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Bebop Spoken There

Francis Tulip: ''Music speaks louder than words''. (Jazzwise, June 2025).

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

17,550 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 514 of them this year alone and, so far, 92 this month (June 28).

From This Moment On ...

JULY 202

Sat 12: Jazz Stage @ Mouth of the Tyne Festival. From 12 noon. Free. Vieux Carré Jazzmen (12 noon); Rendezvous Jazz (1:00pm); Mississippi Dreamboats (2:00pm); Classic Swing (3:00pm); Abbie Finn Trio (4:00pm). Stage adjacent to Tynemouth Priory.
Sat 12: Making Music Seminar: Latin American Music v. Music of Latin America @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 1:00pm. £15.00. (£5.00. online). Jason Holcomb, Alix Shepherd & Carlos Luis Rivera.
Sat 12: Edison Herbert Trio @ The Vault, Darlington 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 12: Jude Murphy & Dan Stanley @ Lovaine Community Garden, North Shields. 7:00pm (doors 6:40pm). £6.00. Limited places, booking essential (via the Community Garden website). BYOF&D.
Sat 12: Hot Club du Nord @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm. Hall Two.
Sat 12: Sleep Suppressor @ Repas 7 by Night, Berwick. 8:00pm.
Sat 12: Anth Purdy @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle.8:00pm. Free. ‘Swing Jazz Guitar’. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 13: Jazz Stage @ Mouth of the Tyne Festival. From 11:00am. Free. Trilogy of Four (11:00am); East Coast Jazzmen (12:10pm); Delta Prophets Trio (1:20pm); House of the Black Gardenia (2:30pm); Mouth of the Tyne All Stars (3:40pm). Stage adjacent to Tynemouth Priory.
Sun 13: Giles Strong Quartet @ The Sele, Hexham. 12 noon. Free. ‘The Bandstand Sessions’.
Sun 13: Julie Dexter @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:30pm (doors). £20.00. ‘The Cluny Matinee Jazz Club’.
Sun 13: ’58 Jazz Collective, Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 13: Tyne Valley Big Band @ Bishop Auckland Town Hall. 2:00pm. Tea Dance. SOLD OUT! A Durham Brass Festival event.
Sun 13: Ferg Kilsby @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm. Kilsby (trumpet, flugelhorn); Luis Verde (alto sax); Ben Lawrence (piano); Andy Champion (double bass); John Hirst (drums).
Sun 13: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 13: Sloth Racket @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. JNE.

Mon 14: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club (1:00pm). Free.
Mon 14: Brass Bash @ Hardwick Park, Co. Durham. 6:00-8:00pm. Free. Various bands. A Durham Brass Festival event.
Mon 14: Brass Bash @ The Story, Mount Oswald, Co. Durham. 6:00-8:00pm. Free. Various bands. A Durham Brass Festival event.

Tue 15: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ The Victoria & Albert Inn, Seaton Sluice. Tel: 0191 237 3697. 12:30pm. ‘July Jazz Barbecue’. Tickets: £15.00.
Tue 15: Brass Bash @ Hackworth Park, Shildon, Co. Durham. 6:00-9:00pm. Free. Various bands. A Durham Brass Festival event.
Tue 15: Brass Bash @ The Witham, Barnard Castle, Co. Durham. 6:00-8:00pm. Free. Various bands. A Durham Brass Festival event.
Tue 15: Julian Lage Trio @ 1856 Exchange, North Shields. 7:30pm . Lage (guitar); Jorge Roeder (double bass); Joey Barron (drums).
Tue 15: Jools Holland’s Rhythm & Blues Orchestra @ The Hippodrome, Darlington. 7:30pm.
Tue 15: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. Stu Collingwood, Paul Grainger, Bailey Rudd.

Wed 16: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 16: Brass Bash @ Willington Town Park, Co. Durham. 6:00-8:00pm. Free. Various bands. A Durham Brass Festival event.
Wed 16: Brass Bash @ Market Place, Spennymoor, Co. Durham. 6:00-8:00pm. Free. Various bands. A Durham Brass Festival event.
Wed 16: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 16: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 17: Brass Bash @ Trimdon Community College, Co. Durham. 6:00-9:00pm. Free. Various bands. A Durham Brass Festival event.
Thu 17: Brass Bash @ Blackhill & Consett Park, Co. Durham. 6:00-8:00pm. Free. Various bands. A Durham Brass Festival event.
Thu 17: NONUNONU @ Elder Beer, Heaton, Newcastle. 7:00pm (doors). £11:55 (inc bf).

