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Bebop Spoken There

George Porter Jr.: ''To me, syncopation is like jazz. It wasn't meant for the masses. It was meant just for a hip few". (DownBeat, May 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

17985(and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 306 of them this year alone and, so far, 62 this month (April 26).

From This Moment On ...

April 2025.

Tue 29: ???

Wed 30: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 30: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 30: International Jazz Day @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £16.00.; £14.00. adv.. Feat. Guido Spannocchi, John Pope & Steve Hanley + Take it to the Bridge participants + Open Mic Night participants.

MAY 2025

Thu 01: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: Member’s Contribution.
Thu 01: Alabaster de Plume @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm.
Thu 01: Living in Shadows + OUTRI @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Thu 01: The Shayo Experiment @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Shayo Oshodi & Liam Oliver.
Thu 01: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm. Free.

Fri 02: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 02: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 02: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 02: Anna Reay & Deon Krishnan @ STACK, Seaburn. 4:30-6:15pm. Free.
Fri 02: Nauta @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 7:00pm. £7.50. A ‘Nauta’s House’ gig featuring Nauta & guests Shayo Oshodi & David Gray.
Fri 02: Spilt Milk @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 7:00-9:00pm. Free. Nolan Brothers (vocal harmonies).
Fri 02: Dom Pipkin @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). Solo piano.
Fri 02: Abbie Finn Trio @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm. £12.00. + bf.

Sat 03: Hot Fingers @ St Augustine’s Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm. £10.00.
Sat 03: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. £25.00. Tutor: Steve Glendinning. Summer Samba Enrol at: learning@jazz.coop.
Sat 03: Jason Isaacs @ STACK, Exchange Sq., Middlesbrough. 4:00-6:00pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 03: Edison Herbert Trio @ The Vault, Darlington 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 03: Postmodern Jukebox @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 7:30pm.
Sat 03: NUJO Jazz Jam @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 8:00pm (7:00pm doors). £3.00. + bf.
Sat 03: Eva Fox & the Jazz Guys @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sat 03: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00.
Sat 03: Ray Stubbs R&B All Stars @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:30pm. Free.

Sun 04: Smokin’ Spitfires @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:45pm. £7.50.
Sun 04: Sax Choir @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 04: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 04: Spilt Milk @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 3:00-5:00pm. Free. Nolan Brothers (vocal harmonies).
Sun 04: Rivkala @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 04: Ben Crosland Quartet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 05: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 05: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 6:30pm. 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

Monday, July 26, 2021

Nishla Smith Quintet & The Tenement Jazz Band @ The Globe Summer Festival - July 25

(Screenshot by Ken Drew)
Nishla Smith (vocals); Aaron Wood (trumpet); Richard Jones (piano);  Joshua Cavanagh-Brierley (bass); Johnny Hunter (drums).

It was almost three years to the day - give or take a couple of weeks - when I first heard Nishla. It was in the old Jazz Café, now the Prohibition Bar, at one of the legendary Tuesday night jams.

Since then, apart from an occasional return to the area, Nishla is now firmly established on the Manchester jazz scene and the choice of her quintet proved to be a fitting finale to The Globe/Jazz Co-op's innovative Summer Festival that crossed the genres and set down the ground-lines for what, hopefully, next year will be even better - tough call!

(Collage by Ken Drew)
Nishla looked great (green is now my favourite colour) and sounded fantastic in a set that had a balanced mix of originals and standards. On the latter numbers, and this is a compliment, there were moments - just the occasional phrase - when I felt that, had Billie Holiday been born in Australia, she may have sounded not unlike Nishla.

Most of the band were familiar faces. Johnny Hunter frequently turns up on JNE gigs (of which this was one) either with bro Ant, John Pope or various bands of his own.

Bassist Joshua Brierley-King currently has an album out which has been enthusiastically reviewed by our Man in Manchester, Mike Farmer and our Man in Morpeth, Dave Sayer. He lived up to their kind words.

Aaron Wood is a new name to me. A trumpet player with that rare quality (these days) of combining lyricism with fire. Remember the name, in years to come you'll be able to say "I was there" whether you were or not!

Richard Jones, no relation to pianist Richard M. Jones of whom legend has it that King Oliver  once said to him "Beat it out in Bb Jonesy" before standing at the door of a "sporting house" in New Orleans and blowing a 12 bar to woo the deserters back to the fold. If tonight's Jonesy had been playing, they wouldn't have left in the first place. 

Friends; Starlight; Blue Dreams; It Might as Well be Spring; Julian; You'd be so Nice to Come Home To; Comes Love; Home; Up.

(Photo by Russell)
Charles 'Chuck' Dearness (trumpet); Lachlan Fotheringham (clarinet, soprano sax); Paddy Darley (trombone); John Youngs (banjo, guitar, vocals); Rory Clark (sousaphone).

Earlier, by way of a contrast, we had a robustly entertaining set by the Tenement Jazz Band from Edinburgh - surely the best 1920s' style band in the whole of the UK and that's the rub. Jazz being, even in this day and age, still very much a partisan thing, one questions the wisdom of a double bill featuring two bands from such opposing ends of the spectrum and I suspect the somewhat select turn out may have deterred the die hards from turning out which is a shame as they missed what was a fantastic two sets from two totally different bands.

There used to be a record label called Good Time Jazz and that is also an apt description of the music played by the band from Rebusland.

They're a sitting down band which enabled me to observe their foot tapping idiosyncrasies. Youngs, Dearness and Fotheringham were mainly southpaws whilst Clark was more ambidextrous with his feet,  stomping on the off beat with his right foot in a sort of syncopated two-step. Trombonist Darley, who appeared to be wearing odd sox, was only an occasional activator of his digital extremities and then, only when the creative juices were flowing from the other end of his body. His Ory-like glissandi would have been a credit to  the Kid himself.  

Just as Aaron Wood would do later with Nishla, so did Chuck Dearness in this set - wax lyrical that is - with a hint of Red Nichols meets Red Allen in his Bixian approach.

Doctor Jazz Fotheringham is always on call when the Tenements are in town and tonight he excelled on clarinet and on soprano.

Clark, making his debut with the band added colour to the gig, not just with his matching yellow sox but with his agility on the sousaphone.

Youngs aided and abetted him in the rhythm section and had a good line in patter between numbers.

Dave Holland's quote could easily have been applied to this set: "I've always enjoyed the joyousness of that music [traditional jazz], and the sound of everybody fitting together beautifully, improvising together." Jazzwise, August 2021. Lance

Dusty Rag; Canal St. Blues; South; Milenberg Joys; Meat on the Table; Chocolate Avenue; She's Cryin' For Me; Blue Drag; Weary Blues; You May Leave But This'll Bring You Back; Bogalusa Strut.

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