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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

17733 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 53 of them this year alone and, so far, 53 this month (Jan. 20).

From This Moment On ...

January 2025

Tue 21: ???

Wed 22: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 22: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 22: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 22: Pasadena Roof Orchestra @ Fire Station, Sunderland. 7:30pm.

Thu 23: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, Holystone. 1:00pm. Free. Fortnightly.
Thu 23: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: Obituaries 2024.
Thu 23: Jason Isaacs @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 4:30-6:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Thu 23: Pedal Point Trio @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Fri 24: Zoë Gilby Quartet @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 24: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 24: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 24: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 24: Creakin’ Bones & the Sunday Dinners @ Lindisfarne Social Club, Wallsend. 9:00pm. Admission: TBC. Jazz, blues , jump jive, rock ‘n’ roll.

Sat 25: Boys of Brass @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 3:30-5:30pm. Free.
Sat 25: New '58 Jazz Collective @ Jackson's Wharf, Hartlepool. 6:30pm (doors). Free. A Burns' Night event. Jazz, swing, funk, soul, blues etc.
Sat 25: Edison Herbert Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 25: Jack & Jay’s Songbook @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 26: Musicians Unlimited @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 26: Graham Hardy Eclectic Quartet @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm.
Sun 26: Ruth Lambert Trio @ The Juke Shed, Union Quay, North Shields. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 26: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 26: Jazz Jam Sandwich! @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 26: Tweed River Jazz Band @ Barrels Ale House, Berwick-upon-Tweed. 7:30pm. Free.
Sun 26: Gratkowski, Tramontana, Beresford, Affifi @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £12.00. JNE.
Sun 26: Jazz Jam @ Fabio’s, Saddler St., Durham. 8:00pm. Free. A Durham University Jazz Society promotion. All welcome.

Mon 27: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 28: ???

Wed 29: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 29: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 29: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).

Thu 30: Matters Unknown (aka Jonathan Enser, Nubiyan Twist) + support TBA @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 8:00pm (7:00pm doors). £12.22 (gig & food); £9:04 (gig only).
Thu 30: Soznak @ The Mill Tavern, Hebburn. 8:00pm. Free.
Thu 30: Struggle Buggy @ Harbour View, Roker, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Rhythm & blues.

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, June 07, 2021

Sunday Night @ The Globe: Ali Affleck & Friends - June 6

(Photos by Russell
Collage by Lance)
Ali Affleck (vocals); Colin Steele (trumpet); Roy Percy (bass); Bradley Johnston (guitar).

House of the Black Gardenia on Saturday and Ali Affleck and Friends on Sunday! What a feast for those who like their jazz to be from an earlier era.

Affleck, a vivacious American, based in Scotland but with both French and Australian ancestry (legendary operatic diva Dame Nellie Melba is Ali's great great aunt!) is truly at home in her chosen idiom - twenties/thirties jazz and blues.

Not just a singer, this most personable lady is also an entertainer who knows how to work a room by introducing each number with a story or an anecdote that nicely links the songs together.

The repertoire covered gems from Annette Hanshaw, Ethel Waters, Ma Rainey, Mildred Bailey, Maxine Sullivan and several others.

Singer, entertainer you can add historian too!

Needless to say, her Friends were the kind of friends a gal/guy needs on a gig and they proved their worth.

On trumpet, Colin Steele was last heard in these parts playing the role of Chet Baker in that iconic stage production - A Funny Valentine. I saw the show three times in different locations and thought I'd typecast Colin... As usual, I was wrong tonight he was Red Allen or maybe some other pre-bop firebrand. Whatever, on open horn he wailed, on plunger he growled. Talk about a man for all seasons! Apart from Chet and Red I bet he does a mean Miles too!

In the absence of a drummer the impetus was on bassman Roy Percy to hold it all together which he did to perfection and his incredible double-time slap-bass solos were guaranteed crowd pleasers.

And then there was local boy Bradley Johnston who, like Steele, can float stylistically. Metheny, Eddie Lang, Django, he's got their measure. Ali exclaimed, "I want to take him home with me!" 

Did they have a pre-gig rehearsal? Maybe but, given the time factor it must have been minimal and yet they gelled as if they'd been playing together since time began.

Quite a night! You've got to hand it to The Jazz Co-op and The Globe these Sunday night sessions just go from strength to strength. Lance

When You're Smiling (trio); Loveless Love; I Get the Blues when it Rains; Diga Diga Do;Someday Sweetheart; St. Louis Blues; Ain't Misbehavin'; Poor Papa; Ain't no Man Worth the Salt of my Tears; Exactly Like You; Please Don't Talk About me When I'm Gone/Five Foot Two, Eyes of Blue; Handyman Blues; I Cried For You; I'll Fly Away + a couple of numbers that Ali sang in French.

1 comment :

Patti said...

I just checked with Ali - the two French numbers were both made famous by Django. Coucou was recorded by the Quintette du Hot Club with Josette Dayde. Menilmontant was written by Charles Trenet in the late 1930's - again, Django recorded it many times.

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