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Bebop Spoken There

Steve Coleman: ''If you don't keep learning, your mind slows down. Use it or lose it''. (DownBeat, January 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

17719 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 39 of them this year alone and, so far, 39 this month (Jan. 15).

From This Moment On ...

January 2025

Sat 18: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 18: Alter Ego + Jamie Toms/Graham Don Duo @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 7:30pm. £15.00. at the door; £14.35. (inc £0.35 bf) online, in advance.
Sat 18: Tweed River Jazz Band @ Repas 7 by Night, West St., Berwick TD15 1AS. 7:30pm. Free. Album launch gig.
Sat 18: Delta Prophets @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 19: Glenn Miller Orchestra UK @ Glasshouse, Gateshead. 3:00pm. ‘Glenn Miller & the Rat Pack Era’.
Sun 19: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 19: Spilt Milk @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 5:15-7:00pm. Free. Nolan Brothers (vocal harmonies).
Sun 19: Tenement Jazz Band @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 19: Nick Ross Orchestra @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 7:30pm.
Sun 19: Freight Train (Tobin/Noble/Clarvis) @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Sun 19: Jazz Jam @ Fabio’s, Saddler St., Durham. 8:00pm. Free. A Durham University Jazz Society promotion. All welcome.

Mon 20: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 21: ???

Wed 22: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 22: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 22: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 22: Pasadena Roof Orchestra @ Fire Station, Sunderland. 7:30pm.

Thu 23: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, Holystone. 1:00pm. Free. Fortnightly.
Thu 23: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: Obituaries 2024.
Thu 23: Jason Isaacs @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 4:30-6:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Thu 23: Pedal Point Trio @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Fri 24: Zoë Gilby Quartet @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm.
Fri 24: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 24: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 24: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 24: Creakin’ Bones & the Sunday Dinners @ Lindisfarne Social Club, Wallsend. 9:00pm. Admission: TBC. Jazz, blues , jump jive, rock ‘n’ roll.

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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