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Bebop Spoken There

George Porter Jr.: ''To me, syncopation is like jazz. It wasn't meant for the masses. It was meant just for a hip few". (DownBeat, May 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

17985(and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 306 of them this year alone and, so far, 62 this month (April 26).

From This Moment On ...

April 2025.

Tue 29: ???

Wed 30: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 30: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 30: International Jazz Day @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £16.00.; £14.00. adv.. Feat. Guido Spannocchi, John Pope & Steve Hanley + Take it to the Bridge participants + Open Mic Night participants.

MAY 2025

Thu 01: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: Member’s Contribution.
Thu 01: Alabaster de Plume @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm.
Thu 01: Living in Shadows + OUTRI @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Thu 01: The Shayo Experiment @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Shayo Oshodi & Liam Oliver.
Thu 01: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm. Free.

Fri 02: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 02: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 02: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 02: Anna Reay & Deon Krishnan @ STACK, Seaburn. 4:30-6:15pm. Free.
Fri 02: Nauta @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 7:00pm. £7.50. A ‘Nauta’s House’ gig featuring Nauta & guests Shayo Oshodi & David Gray.
Fri 02: Spilt Milk @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 7:00-9:00pm. Free. Nolan Brothers (vocal harmonies).
Fri 02: Dom Pipkin @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). Solo piano.
Fri 02: Abbie Finn Trio @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm. £12.00. + bf.

Sat 03: Hot Fingers @ St Augustine’s Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm. £10.00.
Sat 03: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. £25.00. Tutor: Steve Glendinning. Summer Samba Enrol at: learning@jazz.coop.
Sat 03: Jason Isaacs @ STACK, Exchange Sq., Middlesbrough. 4:00-6:00pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 03: Edison Herbert Trio @ The Vault, Darlington 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 03: Postmodern Jukebox @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 7:30pm.
Sat 03: NUJO Jazz Jam @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 8:00pm (7:00pm doors). £3.00. + bf.
Sat 03: Eva Fox & the Jazz Guys @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sat 03: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00.
Sat 03: Ray Stubbs R&B All Stars @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:30pm. Free.

Sun 04: Smokin’ Spitfires @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:45pm. £7.50.
Sun 04: Sax Choir @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 04: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 04: Spilt Milk @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 3:00-5:00pm. Free. Nolan Brothers (vocal harmonies).
Sun 04: Rivkala @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 04: Ben Crosland Quartet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 05: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 05: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 6:30pm. 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

Wednesday, November 09, 2022

Mike Durham's International Classic Jazz Party: London Blues - the Savoy Havana Band + Too Late? Never! - King Oliver 1929-1930 + The Professor + Tubas in the Moonlight + Saturday Night Pub Jam. Nov. 5

Day two of the 2022 Classic Jazz Party opened with London Blues - the Savoy Havana Band. It was noon at the Village Hotel as the ever-smiling Nick Ball led the session from his vintage kit (skulls, probably bock-a-da-bocks, the lot) transporting the full house and an on-stage all-star line-up (when isn't it 'all-star'?) including local hero Emma Fisk to London's Savoy in the early twenties (that's last century, of course). 

Mid-afternoon Claus Jacobi presented Too Late? Never? - King Oliver 1929-1930. Conversation in the bar suggested this was the set everyone wanted to hear. A standing room only audience chuckled at Jacobi's amusing commentary. As for the ensemble, wow! American hot shots Andy Schumm (cornet), Jon-Erik Kellso (trumpet), David Boeddinghaus (piano) and drummer Josh Duffee revelled in the music of the great Joe 'King' Oliver. Frenchman Félix Hunot's piston-like precision banjo playing alongside CJP favourite Malcolm Sked's sonorous tuba work were an object lesson in rhythm section duties. 

Multi-instrumentalist Mauro Porro made a long-overdue return to the CJP and in addition to his outstanding contribution on reeds, the personable Italian produced a tremendous performance as Saturday evening's piano 'professor'. Earlier in the day Mauro confided in your correspondent that he had chosen to play some difficult charts and was, perhaps, a little apprehensive about performing to a packed hall. Our man need not have worried, the reception accorded him said it all. Bravo!

Tubas in the Moonlight featured not one, not two, not three, but four tubas. Who's idea was this?! Step forward Richard Pite. Joining Mr Pite were Malcolm SkedPhil Rutherford and Graham Hughes. Pianist  Martin Litton supplied a chordal foundation as the tuba boys set about having some big brass fun. At one point Mr Pite left the hall with his tuba. Where had he gone? This being Guy Fawkes (remember, remember, this was the 5th of November), Pite was about to produce a literally incendiary performance. At a given signal, curtains opened and there was Pite on the patio with a flame-throwing tuba! How he did it remains a trade secret.  

As the clock struck eleven the capacity audience made a bee line for the bar. The Saturday Night Pub Jam was about to get under way. New Yorker Mike Davis was to lead the session with Portland, Oregon-resident Andrew Oliver at the upright. From here on in it was nothing short of sensational. BSH's readership will know all about the Black Swan jam sessions down the road in Newcastle. Invariably one loses count of the number of sitters-in, here at the Village Hotel it was all the more difficult to keep track of who was playing what and when with instruments being swapped mid-number. Highlights were many but right up there were Roya Naldi  and the brilliant Analucia TomassoLucas Ferrari (see photo) from Argentina sitting-in on piano, the rhythm sections (plural) and to top it off, young cornetist Magnus Pickering (pictured). What a day! What a night! It was once again silly o'clock, time to sleep for a couple of hours, no more. Russell

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