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Bebop Spoken There

Kurt Elling: ''There's something to learn from every musician you play with''. (DownBeat, December 2024).

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

17641 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 915 of them this year alone and, so far, 60 this month (Dec. 26).

From This Moment On ...

December

Mon 30: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 30: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Wheatsheaf, Benton Sq., Whitley Road, Palmersville NE12 9SU. Tel: 0191 266 8137. 1:00pm. Free. CANCELLED!
Mon 30: Jason Isaacs @ STACK, Exchange Sq., Middlesbrough. 4:00-6:00pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.

Tue 31: Jason Isaacs @ Seaburn STACK, Seaburn. 12 noon-2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Tue 31: Lapwing Trio @ Wallington (National Trust), Cambo, Morpeth NE61 4AR. 12 noon & 2:00pm. Admission to site £19.00.
Tue 31: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 3:30-5:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Tue 31: Archie Brown & Friends @ Tyne Bar, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 4:00-8:00pm. Free.
Tue 31: Jan Spencelayh Quartet @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 5:00-9:00pm. A NYE ‘Dinner-Dance’ event. £42.99. Featuring special guest Mick Donnelly.
Tue 31: Jack Logan @ The Robin Hood Inn, East Wallhouses NE18 0LL. Tel: 01434 672549. 7:00pm. £59.95. ‘New Year’s Eve Gala Dinner’. Rat Pack etc.

January 2025

Wed 01: Revolutionaires @ The Old Barrel (Flatties), Boldon Colliery. 3:30pm. Free. Excellent rhythm & blues.

Thu 02: ???

Fri 03: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 03: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 03: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 03: John Gregory @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Country blues guitar.

Sat 04: Rivkala @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sat 04: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £5.00. Xmas party (rescheduled from early December).

Sun 05: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 05: Salty Dog @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Americana, jazz & blues.
Sun 05: Papa G’s Troves @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free (donations).

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

Saturday, September 24, 2022

Giacomo Smith's Hot Five @ Ronnie Scott's - Sept. 21

Giacomo Smith (clarinet); Laura Jurd (cornet); Dan Higham (trombone); Joe Webb (piano); Dave Archer (guitar, banjo)

The early show on Frith Street. Kansas Smitty's Giacomo Smith rolled up with his Hot Five. These guys have maintained a residency across town for something like eighteen months but this was a first time appearance at Ronnie's. Given the calibre of musician on stage it came as little surprise to find the room was all but standing room only. If Kansas Smitty's is a brand, bandleader Giacomo Smith did little to discourage the idea. 

Smith cuts an amiable figure, smiling all the while, full of praise for his fellow musicians, himself a student of the music. The music in question? Think Armstrong's classic Hot Five recordings, that's the ballpark. Talking eloquently about the music, Smith made a telling point: It's what happens in the music, rather than when it happened. In one concise sentence our London resident American dispelled the notion that jazz from fifty years ago, a century ago, is somehow less relevant, less valid than contemporary trends. And look who was sharing the stand with Smith...Laura Jurd, as 'contemporary' as they come (Jurd will be at Sage Gateshead on Wednesday 28 September), and Joe Webb, someone else who works at the 'cutting edge'. And then there's the new kid on the block, the mightily impressive trombonist, Dan Higham. Kansas Smitty's lockdown sessions exposed Higham to a wider audience. One imagines the young man has a full-to-bursting book of engagements.    

Cutting edge stuff in the shape of Jubilee StompLonesome Road, Willie 'The Lion' Smith's Echoes of Spring (Joe Webb's yer man!), a distinctive take on Perdido Street Blues, a rip-roaring Milenberg Joys, Dave Archer taking a solo banjo feature on a Johnny St Cyr number*, Laura Jurd playing cornet as if born to the instrument and the idiom, Smith and co won hands down. 

Smith offered the thought that Dave Archer playing banjo at Ronnie Scott's was a first. Never before had a banjo been heard on Frith Street. If BSH readers know different... Russell    

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