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Bebop Spoken There

Stan Woodward: ''We're part of the British jazz scene, but we don't play London jazz. We play Newcastle jazz. The Knats album represents many things, but most importantly that Newcastle isn't overlooked". (DownBeat, April 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

17923 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 244 of them this year alone and, so far, 91 this month (March 31).

From This Moment On ...

April 2025.

Tue 08: ???

Wed 09: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 09: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 09: Tannery jam session @ The Tannery, Hexham. 7:00pm.
Wed 09: Anatole Muster Trio @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £17.50., £12.50. concs.
Wed 09: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. CANCELLED?

Thu 10: Indigo Jazz Voices @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:45pm. £5.00.CANCELLED!
Thu 10: Magpies of Swing @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £12.00., £10.00., £7.00. A Globe fundraiser (all proceeds to the venue).
Thu 10: Exhaust: Camila Nebbia/Kit Downes/Andrew Lisle @ Jesmond URC, Newcastle. 8:00pm (7:30pm doors). £13.20., £11.00. JNE.
Thu 10: Jeremy McMurray & the Pocket Jazz Orchestra @ Arc, Stockton. 8:00pm. Feat. guests Ray Dales & Jackie Summers.

Fri 11: Zoë Gilby Quartet @ Auckland Castle, Bishop Auckland. 1:00pm. £8.00.
Fri 11: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 11: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 11: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 11: John Rowland Trio: The Music of Ben Webster @ Jesmond Library, Newcastle. 1:00pm. £5.00. Rowland (tenor sax); Alan Law (piano); Paul Grainger (double bass).
Fri 11: Imelda May @ The Fire Station, Sunderland. 7:30pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 11: Shunyata Improvisation Group @ Cullercoats Watch House. 7:30-9:00pm. Free (donations).

Sat 12: Jason Isaacs @ STACK, Seaburn. 3:30-5:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 12: Rob Heron & the Tea Pad Orchestra + House of the Black Gardenia + King Bees @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. 6:30pm (doors). £18.00.
Sat 12: Bright Street Big Band @ Washington Arts Centre. 6:30pm. £12.00. Event includes swing dance taster session, DJ dance session. Bright Street Big Band on stage 7:30-8:15pm & 8:45-9:30pm. SOLD OUT!
Sat 12: Milne Glendinning Band @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 12: Imelda May @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 7:30pm. £42.20. SOLD OUT!
Sat 12: Papa G’s Troves @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 13: Daniel John Martin with Swing Manouche @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00pm. £10.00.
Sun 13: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 13: Hejira: A Celebration of Joni Mitchell @ Wylam Brewery, Newcastle. 8:00pm (7:00pm doors). £22.50.
Sun 13: Wilkinson/Edwards/Noble + Chojnacki @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £13.20., £11.00. JNE.

Mon 14: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 14: Zoë Gilby Quintet @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £10.00.

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

Thursday, May 26, 2022

Album review: Seth McFarlane - Blue Skies

Seth MacFarlane (vocals); Andrew Cottee (arranger) + orchestra including Chuck Berghofer (bass); Peter Erskine (drums); Larry Koonse (guitar); Dan Higgins (alto sax); Tom Ranier (piano).

Sinatra and Tormé have gone. Bennett's in retirement. Who's left in the crooner clique? Well there's Bublé and Connick Jr. and there's this Family Guy - Seth MacFarlane.

I've yet to watch Family Guy but I've heard several albums by the show's main man and when it comes to singing and swinging a standard Seth's the star.

He's not as hip or as cool as Sinatra and Tormé were, but swings more than Bennett ever did and beats Bublé and Connick Jr. at their own game. In short, as Ol' Blue Eyes would say, "He's a gasser!"

Of course, like all of the above greats he's helped along the way by fourteen of the finest numbers from the good old GASbook, some pithy, albeit brief, interjections by the soloists mentioned above and fabulous arrangements by Cottee. More Billy May than Nelson Riddle - although he hints at both - Cottee provides the impetus for MacFarlane's knicker-dropping vocals (as the late Keith Crombie of Newcastle's Jazz Café would probably have described them!). If I find myself faced with such an unlikely possibility - rest assured I'll have a pack of three MacFarlane CDs at the ready to help things along and this will be my first choice - Lance.

Available now on Verve Records/Republic Records.

It's You Or No One; No Moon At All; You'll Get Yours; A Hundred Years From Today; That Old Feeling; Blue Skies; If I Were A  Bell; Out Of Nowhere; On Green Dolphin Street; That Old Feeling; Blue Skies; It Could Happen To You; I Didn't Know About You; You Turned The Tables On Me; Never In A Million Years; Unless I Do It All With You.

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