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Bebop Spoken There

Van Morrison: ''Basically, I'm coming from jazz. Not pop, not rock, not what's commercial. That's where I started, and that's still where I am. I feel the same as I did when I was listening to Louis Armstrong, Lead Belly, Jelly Roll Morton''. (The Northern Echo, 12 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

18037 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 458 of them this year alone and, so far, 36 this month (June 11).

From This Moment On ...

JUNE 2025

Sun 15: Lewis Watson Quartet @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm.
Sun 15: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 15: Pasadena Roof Orchestra @ Alnwick Playhouse. 7:00pm.
Sun 15: Under the Wellie @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 15: Hannah Brine Quartet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 16: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club (1:00pm). Free.
Mon 16: Giles Strong Quartet @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £10.00.

Tue 17: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Alan Law, Paul Grainger, Abbie Finn.

Wed 18: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 18: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:30pm. Free. Concert performance (open to the public)..
Wed 18: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 19: Gareth John & the SOS Big Band @ The Forum Music Centre, Darlington. 7:00pm. £25.00.

Fri 20: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 20: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 20: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 20: David Gray's Flextet @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 20: Strictly Smokin’ Big Band @ Alnwick Playhouse. 7:30pm. £21.50. ‘Time After Time’.br/> Fri 20: Alexia Gardner Quintet @ Sunderland Minster. 7:30pm.
Fri 20: King Bees @ Billy Bootleggers, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. Superb Chicago blues band.

Sat 21: Milne Glendinning Band @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 21: Red Kites Jazz @ Staithes Café, Dunston. 7:00-9:00pm. Free.
Sat 21: Papa G’s Troves @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

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

Wednesday, August 10, 2022

Black Swan Jam Session - August 9

Mark Williams (guitar); Katy Trigger (bass guitar); King David Ike-Elechi (drums) + Ed Bell, Ferg Kilsby (trumpet); David Gray (trombone); Paul Gowland (alto sax); ? (tenor sax); Edgar Ho, Martin Schultz, Alon Dagan (keys); Oscar Ho, Stan Woodward (bass guitar); ? (Hawaiian lap steel guitar); Kris Finney, Michael Mather (drums); Ian Dreever (vocal). 

Not a vintage jam, just another day at the office albeit not without its highs and its lows. Among the highs were some impressive trumpet playing by teenage protégé Kilsby whose After You've Gone could have been mistaken for Red Allen or Blue Mitchell in a blindfold test - that's how colourful it was. His cohorts from Knats, Woodward and King David, were also in top form although the latter was perhaps a tad over forceful in the opening trio set. However, he did atone for it as the evening progressed.

Good to have Katy aboard. I hadn't heard her for a while and I was enjoying her well-structured solo on There Will Never be Another You when she was cut off in mid-flight by an explosive intervention by Ed Bell that would have done some irreparable damage to Jericho's walls! Talk about coitus interruptus! Not cricket Ed old boy!

Gray and Gowland always work well together and they were cookin' with gas on How High the Moon?

The brothers Ho, inscrutable as ever, slotted in nicely on bass and keys.  Finney and Mather spelled King David on the kit with more keyboard capers from Dagan and Schultz. There was also a tenor saxist and a Hawaiian lap steel guitar player whose names I failed to get.

I also missed Dreever's vocal - a timetable change to the 27 bus service (now one an hour after 9pm) meant leaving before the finale. Still, all in all, it had been an interesting evening - Lance

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