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Bebop Spoken There

George Porter Jr.: ''To me, syncopation is like jazz. It wasn't meant for the masses. It was meant just for a hip few". (DownBeat, May 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

18043 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 364 of them this year alone and, so far, 42 this month (May 15).

From This Moment On ...

MAY 2025

Sat 17: Teresa Watson Band @ Billy Bootleggers, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. Blues.
Sat 17: The Society Quartet @ Hilton Garden Inn, Sunderland. 6:00pm. Tel: 0191 500 9494. £26.00 (inc. two course meal). Line-up: Jason Holcomb, Hannah Taylor, Alix Shepherd & Abbie Finn.
Sat 17: Milne Glendinning Band @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 17: Archie Brown & the Young Bucks @ Billy Bootleggers, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. Rhythm & blues, Americana etc.
Sat 17: Bellavana @ Newcastle Arts Centre. 7:30-10:00pm. Free. A Late Shows event.
Sat 17: Rockin’ Turner Brothers @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Rockabilly, Western swing etc.

Sun 18: Jason Isaacs @ STACK, Seaburn. 12 noon-2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sun 18: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 18: Ruth Lambert & Giles Strong @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 18: Steve Summers Quintet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 19: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 19: Lewis Watson Quartet @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £10.00.

Tue 20: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Stu Collingwood, Paul Grainger, Bailey Rudd.
Tue 20: Alexia Gardner Quintet @ Pleased to Meet You, Bridge St., Morpeth NE61 1ND. 8:00pm.

Wed 21: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 21: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public). b Wed 21: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 22: Nuevo Castillo Orquesta @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £5.00.
Thu 22: Anna Reay & Deon Krishnan @ STACK, Exchange Sq., Middlesbrough. 7:30-9:15pm. Free.
Thu 22: Pedal Point Trio @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Fri 23: Dean Stockdale Quartet @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. ‘Celebrating Oscar’.
Fri 23: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 23: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 23: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 23: Anna Reay & Deon Krishnan @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 4:00-6:00pm. Free.
Fri 23: Joe Steels Group @ The Pele, Corbridge. 7:00pm. £10.00. + £1.55. bf. A Northumberland Jazz Festival fringe event.
Fri 23: Spilt Milk @ STACK, Exchange Sq., Middlesbrough. 7:00-9:00pm. Free. Nolan Brothers (vocal harmonies).
Fri 23: Gaz Hughes Quartet @ Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm.
Fri 23: Strictly Smokin’ Big Band @ The Witham, Barnard Castle. 8:00pm. £19.00.; £17.00. ‘Time After Time’.

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

Sunday, July 10, 2022

WYJO, DUBB & the RAO @ Wigan Jazz Festival - July 9

Wigan's own took centre stage on the Saturday afternoon session at this year's Wigan Jazz Festival. A sweltering summer's day didn't deter the crowds as the Village on the Green welcomed another full house. Doors open, house lights dimmed, things were set fair for a big band triple bill.

Wigan Youth Jazz Orchestra (WYJO) took to the stage suited and booted, and, true to form, hit the ground running. The winning band at this year's Great North Big Band Jazz Festival, coached by MD David Little, knows its onions and, in a set list comprising charts by Gordon Goodwin (no surprise there), Herbie Hancock (Cantaloupe Island) and Pat Metheny, soloists and sections showed how a young (predominately teenage) orchestra can achieve and sustain a remarkably high level of performance.

On home turf WYJO was afforded the luxury of playing two sets in front of family, friends and supporters. And in the second set the town's young musicians had the amazing privilege of sharing the stage with ex-Stan Kenton man Mike Vax! Flying in from Phoenix, Arizona, trumpeter Vax was in great form. Beaming a ready smile, Vax blew some scintillating trumpet, sustaining screaming Kenton-esque passages, seemingly with ease. Scatting on a blues with Emily Masser won huge applause and WYJO and Mr Mike Vax went out on Chick Corea's Spain.

Earlier, Durham University Big Band arrived in the heat of the midday sun. Pianist Ben Lawrence occupied the piano stool to play the festival's no-expense-spared Steinway and from the off it was clear DUBB had a plan...to play some fiendishly difficult charts! Tom Kubis' On Purple Porpoise Parkway to old school When You're Smiling (Ben Lawrence impressing) to the Buddy Rich Love for Sale chart, DUBB made a more than favourable impression with Wigan's diehard big band fans. Highlights...Ellen Clarke singing Don't Go to Her, and the rhythm section - Ben Lawrence, bassist Ewan Thomas and drummer Archie Kneeshaw.

RAO - that's the Really Awful Orchestra - hails from West Yorkshire. Under the directorship of Chris Perry, the community big band (this afternoon a mere thirty or so strong!) takes pride in welcoming lapsed musicians, the sort of people who, for the most part, life got in the way of music making. A string section (!) and umpteen brass and reeds supported by an enthusiastic rhythm section, enjoyed themselves and the Village on the Green audience certainly enjoyed the band's performance. Russell

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