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

18621 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 18 years ago. 485 of them this year alone and, so far this month (June 14) 37

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

Thu 18: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ The Millstone, Mill Rise, South Gosforth, Newcastle. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 18: Castillo Nuevo Orquesta @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. £6.50. 7:30pm (doors).
Thu 18: Lindsay Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ Harbour View, Roker, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free.
Thu 18: Paul Skerritt @ Angels' Share, St George's Terrace, Jesmond, Newcastle NE2 2SX. 8:00pm. Free. Booking advised (0191 200 1975). Skerritt w. backing tapes.

Fri 19: Joe Steels Group @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 19: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 19: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 19: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 19: Castillo Nuevo Trio @ Hotel Gotham, Newcastle. 5:30pm. Free.
Fri 19: Ferg’s Imaginary Big Band @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm. £14.33., £11.16., £8.00.
Fri 19: Martin Litton @ Sunderland Minster. 7:30pm. £13.01 (inc. bf); £6.50 (inc. bf); £15.00 on the door. Solo piano. CANCELLED!
Fri 19: Jools Holland’s R&B Orchestra @ Hippodrome, Darlington. 7:30pm. Joe Webb support set.
Fri 19: Hot Club du Nord @ Warkworth Memorial Hall. 7:30pm.
Fri 19: Jive Aces: The Roots of Rock & Roll @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £20.00 + bf.

Sat 20: Tyne Valley Big Band @ Tynedale Beer Festival, Corbridge. 5:00-6:00pm.
Sat 20: Castillo Nuevo Trio @ Revoluçion de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30pm. Free.
Sat 20: Red Kites Jazz @ Staithes Café, Dunston. 7:00-9:00pm. Free.
Sat 20: New Century Ragtime Orchestra @ Trinity Church, Gosforth, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £20.00. NCRO w. guests Dean Stockdale & Nick Ward.

Sun 21: From Lagos to Longbenton: Unity in the Community @ Sunderland Minster. From 1:30pm. Free. A multi-bill Unity in the Community event, inc. From Lagos to Longbenton.
Sun 21: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Table reservations (0191 261 8000). Skerritt w. backing tapes.
Sun 21: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 2:30pm. Free. Trio w. Graham Hardy.
Sun 21: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 21: Tweed River Jazz Band @ Barrels Ale House, Berwick. 7:00pm. Free.
Sun 21: Magpies of Swing @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 22: Friends of Jazz @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 23: Alan Law Trio @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 2:00pm. Free.
Tue 23: Jude Murphy & Dan Stanley @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Wed 24: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 24: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 24: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Monday, November 08, 2021

The Stuart Fowler Quintet: Freddie Hubbard's Open Sesame + jam session @ Central Bar, Gateshead - Nov. 8

Stuart Fowler (trumpet, piano); Jamie Toms (tenor sax); Alan Law (piano); Mick Shoulder (bass); John Bradford (drums) + Harry Keeble (tenor sax).

The second of the Central Bar's monthly sessions continued with the Blue Note theme which was fine by me - it's my era!

Tonight's opening set concentrated on Freddie Hubbard's debut album for the label - Open Sesame.

The room was crowded and when Fowler hit the opening notes of One Mint Julep I knew this was going to be as close as we were gonna get this side of Rudy Van Gelder's studio in New Jersey 60 years ago.

They did the album justice.

(Pics by Pam)
Fowler has "a tone" not the strangulated apology of so many modern trumpet players but a sound that resonates from mouthpiece to bell - Fats Navarro and Clifford Brown had it - Miles didn't.

Jamie Toms slotted nicely into the Tina Brooks role. Brooks is surely one of the most underrated of tenor players - known only to the cognoscenti.

McCoy Tyner could never said to be underrated but his understudy tonight certainly is.

Alan Law may not have many, if any, CDs to his name but he certainly should. Tonight he was on fire.

Shoulder and Bradford seem to have been on every other gig you've ever been to and, tonight they proved their worth.

So far so good, now bring on the jammers - that meanlooking bunch of saxslingers out to kick ass. Jam sessions are, in theory, the equivalent of jousting contests, battle royals, bare knuckle brawls where the combatants go toe to toe and slug it out.

Apart from Keeble, who could kick ass at Birdland there were no takers - maybe he scared them off!

Nevertheless if the fireworks weren't there it was still interesting when Fowler proved he was no one-trick-pony by playing piano on Take the A Train.

By this time the audience had begun to dwindle and the final number was called. It should have been a showstopper: Dexter v Wardell, Harry v Jamie - the stuff that jams are made of. It didn't quite happen that way. Nevertheless, despite my misgivings it was still a great session and I can't wait for the next one and to discover which gem Stuart has mined from the Blue Note catalogue.

Blue Note, real ale - Shangri-la! Lance

One Mint Julep; Open Sesame; But Beautiful; All or Nothing at All; Gypsy Blues; Hub's Nub.
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