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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

Tuesday, November 30, 2021

The Spotlight Sessions featuring Matt Holborn @ The Jazz Bar, Edinburgh - Nov. 27

Matt Holborn (violin); Fraser Urquhart (piano); Dougie Urquhart (guitar); Ed Kelly (double bass); Keith Haldane (drums)

Storm Arwen did its worst. All day Saturday there was no way in or out of Edinburgh - trains, planes nor automobiles. What to do? There was no alternative but to book another night's hotel accommodation. One establishment indicated the room rate would be £455. Laughing/crying all the way out onto the freezing, windswept streets, the prospect of dossing down in a bus shelter loomed large. Then, as luck would have it, a next door establishment had one vacant room, perhaps the last available room for miles around. Room booking secured (at a much more reasonable rate), the (freezing) night was young. There's always something on at the Jazz Bar, isn't there? 

Turning into Chambers Street the place didn't look any different, the red and black shuttered frontage couldn't be mistaken for anything other than a dive bar. Don't you just love 'em?! Descending the staircase to the gentle hubbub of patrons chatting, it was good to be in from the cold. A bottle of Deuchar's, a sole vacant table, front and side to the compact stage, we were set fair for an evening of swinging jazz. 

London based swing violinist Matt Holborn was in town at the invitation of the Spotlight Session's promoter to play a gig working with some of Edinburgh's A-listers. Kicking off with Straight No Chaser this was the business! A consummate performer, Holborn cuts a shy, retiring figure. However, when it came to the introductions he stepped up, announcing the titles and he knew who his bandmates were. Sweet LorraineI Can't Get Started, alongside numbers written by/associated with Stuff Smith (Skip ItNice and Warm and Blue Violin), this was just the gig to make one forget that out on the street Storm Arwen was still blowing a hoolie. 

Holborn blew hot, as on Undecided. If you believed the man, he didn't know Perdido, supposedly winging it with sterling support from the 'locals' - Messrs. Fraser Urquhart (piano), Dougie Urquhart (guitar), session fixer Ed Kelly (bass) and drummer Keith Haldane. Now there's a canny rhythm section, if ever there was one! Someone to Watch Over Me illustrated Holborn's mastery of the ballad form (including a pizzicato chorus) and to close out a marvellous set, Rodgers and Hart's This Can't Be Love. - Russell                 

Set list: Straight No Chaser; Sweet LorraineUndecidedI Can't Get Started;; Skip ItNice and WarmThe Man I LoveBlue Violin; Don't Get Around Much Anymore;  Someone to Watch Over MePerdidoThis Can't Be Love.

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