Bebop Spoken There

Ludovic Beier (Django Festival Allstars): ''Manouche means 'free man,' and gypsies have been travelers since they migrated west from India to Europe.'' (DownBeat March, 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

18383 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 18 years ago. 247 of them this year alone and, so far this month (Mar. 17 ), 57

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

March

Mon 30: Gerry Richardson Quartet @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 1:00pm.
Mon 30: Friends of Jazz @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 31: Bede Trio @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. Albert Hills Wright (alto sax); Finn Carter (piano); Michael Dunlop (double bass).

April

Wed 01: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ 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: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £5.00. Subject: Musicians playing classical & orchestral music.
Thu 02: The Noel Dennis Band @ Prohibition Bar, Albert Road, Middlesbrough TS1 2RU. 7:00pm (doors). £10.84. Quartet plus special guest Zoë Gilby. Over 21s only.
Thu 02: Renegade Brass Band @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors).
Thu 02: Shalala @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £7.00. adv..
Thu 02: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm.

Saturday, February 19, 2022

Album review: Ewan Bleach - Ewan the Night 'n' the Music

Ewan Bleach (saxes/clarinet); Colin Good (piano); John Kelly (guitar on all but "Deep Purple"); Martin Wheatley (guitar on "Deep Purple"); Jim Ydstie (bass).

With the exception of Jim Ydstie the above names are well known to BSH readers in both the north east and the north west as first class exponents of classic jazz frequently appearing at the Keswick Jazz and Blues Festival, Carlisle Jazz Club, Mike Durham's Classic Jazz Party and the Darlington New Orleans Jazz Club in various formations including Pete Horsfall's  Basin Street Brawlers and the strangely named Frog and Henry who played a fine session at the Black Swan in Sept. 2019. There were, of course, several livestreams over the next couple of years.

Bleach who plays tenor, alto, soprano and clarinet on this cutely titled album, is firmly entrenched in the Hawkins, Hodges, Bechet school with that wide vibrato so predominant in those pre-Lester days although he does quote Lester Young as one of his inspirations (Bechet is the other).

On piano, Good is everything his name suggests and more. Wheatley spells Kelly on Deep Purple - both guitarists have the idiom off to a tee - and Ydstie is laid back and super supportive.

Close your eyes and you could be drinking gin from a teacup up in Harlem or quaffing pints of real ale in a hotel near Whitley Bay.

If you like your jazz with a minimum of flattened fifths then this is for you. It's relaxing and yet stimulating. Lance

Available March 11- www.ewanbleach.com

Body and Soul; Deep Purple; Memories of You; You and the Night and the Music; Prelude to a Kiss; Si Tu Vois Ma Mère; When I Grow Too Old to Dream; The Very Thought of You; The Nearness of You.

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