Fri 18: Greg Abate w. Dean Stockdale Trio @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 18: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 18: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 18: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 18: Brass Bash @ Town Park, Newton Aycliffe, Co. Durham. 6:00-9:00pm. Free. Various bands. A Durham Brass Festival event.
Fri 18: Brass Bash @ North Terrace, Seaham, Co. Durham. 6:00-9:00pm. Free. Various bands. A Durham Brass Festival event.
Fri 18: Zoë Gilby Quartet @ Sunderland Minster. 7:30pm.
Fri 18: Knats: Masterclass & jam session @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 7:30pm. £15.00.
Fri 18: Rat Pack - Live in Concert @ Tyne Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm.
Fri 18: Greg Abate w. Dean Stockdale Trio @ Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. £15.00.
Fri 18: Front Porch Three @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. A Hoodoo Blues dance class & social. Social & Front Porch Three only from 8:30pm. £5.00.

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

Tuesday, July 12, 2022

The Mike Vax Quintet @ Wigan Jazz Festival - July 10

Mike Vax (trumpet, flugelhorn); Al Wood (alto sax); Martin Longhawn (piano); Dave Linane (double bass); Dave Hassell (drums)

Wigan Jazz Festival's star attraction from America was expecting to perform in concert with an all-British big band. Flying across the Atlantic from Arizona, plans changed somewhat for ex-Stan Kenton man, trumpeter Mike Vax. At short notice the proposed big band gig fell through and, stepping into the breach, multi-instrumentalist and friend of Wigan Jazz Festival, Al Wood pulled a few strings to assemble a first rate quintet. 

Vax and Wood go back a long way and the American left it to his British friend to call the right guys for the job. Talk about A-list! Martin Longhawn was available and there he was sitting at the Steinway, bassist Dave Linane (he was in Maynard Ferguson's 'British' outfit!) and drummer Dave Hassell. And then there was Wood himself, another Brit who worked with Maynard Ferguson. A-list? Most definitely!

Mike Vax cuts an amiable figure, but make no mistake, Mr Vax knows who Mike Vax is! Throughout this Sunday afternoon concert Vax and Wood, perched atop high stools, presented an impeccable set list, opening with My Romance. Now in his late seventies, Vax showed remarkable facility, as fleet of finger as someone half his age. Similarly, Wood (on this gig restricting himself to alto sax, although, had the fancy taken him, he could have brought along half a dozen instruments) proved equally adept, we were listening to two masters at work. 

In addition to being one heck of a trumpet player, Vax has a fund of stories to tell. Holding court here at the Village on the Green, our American guest recalled being on the road with a who's who of the jazz world, of driving a Buick through the night, night after night, from one gig to another. 

The rhythm section had a ball, Vax appreciative of the talent supporting him here at Wigan. Bassist Dave Linane has a great sound, quietly walking the quintet through the set. Drummer Dave Hassell, a Mr Reliable type, was just that, reliable. These are the guys for an engagement like this, and pianist Martin Longhawn couldn't stop smiling, he was living the dream. 

Al Wood can play anything - instrument or song. Vax happily played several of Wood's arrangements including Nat Adderley's Work Song. Vax, of course, knew the cornetist, saying he'd have been world famous but for Cannonball!

Vax played Horace Silver's The Preacher, using a Harmon mute borrowed from one of the many trumpeters in the room. In years to come the conversation will go: Do you remember the time Mike Vax borrowed your mute?...Ah, yeah, he used it on The Preacher.

A solo trumpet feature - the band took five - heard Vax playing Danny Boy. An oddity in the set list, but impressive, nevertheless. An uptempo All the Things You Are featured rip-roaring, bop-like solos, then to close, Mike Vax bade farewell saying: We're gonna close on Duke Ellington. And so they did (strictly Juan Tizol) with Perdido. Perfect. 

Earlier, The Chicken opened an entertaining concert set by The Anchormen Jazz Orchestra. The west Yorkshire-based outfit, fronted  by ebullient Liverpudlian vocalist Alan Cross, ran through a bucket full of big band charts, including Birdland, the Buddy Rich version of Love for Sale and Mack the Knife. The entertaining Mr Cross threw in a few Sinatra numbers and it wasn't long before he and the band had 'em up dancing (a friend of BSH was among their number, photographic evidence is available upon request!). Russell

1 comment :

Cormac Loane said...

You’re right, Russell - Al Wood is an amazing musician and multi-instrumentalist. In 1979 I was privileged to play alongside him in the Ken Turner Orchestra at the Blackpool Dance Festival in the Empress Ballroom. On the first night Al was playing trumpet, so I assumed that was his instrument. But on the second night he was playing trombone and on the third night I’m pretty sure he was playing piano because the keyboard player hadn’t turned up! And at the end of that show I went round the corner to the Galleon late-night jazz club where Al was in full flight on alto saxophone! I also recall that a few minutes before we started the final show of the festival, Al was scribbling out band parts for several fanfare arrangements he had just done to celebrate the Festival winners - a task Ken Turner had delegated to him at the very last moment. Of course, the fanfares worked brilliantly and were perfectly sight read by the musicians!

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