Bebop Spoken There

Dominick "Domo" Branch: ''Most people say drummers can't write, they're just time-keepers only beating on things. But I have a very musical brain.'' (DownBeat February, 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

18288 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 18 years ago. 142 of them this year alone and, so far this month (Feb. 14), 42

From This Moment On ...

February

Fri 20: Alex Clarke w. Dean Stockdale Trio @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT! Clarke w. Dean Stockdale, Mick Shoulder, Abbie Finn.
Fri 20: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 20: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 20: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 20: Squabble @ Warkworth Memorial Hall. 7:00pm. Steve Chambers (organ); Jude Murphy (double bass, vocals); Sid White (drums).
Fri 20: Jive Aces @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 7:00pm (6:30pm doors).
Fri 20: Alex Clarke w. Dean Stockdale Trio @ Sunderland Minster. 7:30pm. Clarke w. Dean Stockdale, Mick Shoulder, Abbie Finn.

Sat 21: ???

Sun 22: Musicians Unlimited: Big Band Blast @ West Hartlepool RFC. 1:00-3:00pm . Free.
Sun 22: Joe Steels Group @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm. A Blue Patch album tour.
Sun 22: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 22: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 22: Harben Kay Quartet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 23: Joe Steels Group @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 1:00pm. A Blue Patch album tour.
Mon 23: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 24: Finn-Keeble Group @ Newcastle House Hotel, Rothbury. 7:30pm. £11.00.
Tue 24: Liam Oliver & Shayo Oshodi @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Wed 25: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 25: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 25: Geordie Jazz Jam @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. Newcastle University jam session. All welcome.
Wed 25: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 26: Castillo Nuevo Orquesta @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £6.50.
Thu 26: Shalala @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £7.00 adv.
Thu 26: Mick Cantwell Band @ The Harbour View, Roker, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Blues.

Fri 27: Joe Steels Group @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. £8.00. SOLD OUT! A Blue Patch album tour.
Fri 27: Alan Barnes w. Mick Shoulder Trio @ Bishop Auckland Methodist Church. 1:00pm. £9.00. Trio: Rick Laughlin (piano); Mick Shoulder (double bass); Tim Johnston (drums).
Fri 27: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 27: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 27: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 27: Radio Hito + Eddie Prévost, Silvain Schmid & Tom Wheatley @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm (doors). £12.22., £10.10., £8.00.
Fri 27: Giacomo Smith w Strictly Smokin’ Big Band @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm.
Fri 27: Alan Barnes w. Mick Shoulder Trio @ The Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. £15.00. Trio: Rick Laughlin (piano); Mick Shoulder (double bass); Tim Johnston (drums).

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, June 04, 2022

Paul Edis & Vasilis Xenopoulos @ The Front Room, Croydon - June 2 (Review by Russell)

Paul Edis (piano); Vasilis Xenopoulos (tenor sax, flute) 

The Front Room is a short walk from Croydon East Railway Station, that's assuming you know where you're going. In view over on the left, Fairfield Halls, on the right, a construction site (graffiti-strewn hoardings, scaffolding etc). Strolling past the ongoing major renovations, turning right, then left, doubling back, then walking round in circles, it was 11:55am, the gig was due to start at noon. We were going to be late, then, crossing the road with tenor sax case in hand, the man himself...Vasilis Xenopoulos! A smiling Vasilis kind of wondered what we were doing in south London. Well, of course, we were there - in the nick of time - to hear Vasilis play a lunchtime gig with his old mate, pianist Paul Edis. 
Croydon's Front Room occupies a disused shop unit in a sixties' era shopping parade (uniformly ugly, grey-shuttered premises), the construction site of an hour or so earlier. 'Front Room' is set out as a fifties' front room, a china cabinet the central feature. To one side stands a Hammond organ, to the other, a house drum kit. Centre stage, our duo - Paul Edis and Vasilis Xenopoulos. Casual attire (jackets), the first number, Cole Porter's You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To, it had been too long since we'd last heard Paul and Vasilis working together. 

Paul's The Coast (Part One) took a trip (in the mind's eye) around Tynemouth and neighbouring coastal/Tyneside locations. It was good to hear it again. For some reason Paul thought it an idea to play some tunes from 1952 with 'home' or 'place' uppermost in mind. Back Home in Indiana into the contrafact Donna Lee worked brilliantly: Vasilis' endless flow of ideas, liberally dosed with fleeting quotes, Paul responding with some dazzling work of his own. It had been worth the trek from 'up north'! 

Lullaby of Birdland, PE's Mikey's Samba (something to do with cars), Blue Monk (Paul striding out), from 1952 My One and Only Love (a favourite of Vasilis') to a set-closing Perdido. All excellent stuff, for readers based in BSH's heartland, good news, Paul and Vasilis will be up here later in the year.  Russell                
    
Set list: You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To; The Coast (Part One); Back Home in Indiana/Donna Lee; The Folks Who Live on the Hill; Lullaby of Birdland; Blue Monk; Mikey's Samba; Goin' Home; My One and Only Love; Samba ?; I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart; Perdido.
  
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