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.

Tuesday, February 15, 2022

Stuart Fowler Quintet plays Clifford Brown - Max Roach Quintet @ Central Bar, Gateshead - Feb. 14

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

Back in the day, before emasculated modern jazz trumpet players - no names no pack drill - monopolised the modern jazz/bebop scene, Fats Navarro and Clifford Brown, along with Dizzy, were the main men.

Fats had a tone, a sound, that went along with his name and Clifford became his natural successor.

The Clifford Brown - Max Roach Quintet was, perhaps, the first great post-Parker band - Silver, Blakey, notwithstanding.

The front line of Brown and Harold Land were as unbeatable as any combo you care to name either before or since.

1959? Give me 1954!

Tonight, at the Central Bar, the Fowler Quintet forsook the Blue Note vaults to recreate the signature dish of the Brown - Roach Quintet that was released on the EmArcy label.

Jordu had Alan Law playing as if he was Bud Powell's younger brother! Is there a better piano man on the scene?

Delilah - not the Delilah - didn't work but, listening to the original, I don't think it worked for them either.

Daahoud swung and Stuart explained the title leaving us all the more knowledgeable but maybe not that much wiser!

Parisienne Thoroughfare! This was a complex piece but Bradford coped with the ever changing tempos and moods and Law added a few Francophilian moments of his own.

Fowler and Keeble were just about as good a frontline as any bop band could want and Harry definitely copped for BSH's Cool Cut Coiffure Award beating Bojo by a country lie.

The set concluded with a blistering version of Duke's What Am I Here For? 

Alas, apart from Abbie - love her - sitting in on drums, the jam session failed to materialise. Needs to be sorted.

Jams all over town where you can blow for free but don't have to pay to get in! Lance

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