Bebop Spoken There

Donovan Haffner ('Best Newcomer' 2025 Parliamentary Jazz Awards): ''I got into jazz the first time I picked up a saxophone!" - Jazzwise Dec 25/Jan 26

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

18146 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 24 of them this year alone and, so far this month (Jan. 7), 24

From This Moment On ...

JANUARY 2026

Thu 08: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £5.00. Subject: Jazz Milestones of 1976.

Fri 09: The House Trio @ Bishop Auckland Methodist Church. 1:00pm. £9.00.
Fri 09: Nauta @ Jesmond Library, Newcastle. 1:00pm. £5.00. Trio: Jacob Egglestone, Jamie Watkins, Bailey Rudd.
Fri 09: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 09: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 09: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 09: Warren James & the Lonesome Travellers @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm. £15.00.
Fri 09: The Blue Kings @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £10.00. (£8.00. adv.). All-star band.

Sat 10: Mark Toomey Quintet @ St Peter’s Church, Stockton-on-Tees. 7:30pm. £12.00. (inc. pie & peas). Tickets from: 07749 255038.

Sun 11: New ’58 Jazz Collective @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 11: Am Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 11: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 11: Eva Fox & the Sound Hounds @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 12: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 12: Saltburn Big Band @ Saltburn House Hotel. 7:00-9:00pm. Free.

Tue 13: Milne Glendinning Band @ Newcastle House Hotel, Rothbury. 7:30pm. £11.00. Coquetdale Jazz.
Tue 13: Jazz Jam Sandwich @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Wed 14: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 14: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 14: Jam Session @ The Tannery, Hexham. 7:00pm. Free.
Wed 14: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

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, January 18, 2022

Robin Sunflower Quartet @ the Railway, Stockport - Jan. 16

Robin Sunflower (harmonica, vocals); Robin Dewhurst (piano); Adrian Ingram (guitar); Steve Lunn (bass guitar)

This turned out to be another drummerless line-up with the house piano once again being played by a very fine musician, Robin Dewhurst who was last here in Suzanne Fonseca’s band.  On guitar was a man well known to guitarists here and abroad, Adrian Ingram, who was heavily featured throughout the evening.

Ingram seemed very much at home in Sunflower’s band which certainly covers a wide range of music from  tunes made famous in the Dixieland era such as Darktown Strutters’ Ball to the Latin classic Sway.

I think the numbers that appealed to me most were a number that I recall being made popular by singer Frankie Laine, I’ve Got the World on a String and Bluesette the tune written by harmonica genius Toots Thielmans.  This latter tune reminded me of a trip to Ronnie Scott’s many years ago to see the Illinois Jacquet group where the organist Milt Buckner thrilled the audience with his version of Bluesette.

One thing I was not too thrilled about concerned the sound which was a touch on the heavy side. OK for the harmonica but not for the vocals where it was sometimes hard to make out the words. Or it could be my hearing that is failing or perhaps a separate mic for the vocals might have been the answer.

Still the night went down well with the assembled jazz fans some of which had been absent recently having had to isolate due to Covid.

The next jazz night at the Railway is tonight Jan. 18 with the Simone Manunza Trio. Mike Farmer

Take the A Train; Song For my Father. God Bless the Child; I’ve Got the World on a String; Bluesette; Sway; Darktown Strutters’ Ball; Mood Indigo; Hello Little Sunflower; Body and Soul; Cantaloupe Island; Caravan.

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