Bebop Spoken There

Melissa Aldana: ''Having to play a ballads album, which is something very revealing for a saxophone player, would help me to question some new aspects of how to go deeper into sound." (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

18656 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 18 years ago. 520 of them this year alone and, so far this month (June 25) 72

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

June

Wed 01: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 01: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 01: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 02: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ The Millstone, Mill Rise, South Gosforth, Newcastle. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 02: Paul Skerritt @ Angels' Share, St George's Terrace, Jesmond, Newcastle NE2 2SX. 8:00pm. Free. Booking advised (0191 200 1975). Skerritt w. backing tapes.
Thu 02: De’Sean Jones & Blaque Dynamite feat. Urban Art Orchestra @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). De’Sean Jones (MD, tenor sax); Blaque Dynamite (Mike Mitchell, drums); Jamie Murray (drums) with UAO horns & strings.
Thu 02: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm.
Thu 02: Howlin’ Mat @ Newcastle Arts centre. 7:30pm. Free. Acoustic

Fri 03: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 03: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 03: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 03: Paul Donnelly Quartet @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm.
Fri 03: Martin Taylor @ Arc, Stockton. 8:00pm. Taylor (solo guitar).

Sat 04: Spats Langham’s Hot Fingers @ St Augustine’s Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm. £10.00. Darlington New Orleans Jazz Club.
Sat 04: Michael Woods @ Cycle Hub, Quayside, Ouseburn. 1:30-2:30pm & 3:00-4:00pm. Free. Acoustic blues guitar. An Ouseburn Festival event.
Sat 04: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. £27.50. Tutor: Steve Glendinning. Take the ‘A’ Train to Summertime: From Melody to Masterclass. Enrol at: learning@jazz.coop.
Sat 04: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00.

Sun 05: Smokin’ Spitfires @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:45pm. £10.00.
Sun 05: Ian Bosworth Quintet @ Chapel, Middlesbrough. 1:00pm. Free. Feat. guest Kevin Eland (trumpet).
Sun 05: Michael Woods @ Cycle Hub, Quayside, Ouseburn. 1:30-2:30pm & 3:15-4:00pm. Free. Acoustic blues guitar. An Ouseburn Festival event.
Sun 05: Lydia Rae Quintet @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00pm. £10.00. Rae (vocals); Sam Lightwing (alto sax, tenor sax); Ben Lawrence (piano); Andy Champion (double bass); John Bradford (drums).
Sun 05: Sax Choir @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 05: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Table reservations (0191 261 8000). Skerritt w. backing tapes.
Sun 05: Storytellers Street Band @ Ouseburn Woodland, Ouseburn. 5:00-6:00pm. Free. An Ouseburn Festival event.
Sun 05: Gerry Richardson’s Big Idea @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Sun 05: Jambone @ Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:15-9:45pm. Free but ticketed.

Mon 06: Friends of Jazz @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 06: Saltburn Big Band @ Saltburn House Hotel. 7:00-9:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).

Tue 07: Alan Law Trio @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 2:30pm. Free.
Tue 07: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Ben Lawrence (piano); Paul Grainger (double bass); John Bradford (drums).
Tue 07: Customs House Big Band @ The Masonic Hall, Ferryhill. 7:30pm. Free.

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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