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

18395 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 18 years ago. 259 of them this year alone and, so far this month (Mar. 30 ), 69

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

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.

Fri 03: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 03: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 03: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 03: King Bees @ Billy Bootleggers, Newcastle. 7:00pm (doors). Free. Chicago blues.

Sunday, February 06, 2022

Jubilee Stomp

Today (Feb. 6) marks HRH Queen Elizabeth's  Platinum Jubilee - the seventieth anniversary of her accession to to the throne. 

To mark the occasion, Dave Kerr (New Century Jazz Orchestra) sent me this image of the cover of an arrangement of the Duke of Ellington's Jubilee Stomp. If Duke had still been with us I'm sure he'd have composed a suite to celebrate this historic occasion. Thirty years after Jubilee Stomp, in 1958, he did, of course, compose The Queen's Suite and rumour has it that he flirted with the lady - had he done that with ER1 he'd have probably been beheaded! - Lance

Ps: I've been informed that the West Jesmond Rhythm Kings also recorded Jubilee Stomp.

2 comments :

Patti said...

'Jubilee Stomp' was, in fact, the title of a West Jesmond Rhythm Kings CD. Recorded for Lake Records on 2nd June, 2002 - on the occasion of Queen Elizabeth's Golden Jubilee. As Mike writes in the liner notes:

And what better day to record a jazz album, for was not her Majesty
(then Princess Elizabeth) present at the epochal NFJO Traditional Jazz
concert at the Festival Hall in 1951, thus making her the only British monarch
known to have attended a jazz concert? All right, her Uncle Edward may
have liked jazz and sat in on the drums with several bands in nightclubs
in London and Paris in the thirties, but that's not quite the same as
attending a traditional jazz concert. And anyway, he was a lousy
drummer, prompting a certain Dave Tough to observe after one such sit-in 'Let's
hope that being a King is what he's good at': sadly, he didn't do too
well in that department either.

Patti said...

I should also say that Dave Kerr, from the New Century Ragtime Orchestra (and the original BSH post) did the artwork for the Jubilee Stomp CD!!

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