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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

17,533 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 497 of them this year alone and, so far, 75 this month (June 23).

From This Moment On ...

JUNE 2025

Wed 25: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 25: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 25: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 25: The Magpies of Swing @ The Roxy, Leadgate, Co. Durham. 7:30pm. A Ginger Jitterbugs swing dance event, all welcome.

Thu 26: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: Brass Instruments & the use of mutes.

Fri 27: Lewis Watson Quartet @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm.
Fri 27: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 27: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 27: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 27: Strictly Smokin’ Big Band @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 8:00pm. ‘Time After Time’.

Sat 28: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Linskill Centre, North Shields. 4:00-10:30pm. Free, but ticketed (over 18s only). A multi-bill, multi-genre ‘Canny Shiels - North Shields 800’ event. Three Kings Brewery on site.
Sat 28: Joseph Carville Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 28: Jude Murphy & Dan Stanley @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 29: Jude Murphy & Dan Stanley @ Wallington, Northumberland. 12 noon-1:00pm & 2:00-3:00pm. Tel: 01670 773606. National Trust admission prices apply. ‘Tunes in the Blooms’.
Sun 29: Bal Bruch Social Dance @ As You Like It, Sandyford, Newcastle. 12:30pm. Free. Dance event with Hot Club de Heaton performing live (2:00-3:00pm). A ‘Jar on the Bar’ event.
Sun 29: Glenn Miller Orchestra UK @ The Fire Station, Sunderland. 3:00pm. Ray McVay & co.
Sun 29: Ruth Lambert Trio @ Juke Shed, North Shields. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 29: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 29: Zoë Gilby w. Ryton Choral Society @ Corbridge Middle School NE45 5HX. 5:30pm. £15.00. Gilby w jazz trio & choir. ‘An evening of jazz song for choir’.
Sun 29: Jazz Jam Sandwich! @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 29: John Wilson & the Sinfonia of London @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 7:30pm. ‘Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Greatest Hits’.
Sun 29: Out Front @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. JNE.

Mon 30: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club (1:00pm). Free.

JULY 2025

Tue 01: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Joe Steels, Paul Grainger, Mark Robertson.
Tue 01: Customs House Big Band @ Masonic Hall, Ferryhill. 7:30pm. Free.

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, October 11, 2022

Blue Train at the Central Bar - Oct. 10

Jamie Toms (tenor sax); Pete Tanton (trumpet); Kieran Parnaby (trombone); Alan Law (piano); Mick Shoulder (double bass); John Bradford (drums)

Perhaps too few people know about the session. If people are aware of it, they're choosing not to go along on the second Monday in the month. Central Bar, located at the Gateshead end of the High Level Bridge, is home to one of the region's hidden jazz gems. A core quartet/quintet turns up on the night, runs through some of the numbers to be played, then take five at the bar before taking to the stand at half past seven to 'play through' an iconic album. A jam session follows. It's a simple idea and it works.

This evening John Coltrane's 1957 album (released in '58) Blue Train was the challenge. The regulars - Jamie, Alan, Mick and John - co-opted Pete Tanton (Pete as Lee Morgan!) and Kieran Parnaby (Kieran as Curtis Fuller!) and they hit the ground running with the Blue Note album's opening cut, Blue Train. Close your eyes...Jamie Toms as Trane. Yes and no. Jamie is his own man. Yes, respecting the tune, nevertheless putting his own stamp on it. Excellent! And that's what these guys do, they know the albums but play them their way. Imagine Alan Law as Kenny Drew. No way! Alan Law plays it his way and that's the law!

Trumpeter Pete Tanton's versatility gets him the gigs - the viper jazz of House of the Black Gardenia, as one of the horns in the Revolutionaires' r & b expanded band, a fixture in the Strictly Smokin' Big Band's ace trumpet section, his own 'Riviera' small group outings - and here he was, setting aside his ongoing Chet Baker project* to play some blistering hard bop. And to top it off, the Central Bar guys pushed the boat out, drafting in Kieran Parnaby to play the Curtis Fuller parts. 

Mick and John (that's M Shoulder and J Bradford) were, as ever, up to the job. As good a bass and drums pairing as you'll find. The beauty of the Central Bar sessions is the relaxed atmosphere, no one on the stand is looking to blow away band mates, it's a truly supportive setting. A jam session followed. Full marks to recent bass guitar music graduate Snaz for taking the plunge. He'll be back and he's been tipped-off about the Black Swan's jam session (next one, next week, Tuesday 18). The 'select' audience loved it, so much so there was a keen sense of anticipation about the next session. Next month it's Kenny Dorham's 'Round About Midnight at the Cafe Bohemia. Who'll be on trumpet and guitar? An educated guess suggests it'll be...Why not turn up and find out? Monday 14 November, 7:30pm. £5.00. at the door (jam session sitters-in are admitted free of charge).            

Pete Tanton's marvellous 'Chet Baker' set can be heard three times before the month is out - Friday 14 at Bishop Auckland Town Hall (1:00pm), a week on Friday (October 21, 1:00pm) at the Lit & Phil, and on Sunday 30 (8:00pm) at the Globe on Railway Street, Newcastle. Russell

Set list: Blue TrainMoment's NoticeLocomotionI'm Old FashionedLazy Bird.

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