and BBC radio and has released seven albums to date, as well as appearing on recordings by the likes of Michael Nyman, Michael Torke and Django Bates.

Direct link to stream

Link to trailer

Apollo Saxophone Quartet website

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