Bebop Spoken There

Ludovic Beier (Django Festival Allstars): ''Manouche means 'free man,' and gypsies have been travelers since they migrated west from India to Europe.'' (DownBeat March, 2026)

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

18383 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 18 years ago. 247 of them this year alone and, so far this month (Mar. 17 ), 57

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

From This Moment On

March

Mon 30: Gerry Richardson Quartet @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 1:00pm.
Mon 30: Friends of Jazz @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 31: Bede Trio @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. Albert Hills Wright (alto sax); Finn Carter (piano); Michael Dunlop (double bass).

April

Wed 01: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 01: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 01: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 02: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £5.00. Subject: Musicians playing classical & orchestral music.
Thu 02: The Noel Dennis Band @ Prohibition Bar, Albert Road, Middlesbrough TS1 2RU. 7:00pm (doors). £10.84. Quartet plus special guest Zoë Gilby. Over 21s only.
Thu 02: Renegade Brass Band @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors).
Thu 02: Shalala @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £7.00. adv..
Thu 02: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm.

Saturday, November 19, 2022

Remembering saxophonist Eric Pollard

Thanks to Tom Gibb for drawing my attention to an amusing item about the late tenor sax player Eric Pollard. It's from a book by John and Joyce Carlson: South Shields From Old Photographs (still available from quality bookshops or online).

Eric was perhaps the first jazz tenor sax player I heard on South Tyneside. He was a regular at the Bungalow Jazz Club in South Shields as well as being a part of the Ronnie Callaghan Octet - a band that reached the final of the 1952 edition of the prestigious  Melody Maker Dance Band Contest after winning the local heat at the Majestic Ballroom in South Shields.

In later years he played in the Tyne Valley Stompers and at the Porthole in North Shields with the Jazz Esquires who, at the time, were led by Joe McMullen.

In the the late 1940s/early 1950s he was playing with a band at South Shields' Hedworth Hall - one of the town's most popular dance venues.

In the book Eric, who died some years ago, recalls that, during the course of a solo, a drunk came up and poured some beer into the bell of his sax. After Eric had finished his solo, he stood up and poured the beer back over the drunk's head to a round of applause from the band. Lance

In the photo, taken from the book, Eric is 16 year old.

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