Bebop Spoken There

David Bailey (photographer): ''When I was 16 I wanted to look like Chet Baker. He was my idol - him and James Dean.'' (Talking Pictures documentary : Four beats to the bar and no cheating April, 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

18445 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 18 years ago. 309 of them this year alone and, so far this month (April 20 ) 43,

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

April

Mon 27: Friends of Jazz @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 27: House of Blues @ the Globe, Newcastle. 7:00pm. £7.00., £5.00. advance. A student-led jazz session. ‘House of Blues’ is, perhaps, a misnomer. SOLD OUT!
Mon 27: Littlewood Trio @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £10.00 + bf, £7.00. + bf.

Tue 28: Long/Remon/Zilker @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. Tom Remon plays Irish folk!

Wed 29: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 29: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 29: Long/Remon/Zilker @ The Ship Isis, Sunderland. 7:00pm. £10.00. + £1.00. bf. Tom Remon plays Irish folk!
Wed 29: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 29: Hackney Colliery Band @ Alnwick Playhouse. 7:30pm. £25.00.

Thu 30: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £5.00. Subject: International Jazz Day & JANE AGM.
Thu 30: Duke Junction @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £14.00., £12.00., £7.00. Nadim Teimoori (tenor sax); Jeff Hewer (guitar); Martin Longhawn (organ); Steve Hanley (drums). An International Jazz Day event & the 12th anniversary of Newcastle Jazz Co-op acquiring the Globe!

May

Fri 01: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 01: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 01: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 01: Castillo Nuevo Trio @ Hotel Gotham, Newcastle. 5:30pm. Free.
Fri 01: Bede Wind Band + East Coast Swing Band @ Cullercoats Methodist Church. 7:30pm. £10.00. Tickets from: www.ticketsource.com, members of Bede Wind Band & at the door. Memorial concert for Anne-Marie Purvis, who was a member of both ensembles. All proceeds to Tiny Lives Trust.
Fri 01: Louis Louis Louis @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm. £15.00.

Sat 02: Midnite Follies Orchestra @ St Augustine’s Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm. £20.00. Darlington New Orleans Jazz Club. All-star line-up.
Sat 02: Knats Masterclass & Jam II @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 1:00-3:00pm. £15.00.
Sat 02: Shannon Pearl + John Pope & John Garner @ Langley Tracks, Langley on Tyne NE47 5LA. 5:30pm (doors). £15.00. + £1.50. bf. ‘Witch-pop’ + Pope & Garner.
Sat 02: Knats + Nauta @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm (doors). £17.51., £14.33., £11.16.
Sat 02: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00.

Sun 03: Chilcott Jazz Mass @ St George’s Church, Jesmond, Newcastle. 9:30am. Free. Sung communion with Parish Choir (featuring Bob Chilcott’s music). A Jesmond Community Festival event.
Sun 03: Smokin’ Spitfires @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:45pm. £10.00.
Sun 03: Ian Bosworth Quintet @ Chapel, Middlesbrough. 1:00pm. Free. Feat. guest Mark Toomey (alto sax).
Sun 03: Sax Choir @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 03: Tom Waits for No Man @ Oxygenic, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm (2:30pm doors). Neckties and Boxing Gloves album launch. £14.00 (gig & a CD); £8.00 (gig only).
Sun 03: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 03: NUJO Jazz Jam @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm (doors). £3.76.
Sun 03: John Pope & John Garner @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £12.00., £10.00.

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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