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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

17733 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 53 of them this year alone and, so far, 53 this month (Jan. 20).

From This Moment On ...

January 2025

Wed 22: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 22: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 22: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 22: Pasadena Roof Orchestra @ Fire Station, Sunderland. 7:30pm.

Thu 23: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, Holystone. 1:00pm. Free. Fortnightly.
Thu 23: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: Obituaries 2024.
Thu 23: Jason Isaacs @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 4:30-6:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Thu 23: Pedal Point Trio @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Fri 24: Zoë Gilby Quartet @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 24: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 24: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 24: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 24: Creakin’ Bones & the Sunday Dinners @ Lindisfarne Social Club, Wallsend. 9:00pm. Admission: TBC. Jazz, blues , jump jive, rock ‘n’ roll.

Sat 25: Boys of Brass @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 3:30-5:30pm. Free.
Sat 25: New '58 Jazz Collective @ Jackson's Wharf, Hartlepool. 6:30pm (doors). Free. A Burns' Night event. Jazz, swing, funk, soul, blues etc.
Sat 25: Edison Herbert Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 25: Red Kites Jazz @ Parish Hall, St Barnabas’ Church, Rowlands Gill. 7:30pm. £10.00. BYOB (tea & coffee available), raffle. Proceeds to St Barnabas’ Church. Performance feat. Shayo (vocals).
Sat 25: Jack & Jay’s Songbook @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 26: Musicians Unlimited @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 26: Graham Hardy Eclectic Quartet @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm.
Sun 26: Ruth Lambert Trio @ The Juke Shed, Union Quay, North Shields. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 26: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 26: Jazz Jam Sandwich! @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 26: Tweed River Jazz Band @ Barrels Ale House, Berwick-upon-Tweed. 7:30pm. Free.
Sun 26: Gratkowski, Tramontana, Beresford, Affifi @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £12.00. JNE.
Sun 26: Jazz Jam @ Fabio’s, Saddler St., Durham. 8:00pm. Free. A Durham University Jazz Society promotion. All welcome.

Mon 27: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 28: ???

Wed 29: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 29: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 29: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).

Thu 30: Matters Unknown (aka Jonathan Enser, Nubiyan Twist) + support TBA @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 8:00pm (7:00pm doors). £12.22 (gig & food); £9:04 (gig only).
Thu 30: Soznak @ The Mill Tavern, Hebburn. 8:00pm. Free.
Thu 30: Struggle Buggy @ Harbour View, Roker, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Rhythm & blues.

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 29, 2022

Jazz Venues of The Past

Long before my proper jazz days, I remember a jazz club on Monday evenings at the Turks Head pub in South Shields. The pub is long gone and houses stand there now. This must have been many years ago when I was aged about 30, because I seem to remember that the club was full of ‘old’ men and there were many expensive cars, such as Mercedes, outside. Who on earth were these rich jazz people, or did I dream it all?

I knew about the jazz because there was a folk club in the same pub on Friday nights, so I thought I'd try the jazz, which I realised was good music but which didn't quite chime with me in those days.

I don't know who the bands were but it was not the 'trad' jazz of which you heard a lot in those days.

I also remember that there was a trad jazz evening on Sundays at the local Westoe Rugby Club. I went there just a few times in, I think, the 1980s and I was fascinated to see people dancing quicksteps and such to the band.

One night in the early 2000s I bumped into Lance in Newcastle and we went to a jazz venue down towards the Side Gallery. We heard Zoë Gilby who sang impressively. Ann Alex 


4 comments :

Lance said...

As I recall, I think the band at the Turks included Bill Harper and Tommy Moran.

carstairs said...

I came up to Whitley Bay in 1975. I used to go to the High Point Hotel, with Hughie Aitchison and Jim Ruddick in the band I think.
Sometime later Mike Durham's WJRK took over, which prompted me to start playing tuba again, sitting in after buying a big old Conn from America ( in those days it was possible to get it shipped cheaply by surface ). Mike Durham, Bob King, ?Danny Dunbar, Fergus Hope, John Wheatley/Malcolm Moyer, Jimmy Stewart. All gone now.

Bill Gallon said...

1:Golden Lion, Winlaton Mill now called the Red Kite. A good venue on a bus route and a good room. Many memories of Gassie, Ronnie Robinson, Ronnie Mclean and Bill Brooks. It was still active in 1978.
2: Rose, Shamrock and Thistle at Streetgate, Sunniside with the Tyne Valley Stompers with Fred Rowe, cornet; Bill Smith and, on one occasion, a rare visitor from London - Cy Laurie on clarinet. This was back in the days when attendances were high.

3: A personal one for those who were at Gateshead Grammar School round 1951 to 1954. On a Monday evening at 4.00 pm the Head Boy - "Dabs" Walker - held a jazz records session with discussions on records and bands.
This was in the days of Ken Colyer, Chris Barber and Humphrey Lyttelton. Another attendee was Derrick Cogger who went on to play cornet with local bands. Derrick is still seen at venues but sadly all the others can now only be heard on recordings.

Anonymous said...

Yes, Billy Harper was on piano, good pub back in the day. One of my regular sit-in sessions before you guys and the tinternet turned up! P.G.

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