Bebop Spoken There

Art Blakey (to Terence Blanchard): ''You ain't Miles find your own shit to do!'' (DownBeat May, 2026)

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

18532 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 18 years ago. 396 of them this year alone and, so far this month (May 15) 50

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

From This Moment On

May

Sat 16: Sing Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. £27.50. Tutor: Alexia Gardner. God Bless the Child - Lady Day!. Enrol at: learning@jazz.coop.
Sat 16: Kaberry Big Band @ the Seahorse Pub, Hillheads Rd., Whitley Bay NE23 8HR. From 7:30pm. £15.00
Sat 16: Lady Nade @ Arc, Stockton. 8:00pm. ‘Lady Nade sings Nina Simone’.

Sun 17: Glenn Miller & Big Band Spectacular @ Forum Theatre, Billingham. 7:30pm.
Sun 17: QOW Trio @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £14.00., £12.00., £7.00. Spike Wells, Riley Stone-Lonergan & Eddie Myer.

Mon 18: Friends of Jazz @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 18: Mark Williams Trio @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £10.00.

Tue 19: GoGo Penguin + Daudi Matsiko @ Wylam Brewery, Newcastle. 7:00pm (doors). £22.00 + £4.40 bf.
Tue 19: Danny Lowndes’ Hot Club @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £15.00 + £5.00 bf.
Tue 19: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Michael Young (piano); Paul Grainger (double bass); Mark Robertson (drums).

Wed 20: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 20: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 20: Jordan Jackson @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £19.80 (inc. bf); £15.40 (inc. bf).
Wed 20: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 21: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ The Millstone, Mill Rise, South Gosforth, Newcastle. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 21: Jazz Classics with Rivkala @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. Rivkala (vocals); Alan Law (piano); Paul Grainger (double bass).
Thu 21: Paul Skerritt @ Angels' Share, St George's Terrace, Jesmond, Newcastle NE2 2SX. 8:00pm. Free. Booking advised (0191 200 1975). Skerritt w. backing tapes.

Fri 22: Paul Skerritt @ Market Place, Durham. From 12 noon. Free. Skerritt w. backing tapes.
Fri 22: Paul Edis Trio @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. £9.00. Edis, Andy Champion, Steve Hanley.
Fri 22: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 22: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 22: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 22: Castillo Nuevo Trio @ Hotel Gotham, Newcastle. 5:30pm. Free.
Fri 22: Paul Edis Trio @ St Cuthbert’s Centre, Crook. 7:30pm. £TBC. Edis, Andy Champion, Steve Hanley.

Thursday, June 30, 2022

Lights Out by Nine @ Hoochie Coochie - June 30

John Frame (vocals); John Beresford (trumpet); Paul Haddow (trombone); George Morrison (tenor sax); Alan Kyle (guitar, backing vocals); John Stevenson (keyboards, backing vocals); Dougie Hunter (bass, backing vocals); Malc Herpich (drums)

A top soul band, a hip venue and Coors at £3 a pint - get there early to get a seat was the uppermost thought in my mind. For some unfathomable reason it wasn't the uppermost thought in many other people's mind - their loss and a more tangible one for Warren!

This was better than your average Scottish white band, in fact LOBN can hold their own against any average band of whatever colour or country as was proven right from the get go when Morrison blew the first of many blistering tenor solos on his own Chapter 26. He could have been walking the bar in downtown Philly. Honking and wailing with the best of them. For me he was the star in a band nigh on full of stars.

After the opening instrumental, Chapter 26, vocalist Frame took centre stage where he remained for the most of the evening singing band originals, covers of soul classics, James  Brown inspired numbers, Pick up the Pieces by that other average white band - The Average White Band - and a host of others.

The horn section delivered the big fat sound so definitive of this brand of soul the quasi-Dixie sound on Laughing on the Other Side was out of this world! Bass, drums, guitar and keys set a groove that made your feet itch yet, despite this latter symptom, St Vitus didn't show and nor did any of the Dervishes who normally shake it and break it on the Hoochie dance floor. Even a renowned double left footed blogger such as myself could have made like last night's star at York, Junior Laniyan, such was the inspirational terpsichorean groove. 

It was a blast and if I've overused the word average it is in no way a reflection on the music which was way way above average nor the audience which was way way below average. 

Catch them if and when you can - Lance

Chapter 26; Love by Numbers; Better Than Nothing; Congo Square; Workin' on it; Mr Brown; Take it or Leave it; Laughing on the Other Side; Life During Wartime; Why Did You do it?; Love and Happiness; Pick up the Pieces; Superstition; Diggin' on James Brown; Wrap it up.

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