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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

17733 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 53 of them this year alone and, so far, 53 this month (Jan. 20).

From This Moment On ...

January 2025

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. SOLD OUT!
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.

Sat 25: Boys of Brass @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 3:30-5:30pm. Free.
Sat 25: New '58 Jazz Collective @ Jackson's Wharf, Hartlepool. 6:30pm (doors). Free. A Burns' Night event. Jazz, swing, funk, soul, blues etc.
Sat 25: Edison Herbert Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 25: Red Kites Jazz @ Parish Hall, St Barnabas’ Church, Rowlands Gill. 7:30pm. £10.00. BYOB (tea & coffee available), raffle. Proceeds to St Barnabas’ Church. Performance feat. Shayo (vocals).
Sat 25: Jack & Jay’s Songbook @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 26: Musicians Unlimited @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 26: Graham Hardy Eclectic Quartet @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm.
Sun 26: Ruth Lambert Trio @ The Juke Shed, Union Quay, North Shields. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 26: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 26: Jazz Jam Sandwich! @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 26: Tweed River Jazz Band @ Barrels Ale House, Berwick-upon-Tweed. 7:30pm. Free.
Sun 26: Gratkowski, Tramontana, Beresford, Affifi @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £12.00. JNE.
Sun 26: Jazz Jam @ Fabio’s, Saddler St., Durham. 8:00pm. Free. A Durham University Jazz Society promotion. All welcome.

Mon 27: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 28: ???

Wed 29: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 29: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 29: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).

Thu 30: Matters Unknown (aka Jonathan Enser, Nubiyan Twist) + support TBA @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 8:00pm (7:00pm doors). £12.22 (gig & food); £9:04 (gig only).
Thu 30: Soznak @ The Mill Tavern, Hebburn. 8:00pm. Free.
Thu 30: Struggle Buggy @ Harbour View, Roker, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Rhythm & blues.

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, November 11, 2022

Adrian Cox Quintet with Dan Higham @ The 100 Club, London - Nov. 9

Adrian Cox (clarinet, vocals); Joe Webb (piano); Denny Ilett (guitar, vocals); Will Sach (double bass); Shaney Forbes (drums) with Dan Higham (trombone) + TJ Johnson (vocals)

Remembering the great sidemen of Louis Armstrong - Edmond Hall & Trummy Young. So said the publicity blurb. The iconic 100 Club on Oxford Street has played host to many a famous name. Its doors opened as the Feldman Swing Club, later Humph would front the venue and down the years Ronnie Scott, John Dankworth, Benny Goodman, Louis Armstrong and many other household names have graced its stage. This evening, the indefatigable Adrian Cox presented his quintet playing music associated with Armstrong's sidemen Edmond Hall (Cox's favourite clarinetist) and Trummy Young.

Charismatic frontman Adrian Cox returned to London after several weeks abroad (working for a spell in South America then Scandinavia). Our man has social networking down to a fine art. Wherever he is in the world, his 'presence' on various platforms is 24/7. And it paid off big time with a huge turn out, the joint was jumpin'! There's nowt wrong with mouldy old figs but here on Oxford Street they were in danger of being outnumbered by a much younger generation.
From the down beat Cox whipped 'em up into a frenzy. Breakneck takes on Muskrat Ramble and Indiana had 'em cheering to the echo. Breakneck and breathless! Two numbers in, it was worth the price of admission. Imagine the countless juke joints, honkytonks and dives Louis Armstrong played in with their two-bit hustlers, mobsters and moonshine for company, this 100 Club gig surely captured something of the atmosphere from way back when.**

Cox's A-list quintet couldn't be bettered: in-demand pianist Joe Webb, guitarist Denny Ilett, New Yorker Will Sach playing double bass, and the ever-smiling Shane (Shaney to his friends) Forbes, drums. As this was an Edmond Hall-Trummy Young session, bandleader Cox drafted in Dan Higham. Trombonist Higham, not long out of music school, is picking up more and more of the top jobs, and this was one of them. Of quiet demeanour, as and when required Higham pulled out into the fast lane, not least on a hotter-than-hot Undecided. Phew! Note the name, Dan Higham, a star in the making. 

Denny Ilett is an accomplished guitarist, a great player. Add vocals, what a talent! If Ilett has yet to take a gig solely as a singer, there's little doubt he would convince the sharpest of ears. Here at the 100 Club Ilett sang a couple of numbers including a marvellous take on You Can Depend on Me. Joe Webb is no mere sideman. A friend of Adrian Cox, pianist Webb is Tatum, Peterson and more rolled up into one. And as for the rhythm boys - Sach and Forbes - there's none finer. Main Man Cox had an adoring crowd in the palm of his hand. Red hot clarinet, vocals - Try, Try Again, Fruitie Cutie (Higham scoring again), a show-stopping Four or Five Times (Cox leading the hand-clapping), yes, the joint was jumpin' alright! 

From the crowded room, up stepped TJ Johnson to sing but one number. Fresh from his afternoon Jamboree residency, TJ, no stranger to the 100 Club, sang Basin Street. What a night it had been! More! More! Cox asked the crowd: Should we do another one next year? The reply: Yeah! The applause deafening, the Adrian Cox Quintet went out on When the Saints go Marching in.      

Is a younger audience the preserve of the capital's jazz venues or do some regional venues (north, south, east and west) attract a younger crowd? 

** There is no suggestion that anyone in attendance at the 100 Club remotely resembled two-bit bums, gangsters or such like, nor was the place dealing in illicit booze.  Russell            

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