Bebop Spoken There

Melissa Aldana: ''Having to play a ballads album, which is something very revealing for a saxophone player, would help me to question some new aspects of how to go deeper into sound." (DownBeat May, 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

18656 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 18 years ago. 520 of them this year alone and, so far this month (June 25) 72

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

From This Moment On

June

Sun 28: Musicians Unlimited: Big Band Blast @ West Hartlepool RFC. 1:00-3:00pm . Free.
Sun 28: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 28: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Table reservations (0191 261 8000). Skerritt w. backing tapes.
Sun 28: Tim Kliphuis Trio @ St Mary’s Church, Wooler. 3:00pm. £18.00., £6.00. A Wooler Arts Summer Concerts event. Tim Kliphuis (violin); Nigel Clark (guitar); Roy Percy (double bass).
Sun 28: Ruth Lambert Trio @ Juke Shed, North Shields. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 28: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 28: An Evening of Jazz @ St James’ Church, Copper Chare, Morpeth. 7:30pm. Tickets: £10.00 from 01670 788869 or 01670 519923. Mid Northumberland Chorus (MD Robin Forbes, Emma Straughan, piano) w. jazz trio featuring Edgar Ho, Oscar Ho & Dave McKeague & special guest Emily Masser. Performance inc. Bob Chilcott’s A Little Jazz Mass + George Shearing’s Songs & Sonnets.
Sun 28: Led Bib @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £15.00., £12.00. JNE.

Mon 29: Friends of Jazz @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 30: Alan Law Trio @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 2:00pm. Free.
Tue 30: Eva Fox & the Sound Hounds @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

July

Wed 01: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 01: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 01: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 02: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ The Millstone, Mill Rise, South Gosforth, Newcastle. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 02: Paul Skerritt @ Angels' Share, St George's Terrace, Jesmond, Newcastle NE2 2SX. 8:00pm. Free. Booking advised (0191 200 1975). Skerritt w. backing tapes.
Thu 02: De’Sean Jones & Blaque Dynamite feat. Urban Art Orchestra @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). De’Sean Jones (MD, tenor sax); Blaque Dynamite (Mike Mitchell, drums); Jamie Murray (drums) with UAO horns & strings.
Thu 02: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm.
Thu 02: Howlin’ Mat @ Newcastle Arts centre. 7:30pm. Free. Acoustic

Fri 03: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 03: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 03: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 03: Paul Donnelly Quartet @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm.
Fri 03: Martin Taylor @ Arc, Stockton. 8:00pm. Taylor (solo guitar).

Sat 04: Spats Langham’s Hot Fingers @ St Augustine’s Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm. £10.00. Darlington New Orleans Jazz Club.
Sat 04: Michael Woods @ Cycle Hub, Quayside, Ouseburn. 1:30-2:30pm & 3:00-4:00pm. Free. Acoustic blues guitar. An Ouseburn Festival event.
Sat 04: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. £27.50. Tutor: Steve Glendinning. Take the ‘A’ Train to Summertime: From Melody to Masterclass. Enrol at: learning@jazz.coop.
Sat 04: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00.

Thursday, August 05, 2021

Celebrating Miles' Jack Johnson @ The Globe - August 4

Jack Courtney (trumpet); Sue Ferris (tenor sax, flute); Tom Atkinson (guitar); Alan Law (keyboards); Deon Krishnan (bass guitar); Jeff Armstrong (drums)

Dave Weisser leading his weekly Take it to the Bridge workshop in the upstairs space at the Globe is something of an institution. This evening, thanks to a last minute change of venue from the Cluny to Newcastle Jazz Co-op's HQ on Railway Street, guitarist Tom Atkinson brought in an all-star sextet to play music from Miles Davis' Jack Johnson album. Miles upstairs, Miles downstairs! 

At eight o'clock Take it to the Bridge was well under way, it would be another hour before the bell sounded for the Jack Johnson bout. At nine...Seconds out! Ding! Ding! Jack Courtney opened with ear-splitting wah-wah pedal trumpet. Wow! If Miles himself had walked in he'd have said something along the lines of: Who the f*** is this mother******? Way back in the days of the old Caff on Pink Lane, Courtney sat-in at a jam session. Impressive? Yes, but nothing like the stuff we were hearing this evening at the Globe. Fearless, every note bang on the money, this was 'Electric Miles' to a tee. 

Sue Ferris, small in stature, perhaps, went toe-to-toe with Courtney, blowing some coruscating tenor. Pianist Alan Law wound it up, the electric keyboard sound Miles was looking for was right here at the Globe. The backline boys, Messrs Krishnan and Armstrong set up a groove from the downbeat and that was that, absolutely killing all night long. If five and six string bassist Deon Krishnan is on a gig it can't be anything other than a funk-fest and that's exactly what we got. Superb. 

Tom Atkinson put together tonight's band. As band leaders go, our man isn't one for the limelight, rather, he's content to let the musicians on the stand interpret the music as they hear it. The Jack Johnson set done (Right Off and Yesternow), Atkinson ventured Miles Beyond (Mahavishnu Orchestra), putting his own blues-rock stamp on John McLaughlin's post-Miles supergroup. 
         
Tom Atkinson's six piece band will do it all again tonight in Darlington. The Forum Music Centre on Borough Road is the place to be at 8:00pm, perhaps 9:00pm. Book online at: www.ticketweb.uk. 
Russell                  
at

1 comment :

Unknown said...

So kind as always Russell. Thank you. The band enjoyed it as much as the audience did :)

Friday, August 06, 2021 11:51:00 am

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