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Bebop Spoken There

Steve Coleman: ''If you don't keep learning, your mind slows down. Use it or lose it''. (DownBeat, January 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

17719 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 39 of them this year alone and, so far, 39 this month (Jan. 15).

From This Moment On ...

January 2025

Wed 15: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 15: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 15: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 15: Hot Club of Heaton @ Elder Beer, Heaton, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘third Wednesday in the month’ session. TBC.

Thu 16: Pete Tanton & the Cuban Heels @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Fri 17: Lindsay Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 17: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 17: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 17: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 17: Joe Steels Trio w. Graham Hardy @ The Pele, Corbridge. 7:00pm. £10.00. (inc. a welcome drink & table reservation). Book at: www.drinks@thepele.co.uk. A ‘Jazz at the Pele’ promotion.
Fri 17: Russ Morgan Quartet @ Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. Opus 4 Jazz Club.
Fri 17: Redwell @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sat 18: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 18: Alter Ego + Jamie Toms/Graham Don Duo @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 7:30pm. £15.00. at the door; £14.35. (inc £0.35 bf) online, in advance.
Sat 18: Tweed River Jazz Band @ Repas 7 by Night, West St., Berwick TD15 1AS. 7:30pm. Free. Album launch gig.
Sat 18: Delta Prophets @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 19: Glenn Miller Orchestra UK @ Glasshouse, Gateshead. 3:00pm. ‘Glenn Miller & the Rat Pack Era’.
Sun 19: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 19: Spilt Milk @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 5:15-7:00pm. Free. Nolan Brothers (vocal harmonies).
Sun 19: Tenement Jazz Band @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 19: Nick Ross Orchestra @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 7:30pm.
Sun 19: Freight Train (Tobin/Noble/Clarvis) @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 20: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 21: ???

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

Saturday, May 14, 2022

Hexham Jazz Festival: Day 1 (Friday 13)

(© Malcolm Sinclair)
On the approach to Hexham Abbey the streets were eerily quiet. Could there really be a major festival event about to begin in the Northumberland market town? There was and it's pleasing to report the first Hexham Jazz Festival in something like twenty years got off to a flying start as a capacity audience took its seats - in some cases pews! - to hear Hot Club du Nord and the improvisational duo of Paul Edis and Graeme Wilson.  

Hot Club du Nord: Emma Fisk (violin); James Birkett (guitar); Dave Harris (guitar); Bruce Rollo (double bass)

(© Malcolm Sinclair)
Emma Fisk's Hot Club du Nord is a 'banker bet'. Book the band and you're guaranteed  a full house. The festival organisers did just that and were duly rewarded. The acoustics in Hexham Abbey favoured Emma Fisk's virtuosic violin playing, the guitarists - James Birkett and Dave Harris - less so, although the master craftsmen overcame any potential difficulties playing the set with little or no amplification, likewise string bassist Bruce Rollo. This Can't Be Love opened the 2022 Hexham Jazz Festival and if it's possible to hear a pin drop in such a vast space we would have heard it, such was the attentive listening of the capacity crowd. 

Django and Stéphane were to the fore, both pre-war and post-war recordings. Swing 42 is a favourite of Hot Club du Nord, it went down well here in Hexham. Fats Waller's Honeysuckle Rose is a winner every time: the aficionado approves, to the the non-aficionado, it's a foot-tapper. Fisk's playing of A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square is never less than perfect - you don't need to be a GASbook jazz fan, anyone with ears can't fail to be impressed. Magical. To close an all-to-brief set, Hot Club du Nord went out on Stompin' at Decca.
         
Set list: This Can't Be LoveBody and SoulSwing 42UndecidedBesame MuchoUltrafoxHoneysuckle RoseA Nightingale Sang in Berkeley SquareStompin' at Decca.   
 
Paul Edis (pipe organ); Graeme Wilson (tenor sax)
     
(© Malcolm Sinclair)
Following a short interval we were to hear a set of improvised music performed by Paul Edis and Graeme Wilson. The phrase 'And now for something completely different' sprang to mind. As Edis made his way up into the organ loft, tenor saxophonist Graeme Wilson patrolled the aisles. Our duo gave a first performance of pipe organ and tenor sax at Durham Cathedral and this Hexham reunion would similarly make full use of the ancient building's (challenging) acoustics. London-based Edis cranked-up the organ, its immense power held in check, for now...

(© Malcolm Sinclair)
Edinburgh-based Wilson took a similar approach, first probing, tentatively, hearing the echo, playing with the acoustics. A pipe organ doesn't have to be all about thunderous sounds, it can emit whispered notes, Edis sketching on a broad canvas, not yet puling out all of the stops. Wilson responded, full-throttle tenor held in reserve. This first of two improvisations ebbed and flowed, fire and brimstone passages emerged only to be calmed once more. Some forty five minutes later Edis emerged from on high, taking a bow, the more visible Wilson acknowledging the applause. Here endeth day one of the 2022 Hexham Jazz Festival. Russell   

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