Bebop Spoken There

Dominick "Domo" Branch: ''Most people say drummers can't write, they're just time-keepers only beating on things. But I have a very musical brain.'' (DownBeat February, 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

18288 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 18 years ago. 142 of them this year alone and, so far this month (Feb. 14), 42

From This Moment On ...

February

Fri 20: Alex Clarke w. Dean Stockdale Trio @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT! Clarke w. Dean Stockdale, Mick Shoulder, Abbie Finn.
Fri 20: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 20: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 20: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 20: Squabble @ Warkworth Memorial Hall. 7:00pm. Steve Chambers (organ); Jude Murphy (double bass, vocals); Sid White (drums).
Fri 20: Jive Aces @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 7:00pm (6:30pm doors).
Fri 20: Alex Clarke w. Dean Stockdale Trio @ Sunderland Minster. 7:30pm. Clarke w. Dean Stockdale, Mick Shoulder, Abbie Finn.

Sat 21: ???

Sun 22: Musicians Unlimited: Big Band Blast @ West Hartlepool RFC. 1:00-3:00pm . Free.
Sun 22: Joe Steels Group @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm. A Blue Patch album tour.
Sun 22: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 22: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 22: Harben Kay Quartet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 23: Joe Steels Group @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 1:00pm. A Blue Patch album tour.
Mon 23: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 24: Finn-Keeble Group @ Newcastle House Hotel, Rothbury. 7:30pm. £11.00.
Tue 24: Liam Oliver & Shayo Oshodi @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Wed 25: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 25: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 25: Geordie Jazz Jam @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. Newcastle University jam session. All welcome.
Wed 25: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 26: Castillo Nuevo Orquesta @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £6.50.
Thu 26: Shalala @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £7.00 adv.
Thu 26: Mick Cantwell Band @ The Harbour View, Roker, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Blues.

Fri 27: Joe Steels Group @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. £8.00. SOLD OUT! A Blue Patch album tour.
Fri 27: Alan Barnes w. Mick Shoulder Trio @ Bishop Auckland Methodist Church. 1:00pm. £9.00. Trio: Rick Laughlin (piano); Mick Shoulder (double bass); Tim Johnston (drums).
Fri 27: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 27: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 27: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 27: Radio Hito + Eddie Prévost, Silvain Schmid & Tom Wheatley @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm (doors). £12.22., £10.10., £8.00.
Fri 27: Giacomo Smith w Strictly Smokin’ Big Band @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm.
Fri 27: Alan Barnes w. Mick Shoulder Trio @ The Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. £15.00. Trio: Rick Laughlin (piano); Mick Shoulder (double bass); Tim Johnston (drums).

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, July 03, 2021

The Blind Pig Blues Club presents Michael Littlefield & Lee Bates @ Prohibition Bar - July 2

It had been a while since the Blind Pig Blues Club put on a show. This evening, the main men - Michael Littlefield and Lee Bates - decided to play one solo acoustic set each. As Littlefield took to the stage, Prohibition Bar was rather quiet. A first bottle of 33, the house beer (a pale ale), and we were ready to go.      

Michael Littlefield (guitar, vocals)

Opening with Jimmy Rogers' 1950 recording That's All Right, King Bees' frontman Littlefield said he'd been learning some new material during lockdown. Later, we would hear some of it. Jimmy Reed's You Got Me Dizzy, a brace from Robert Johnson - Kind Hearted Woman and 32-20 Blues - to Riley Puckett's old timey Can't Put That Monkey on My Back, it was clear a prolonged period of inactivity hadn't impaired Littlefield's abilities - voice spot on, ditto guitar. 

Sit Down Baby (Otis Rush), Make Me a Pallet on the Floor (the late Dave Rae, of Rae Bros NOJB fame, sang a great version of the tune), slide time on Dust My Broom to Poor Boy, Long Way from Home, this was great stuff. A calypso - Bally Mena - mixed it up, earlier Jelly Roll Morton's Why? did just that, adding an element of ragtime and classic era jazz to the mix. 

That's All I Need (Magic Sam), It's a Sin to Tell a Lie, Hey! Ba-Ba-Re-Bop, without question, Michael Littlefield is back firing on all six cylinders!  
  
Lee Bates (guitar, vocals)

How to follow that? Well, there's no one better equipped than the Blind Pig Blues Club's co-founder, Lee Bates. In addition to playing and singing the blues, LB has a string of one-liners in his back pocket. Choice material and hugely entertaining, that's Lee Bates. 

Bo Carter's Old Devil, Josh White's Broad Players Blues, Skip James' If You Haven't Any Hay, Don't Get on the Road, Bates is a serious student of the blues. Blind Boy Fuller's Funny Feeling Blues, Blind Blake's Skeedle Loo Doo Blues (Bates confessing: I can't get anywhere near [Blind Blake's version]), the hour flew by. It had been an evening of top class blues performed by two canny, seriously talented, blokes. 

Michael Littlefield will be back in action on Sunday with the  House of the Black Gardenia. The Globe (Newcastle Jazz Co-op) is a sell out for the band's eagerly anticipated set but there is an online streaming option. Visit: www.jazz.coop.

Next month's Blind Pig session (Friday 6 August) presents the King Bees (feat. M. Littlefied, guitar & vocals). If you're yet to hear the band, get on down to Pink Lane, they're the business! And Lee Bates returns to Prohibition Bar with his band Struggle Buggy on Friday 3 September. Russell            
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