Total Pageviews

Bebop Spoken There

Francis Tulip: ''Music speaks louder than words''. (Jazzwise, June 2025).

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

17,550 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 514 of them this year alone and, so far, 92 this month (June 28).

From This Moment On ...

JULY 202

Sat 12: Jazz Stage @ Mouth of the Tyne Festival. From 12 noon. Free. Vieux Carré Jazzmen (12 noon); Rendezvous Jazz (1:00pm); Mississippi Dreamboats (2:00pm); Classic Swing (3:00pm); Abbie Finn Trio (4:00pm). Stage adjacent to Tynemouth Priory.
Sat 12: Making Music Seminar: Latin American Music v. Music of Latin America @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 1:00pm. £15.00. (£5.00. online). Jason Holcomb, Alix Shepherd & Carlos Luis Rivera.
Sat 12: Edison Herbert Trio @ The Vault, Darlington 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 12: Jude Murphy & Dan Stanley @ Lovaine Community Garden, North Shields. 7:00pm (doors 6:40pm). £6.00. Limited places, booking essential (via the Community Garden website). BYOF&D.
Sat 12: Hot Club du Nord @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm. Hall Two.
Sat 12: Sleep Suppressor @ Repas 7 by Night, Berwick. 8:00pm.
Sat 12: Anth Purdy @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle.8:00pm. Free. ‘Swing Jazz Guitar’. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 13: Jazz Stage @ Mouth of the Tyne Festival. From 11:00am. Free. Trilogy of Four (11:00am); East Coast Jazzmen (12:10pm); Delta Prophets Trio (1:20pm); House of the Black Gardenia (2:30pm); Mouth of the Tyne All Stars (3:40pm). Stage adjacent to Tynemouth Priory.
Sun 13: Giles Strong Quartet @ The Sele, Hexham. 12 noon. Free. ‘The Bandstand Sessions’.
Sun 13: Julie Dexter @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:30pm (doors). £20.00. ‘The Cluny Matinee Jazz Club’.
Sun 13: ’58 Jazz Collective, Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 13: Tyne Valley Big Band @ Bishop Auckland Town Hall. 2:00pm. Tea Dance. SOLD OUT! A Durham Brass Festival event.
Sun 13: Ferg Kilsby @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm. Kilsby (trumpet, flugelhorn); Luis Verde (alto sax); Ben Lawrence (piano); Andy Champion (double bass); John Hirst (drums).
Sun 13: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 13: Sloth Racket @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. JNE.

Mon 14: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club (1:00pm). Free.
Mon 14: Brass Bash @ Hardwick Park, Co. Durham. 6:00-8:00pm. Free. Various bands. A Durham Brass Festival event.
Mon 14: Brass Bash @ The Story, Mount Oswald, Co. Durham. 6:00-8:00pm. Free. Various bands. A Durham Brass Festival event.

Tue 15: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ The Victoria & Albert Inn, Seaton Sluice. Tel: 0191 237 3697. 12:30pm. ‘July Jazz Barbecue’. Tickets: £15.00.
Tue 15: Brass Bash @ Hackworth Park, Shildon, Co. Durham. 6:00-9:00pm. Free. Various bands. A Durham Brass Festival event.
Tue 15: Brass Bash @ The Witham, Barnard Castle, Co. Durham. 6:00-8:00pm. Free. Various bands. A Durham Brass Festival event.
Tue 15: Julian Lage Trio @ 1856 Exchange, North Shields. 7:30pm . Lage (guitar); Jorge Roeder (double bass); Joey Barron (drums).
Tue 15: Jools Holland’s Rhythm & Blues Orchestra @ The Hippodrome, Darlington. 7:30pm.
Tue 15: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. Stu Collingwood, Paul Grainger, Bailey Rudd.

Wed 16: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 16: Brass Bash @ Willington Town Park, Co. Durham. 6:00-8:00pm. Free. Various bands. A Durham Brass Festival event.
Wed 16: Brass Bash @ Market Place, Spennymoor, Co. Durham. 6:00-8:00pm. Free. Various bands. A Durham Brass Festival event.
Wed 16: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 16: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 17: Brass Bash @ Trimdon Community College, Co. Durham. 6:00-9:00pm. Free. Various bands. A Durham Brass Festival event.
Thu 17: Brass Bash @ Blackhill & Consett Park, Co. Durham. 6:00-8:00pm. Free. Various bands. A Durham Brass Festival event.
Thu 17: NONUNONU @ Elder Beer, Heaton, Newcastle. 7:00pm (doors). £11:55 (inc bf).

