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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

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: Red Kites Jazz @ Parish Hall, St Barnabas’ Church, Rowlands Gill. 7:30pm. £10.00. BYOB (tea & coffee available), raffle. Proceeds to St Barnabas’ Church. Performance feat. Shayo (vocals).
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

Tuesday, October 12, 2021

The Stuart Fowler Quintet: Blue Mitchell's The Thing to Do + jam session @ Central Bar, Gateshead - Oct. 11

Stuart Fowler Quintet: Stuart Fowler (trumpet); Jamie Toms (tenor sax); Alan Law (piano); Mick Shoulder (double bass); John Bradford (drums)

Another jam session, a Monday evening at that! Would people turn out? Only one way to find out, head to Central Bar at the Gateshead end of the High Level Bridge for a half past seven start. Arriving in good time to order a pint of a more than acceptable porter, a nod to some of the musicians in the downstairs bar, let's take a look upstairs...

A fiver admission (this was a concert plus jam session affair), a few folk had already taken their seats in the dimly lit room. Advertised as a 7:30 start, trumpeter Stuart Fowler's hard bop quintet took to the stage right on time to play Blue Mitchell's 1964 Blue Note album The Thing to Do in its entirety. In the tradition of Blue Note recordings of the time, Stuart and co opened up all guns blazing on Funcii Mama with a  succession of blistering solos - Stuart, Jamie Toms, Alan Law. Wow! More, please! And that's exactly what we got with a rip-roaring take on the album's title track, The Thing to Do

The calibre of Stuart's band mates suggested it would be a good session. Wrong...this was a session to die for! Jimmy Heath's Mona's Mood temporarily took it down, giving the boys in the engine room - Mick Shoulder and John Bradford - the opportunity to catch their breath. Joe Henderson's Stop Lightly upped the tempo once more, the soloists shooting from the hip - Stuart as Blue Michell, Jamie recalling Junior Cook. To conclude a brilliant set, the quintet went out on Chick Corea's Chick's Tune. Well, that was one helluva session, well worth the fiver admission! 

Jam session: the house band + Abbie Finn (drums); Harry Keeble (tenor sax); Martin Williams (tenor sax); Michael Lamb (trumpet)

The format for this welcome addition to the Tyneside jazz scene is to play an in concert set followed by an all-comers jam session. The first part of the equation exceeded expectations, would the jam session to follow be something akin to 'after the lord mayor's show'? Go on, have a guess! 

Following a half hour interval the house band returned to kick off the jam session. Yet more superb playing on the jam session staple What is This Thing Called Love? Two of the brightest stars on the north east jazz scene - drummer Abbie Finn and tenor saxophonist Harry Keeble - were in the house. They're always around, making themselves known, and in the process, making connections. Abbie and Harry were first to throw their hats into the ring. Harry called Beatrice then Impressions. We know Harry as a fine tenor player. Here at Central Bar he threatened to blow the place apart. Who could/would dare to follow him? In the shadows (this was proper jazz club lighting!) stood another tenor player. Up stepped the man. Within a few bars it was a case of WOW! WOW! WOW! Who the bleep, bleep, bleep is that?! Harry came by: Harry, who's that? Harry: I'll find out, he's a f***ing monster! Harry returned: He's Martin Williams, lead tenor in the BBC Big Band! Ah, that explains it! 

Picture the (dimly lit) scene...Stuart, Jamie, Harry and Martin trading killer hard bop solos. Quite simply, this was impossibly good. And, a bonus, Strictly Smokin' Big Band MD Michael Lamb joined the party blowing fearsome bop trumpet. Superb! In a Mellotone, all blowing, and to close a memorable evening, the man who put together the evening's session, Stuart Fowler, called: Blues in F. A jam session, going out on a blues, what a night! 

Next month's gig plus jam session is scheduled for Monday 8 November. Keep checking Bebop Spoken Here for details/confirmation of the date. It's one night you won't want to miss! Russell

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