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Bebop Spoken There

John McLaughlin: '' A Love Supreme coincided with my search for meaning in life". (DownBeat, March 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

17873 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 194 of them this year alone and, so far, 41 this month (March 14).

From This Moment On ...

MARCH 2025.

Wed 19: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 19: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 19: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 20: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, Holystone. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 20: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: Nicknames.
Thu 20: Terri Green Experience @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £15.90.
Thu 20: King Bees @ The Cumberland Arms, Byker, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). Superb blues band.
Thu 20: Lindsay Hannon Trio @ The Harbour View, Roker, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Hannon’s ‘Tom Waits for No Man’ set.
Thu 20: Ray Stubbs R&B All Stars @ Mill Tavern, Hebburn. 8:30pm. Free.

Fri 21: Paul Skerritt @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 21: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 21: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 21: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 21: Giles Strong Quartet @ 1719, Hendon, Sunderland. 7:30pm. CANCELLED!
Fri 21: New Century Ragtime Orchestra @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Featuring special guest Martin Litton (piano).

Sat 22: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 12:30-2:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 22: Jason Isaacs @ Seaburn STACK, Seaburn. 3:30pm-5:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 22: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 22: Swamp Stomp String Band @ The White Room, Stanley. 7:45pm.
Sat 22: Rivkala @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Country blues guitar & vocals.

Sun 23: Musicians Unlimited @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 23: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 23: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 23: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 23: Mississippi MacDonald @ Georgian Theatre, Stockton. 3:00pm. Blues.
Sun 23: Tweed River Jazz Band @ Barrels Ale House, Berwick. 7:00pm. Free.
Sun 23: The Great Deceivers @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Tom Atkinson & co play King Crimson (1969-1974). Atkinson (guitar); Josh Bentham (alto sax); Stu Dawson (bass); Jeff Armstrong (drums).

Mon 24: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 24: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 6:30pm. Free.

Tue 25: Fred Wesley & the New JB’s @ The Cluny. 7:30pm (doors). £27.50. POSTPONED! New date Wednesday 26 November.

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

Sunday, May 01, 2022

Darlington Jazz Festival: Matt Roberts Quintet + Calvert & the Old Fools @ Number One Bar - April 30

Matt Roberts Quintet: Matt Roberts (trumpet); Jim Corry (tenor sax); Martin Longhawn (piano); Myra Brownbridge (double bass); Sam Gardner (drums) 

An International Jazz Day special to close this year's Darlington Jazz Festival. And no better way to do just that than with the return of local lad Matt Roberts. Based in London, year after year, trumpeter Roberts makes a point of supporting his home town festival. What's more, the genial Roberts always brings with him an all-star line-up, and this 2022 edition of the town centre festival would hear yet another superb band. Previous editions of the weekend festival have presented Roberts playing the music of some of his trumpet heroes - Lee Morgan, Fats Navarro and others. This afternoon's concert in Number One Bar presented the music of Miles Davis.      

Taking the stand alongside bandleader Roberts were three familiar faces - Jim Corry on tenor, Martin Longhawn, piano, and drummer Sam Gardner. A-listers all. The new kid on the block, recent Trinity Laban graduate Myra Brownbridge, would take on double bass duties. Roberts' focus was on Miles' Prestige years and the subsequent bigger budget Columbia recordings. Bar Number One, on the corner of Skinnergate and Coniscliffe Road, filled up nicely for this Saturday afternoon session, Roberts opening with Trane's Blues. Ah, yes! Have we missed this annual treat? You bet! 

A tightly-muted Roberts produced a sublime take on Surrey with the Fringe on Top, the supporting cast absolutely on it. Surprisingly, Roberts and Martin Longhawn met for the first time the previous day ahead of a gig in Leeds. You wouldn't have guessed it, Longhawn fitting in as easily as you like. Matt praised Martin, rightly so. Many of Roberts friends and fellow musicians were in the house, they weren't about to miss the return of one of their own! Jim Corry as John Coltrane was as much Corry as Trane, and no bad thing, the Leeds College of Music alumnus has his own voice, a great player. 

The Columbia years dominated the second set. Roberts and Corry deftly exchanging lines on Ah-Lue-Cha, a beautifully paced Bye Bye Blackbird with all the delicacy one would expect from a muted Miles/Matt. Corry's solo on Milestones tore it up, the rhythm section 'cookin''! And how about these guys, the great Sam Gardner, and, someone you'll be hearing a lot more of in the coming years, the fabulous double bass player, Ms Myra Brownbridge.  And so, to close the 2022 Darlington Jazz Festival, the Matt Roberts Quintet said 'good afternoon' with Freddie Freeloader. Matt Roberts will be back next year, clear the diary, the dates likely to be around April 28 - May 1.                

Set list: Trane's Blues (from Workin', Prestige); Half Nelson (from Workin', Prestige); Surrey with the Fringe on Top (from Steamin', Prestige); When Lights Are Low (from Cookin' Prestige); Ah-Leu-Cha (from 'Round About Midnight, Columbia); Tadd's Flight (from 'Round About Midnight, Columbia); Bye, Bye, Blackbird (from 'Round About Midnight, Columbia); Milestones (from Milestones, Columbia); Freddie Freeloader (from Kind of Blue, Columbia).                

Calvert & the Old Fools: Richie Emmerson (tenor sax); Andrew Meadowcroft (trumpet, piano, vocals); Tony Wood (double bass); Stephen Fletcher (drums) + Joel Meadowcroft (piano)

Earlier, noon to be precise, Calvert and the Old Fools played a one hour set of tried and tested material. Calvert, that's Sam Calvert, wasn't around. However, depping for the absent drummer was the Alumni's Stephen Fletcher. The Old Fools' front man Andrew Meadowcroft is a bundle of energy, big vocals, hand-clapping, piano, trumpet, an all-rounder (the man was in the Alumni's trumpet section the previous evening) and he didn't let up. Vocal numbers dominated - in fact, was there an instrumental? - with Meadowcroft belting out an up-tempo, if not raucous, Night and Day, typifying the set. Darlington favourite Richie Emmerson handled the tenor parts with consummate ease, occasionally blowing alongside a trumpet-playing Meadowcroft. On the two-horn numbers, young Joel Meadowcroft played piano. He's one to watch, that's for sure. Meadowcroft Snr knows how to work a room (this room in particular as he and his fellow Old Fools enjoy a 'jazz brunch' residency). If you like a hollerin' Hallelujah, I Love her So, you'll enjoy Meadowcroft and co, check the listings for the band's next gig right here on Skinnergate. Russell    

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