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

18504 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 18 years ago. 368 of them this year alone and, so far this month (May 7 ) 22

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

Wed 13: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 13: Jam session @ The Tannery, Hexham. 7:00pm. Free.
Wed 13: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 13: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 13: Hey Remember This @ Elder Beer, Heaton, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £12.00. JNE.

Thu 14: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £5.00. Subject: Philip Larkin’s Jazz Experiment.
Thu 14: Jerron Paxton @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). Superb country blues.
Thu 14: Solcade @ the Bridge Hotel, Newcastle. 7:00pm. EP launch. Rivkala & co..
Thu 14: Jacob Egglestone @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. Egglestone (guitar); Jamie Watkins (bass); Jack Littlewood (drums) & guests.
Thu 14: 58 Jazz Collective @ The Blacksmith’s Arms, Hartlepool. 8:00pm. Free.
Thu 14: 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 15: Conor Emery Quartet @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. Line-up Emery (trombone); Alix Shepherd (piano); John Pope (double bass); Abbie Finn (drums). SOLD OUT!
Fri 15: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 15: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 15: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 15: Gerry Richardson Quartet @ Sunderland Minster. 7:30pm. £13.01 adv., £15.00 on the door. Old Black Cat Jazz Club.
Fri 15: Puppini Sisters @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm. CANCELLED!

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).

Monday, July 18, 2022

Freddie Garner Quartet @ the Railway, Stockport - July 17

(© Jeff Pritchard)
Freddie Garner (keys); Jim Collins  (alto/tenor sax/flute); James Adolpho (bass); Phil Bennett (drums).

For a moment I thought the Railway had brought in a summer dress code with every member of the band wearing shorts and also half the audience similarly attired. I felt a bit overdressed and, if this hot weather continues, I think I’ll have to dig out the shorts I bought on an NCL Jazz Cruise many moons ago and hope I can still fit into them!

There was an almost capacity room full of jazz fans to hear Freddie and his cohorts play a dozen tunes from their vast repertoire. The first three numbers were standards then the band got into bebop mode with Wayne Shorter’s Black Nile which featured some great tenor work from Jim Collins on his recently acquired Yamaha horn. He followed this by playing alto on a McCoy Tyner ballad Aiysha -  a tune I have never heard before. He only played flute on one number, the Charles Lloyd composition Forest Flower, but he did it justice.


Freddie Garner is still, at 85 years of age, playing as well as when I first met him during those days when the Manchester jazz scene was at its height and every day you could hear modern jazz in places like the Club 43, the Black Lion, the MSG, the Bodega and the Lower Turks Head. 


Freddie however, likes to listen to present day jazz composers such as Kenny Barron and during the second set tonight we heard his version of Barron’s Voyage  a tune I heard recently at Swanage Jazz Festival played by Greg Abate who incidently is due at this venue on Sunday July 24 with Paul Hartley’s Trio. Freddie also likes the tunes composed by Wayne Shorter and tonight he  performed two of these the aforementioned Black Nile and Footprints all aided by excellent bass and drum work from James Adolpho and Phil Bennett. 


The concert concluded with a Sonny Rollins' blues Sonnymoon For Two and everyone gave the band a sitting (?) ovation. The next jazz night here is on Tuesday July 19 with guitarist Trefor Owen. Mike Farmer

 

Yesterdays; Out of This World; Weaver of Dreams; Black Nile; Aiysha; Jeannine; I Mean You; There Is No Greater Love; Voyage; Forest Flower; Footprints; Sonnymoon For Two

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