Fri 18: Greg Abate w. Dean Stockdale Trio @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 18: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 18: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 18: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 18: Brass Bash @ Town Park, Newton Aycliffe, Co. Durham. 6:00-9:00pm. Free. Various bands. A Durham Brass Festival event.
Fri 18: Brass Bash @ North Terrace, Seaham, Co. Durham. 6:00-9:00pm. Free. Various bands. A Durham Brass Festival event.
Fri 18: Zoë Gilby Quartet @ Sunderland Minster. 7:30pm.
Fri 18: Knats: Masterclass & jam session @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 7:30pm. £15.00.
Fri 18: Rat Pack - Live in Concert @ Tyne Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm.
Fri 18: Greg Abate w. Dean Stockdale Trio @ Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. £15.00.
Fri 18: Front Porch Three @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. A Hoodoo Blues dance class & social. Social & Front Porch Three only from 8:30pm. £5.00.

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

Wednesday, April 27, 2022

Album review: Strictly Smokin' Big Band - Sings Ella with Alice Grace

The Strictly Smokin' Big Band's new album (the second in a planned series of three) was recorded in rural Northumberland in July 2021. This Jazz Sounds Records' recording features vocalist Alice Grace, the band and a no-expense-spared string section. Ten tracks, thirty six minutes, the recording quality second to none (take a bow Liam Gaughan), the SSBB at the top of its game, is this the big band album of the year? 
Ella is, without question, a serious contender. 

And then there is Alice Grace. For those of us who have heard her sing, we've long-since known Ms Grace is one the great British jazz singers, up there with the very best of them. Ella is set to win our adopted Geordie a whole bucket load of new fans. From Cole Porter's Why Can't You Behave? (arr. Buddy Bregman) to Michael Lamb's arrangement of George Gershwin's There's a Boat That's Leaving Soon for New York, band and vocalist aim for the stars. One day they must tell us what it was like up there! 

The SSBB's sections and soloists are heard on top form (including guest tenor saxophonist Vasilis Xenopoulos) and the twelve-strong string section (Bradley Creswick, leader), plus oboe and French horn, are presented as an integral part of the album, not in any way a 'with strings' afterthought. Alice Grace highlights? Everything on the album. If pushed, That Old Black Magic and I Said No.    

The Strictly Smokin' Big Band's Sings Ella with Alice Grace  is on Jazz Sound Records (cat. no. JSR012). The album is available from: www.strictly-smokin.co.uk. Consider it an essential purchase. And if you're a promoter - jazz club or festival - don't think twice, book the Strictly Smokin' Big Band...with Alice Grace, of course. Russell 

Strictly Smokin' Big Band: Alice Grace (vocals); Steve Summers (alto 1, flute), Keith Robinson (alto 2, clarinet, flute), Jamie Toms (tenor 1, clarinet, bass clarinet), Dave Kerridge (tenor sax 2, clarinet), Laurie Rangecroft (baritone sax, flute), Vasilis Xenopoulos (tenor sax solo track 9); Gordon Marshall, Dick Stacey, Pete Tanton, Michael Lamb tracks 2, 4, 6, 7, Stuart McLean-Fowler tracks 1, 3, 5, 8-10 (trumpets); Kieran Parnaby, Mark Ferris, Chris Kurji-Smith, John Flood (trombones); Pawel Jedrzejewski (guitar); Graham Don (piano); Michael Whent (bass); Guy Swinton (drums)

The Orchestra: Michael Lamb (conductor); Bradley Creswick (leader), Joanne Atherton, Rebecca Howell, Ed Cross, Jayne Cuggy, Zoë Hodgson, Markus Lawrenson (violins), Chrissie Slater, Claudia Newbegin (violas); Ele Leckie, Mark Carroll (celli); Philip Cull (oboe); Chris Senior (French horn); Sarah Paterson (harp)

Why Can't You Behave?Lullaby of BroadwayI've Got Beginner's LuckThat Old Black MagicLove Me or Leave MeAll the Things You AreI Said NoA Flower is a Lovesome ThingI Fall in Love Too EasilyThere's a Boat That's Leaving Soon for New York. 

1 comment :

Minnie Fraser said...

I have had this album for a week and have nearly worn it out!
It is truly wonderful! I don’t think I have ever had so much joy from a new album!
The band, the orchestra and oh that beautiful voice!!!!
Pure heaven!

Blog Archive