Bebop Spoken There

Donovan Haffner ('Best Newcomer' 2025 Parliamentary Jazz Awards): ''I got into jazz the first time I picked up a saxophone!" - Jazzwise Dec 25/Jan 26

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

18146 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 24 of them this year alone and, so far this month (Jan. 7), 24

From This Moment On ...

JANUARY 2026

Sat 10: Mark Toomey Quintet @ St Peter’s Church, Stockton-on-Tees. 7:30pm. £12.00. (inc. pie & peas). Tickets from: 07749 255038.

Sun 11: New ’58 Jazz Collective @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 11: Am Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 11: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 11: Eva Fox & the Sound Hounds @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 12: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 12: Saltburn Big Band @ Saltburn House Hotel. 7:00-9:00pm. Free.

Tue 13: Milne Glendinning Band @ Newcastle House Hotel, Rothbury. 7:30pm. £11.00. Coquetdale Jazz.
Tue 13: Jazz Jam Sandwich @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Wed 14: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 14: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 14: Jam Session @ The Tannery, Hexham. 7:00pm. Free.
Wed 14: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 15: Mark Toomey Quartet @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm. Free. Quartet + guest Paul Donnelly (guitar).

Fri 16: Giles Strong Quartet @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. £8.00. SOLD OUT!
Fri 16: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 16: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 16: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 16: Darlington Big Band @ The Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. Opus 4 Jazz Club.
Fri 16: Leeds City Stompers @ Billy Bootleggers, Newcastle. 9:00pm. 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

Friday, October 21, 2022

Mondo Trumpet @ The Black Swan, Newcastle - Oct. 20

(© Mike Tilley)
Graham Hardy (trumpet, flugelhorn); Pete Tanton (trumpet, flugelhorn, vocals); Ben Lawrence (piano); Andy Champion (double bass, bass guitar); John Bradford (drums)

At the Black Swan this evening trumpeters Graham Hardy and Pete Tanton took the audience on a world tour, transporting us to far flung places, from Portugal to New Orleans by way of Norway, Golders Green (?!?!) and Japan. Supporting our duo on their jaunt, three A-listers - all the way from exotic Cumbria, pianist Ben Lawrence, bassist extraordinaire Andy Champion and the ubiquitous John Bradford, drums. Hardy and Tanton weren't trying to knock spots of one another, that's not their style, this evening's concert was more mutual appreciation society than slugfest. 

(© Mike Tilley)
Edvard Grieg's Solveig's Song, Dizzy Gillespie's Lorraine, contrasting compositions, both despatched with aplomb. Throughout the evening Ben Lawrence, the youngest member of the quintet, played piano as if gigging five nights a week. Chatting to Ben during the interval he said he's doing little or no playing west of the Pennines. It is, therefore, all the more remarkable that he handled the material with such apparent ease.

The bossa nova sound punctuated the set list, Dizzy's Lorraine laid claim to more familiar jazz territory, Graham Hardy's Seven Bridges (the composition's musical form consisting of seven notes, each one pitched at the height of one of the Tyne's seven bridges) sounded good, Pete Tanton's Moral Compass, first heard pre-pandemic in Durham (probably at Empty Shop) was given another outing and it was good to hear the melody and lyrics once more. 

The Mondo Trumpet world tour wound up in N'Awlins, John Bradford setting up the Crescent City rhythm. An encore was called for and off we went to, of all places, Japan. It had been a most enjoyable evening. Next month's Black Swan promotion (Thursday 10 November) presents the Ruth Lambert Quartet. Recommended. Russell    

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