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Bebop Spoken There

Sullivan Fortner: ''I always judge it by the bass player: If the bass player is happy, it's going to be a good night". (DownBeat, February 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

17805 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 126 of them this year alone and, so far, 51 this month (Feb.16).

From This Moment On ...

February 2025

Sat 22: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 12:30-2:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 22: Jason Isaacs @ Seaburn STACK, Seaburn. 3:30pm-5:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 22: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 22: Mississippi MacDonald @ Claypath Deli, Durham. 7:00pm. Blues.
Sat 22: Lindsay Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ Old Cinema Laundrette, Durham. 7:45pm. £16.50. SOLD OUT!
Sat 22: Michael Woods @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Country blues guitar & vocals.

Sun 23: Musicians Unlimited @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 23: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 23: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 23: Mark Williams Trio @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm.
Sun 23: Ruth Lambert Trio @ The Juke Shed, Union Quay, North Shields. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 23: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 23: Jazz Jam Sandwich! @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 23: Mississippi MacDonald @ Georgian Theatre, Stockton. 3:00pm. Blues.
Sun 23: Mu Quintet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Sun 23: Jazz Jam @ Fabio’s, Saddler St., Durham. 8:00pm. Free. A Durham University Jazz Society promotion. All welcome.

Mon 24: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 24: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 6:30pm. Free.

Tue 25: ?

Wed 26: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 26: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 26: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 27: Jamie McCredie @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Fri 28: Luis Verde Quartet @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. £8.00. SOLD OUT!
Fri 28: Spilt Milk @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 7:00-9:00pm. Free. Nolan Brothers (vocal harmonies).
Fri 28: Castillo Nuevo Orquesta @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £8.00.
Fri 28: Knats @ Lubber Fiend, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £11.50. (inc bf.). Album launch gig. Support act TBC.
Fri 28: Black is the Color of My Voice @ The Gala, Durham. 7:30pm. Apphia Campbell’s one-woman show inspired by the life of Nina Simone, performed by Florence Odumosu.
Fri 28: Great North Big Band Jazz Festival: Musicians Unlimited @ Park View Community Centre, Chester-le-Street. 8:00pm. £10.00. (Weekend ticket £20.00., available on the door). Day 1/3. Musicians Unlimited in concert.
Fri 28: Redwell @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

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, January 11, 2023

Alex Clarke Quartet @ The Globe, Newcastle - Jan. 10

(© Debra Milne)
Alex Clarke (tenor sax, alto sax); Dave Newton (piano); James Owston (double bass); Clark Tracey (drums)

Post festive blues, end-of-the-month pay day seemingly a long way off, rain, wind, and the little matter of 52000 football fans heading to St James' Park for a League Cup quarter final tie, it all pointed to a low turn out for the first big jazz gig of the year at the Globe. On the approach to the Jazz Co-op's Railway Street premises vehicles were parked everywhere (on roads and pavements), black and white scarves making their way up to Gallowgate. Yes, the portents weren't good.

(© Ken Drew)
How wrong can one be? As the eight o'clock start approached the Globe was all but full. We were there to hear Alex Clarke on the first night of her nationwide tour. Alternating between tenor sax and alto sax, the 'rising star' of the British jazz scene just happened to have with her a hand-picked rhythm section - Messrs Dave Newton, James Owston and Clark Tracey. Labelling these three gents as a 'rhythm section' borders on insulting! Headliners in their own right, this was more 'superstar quartet' than anything else. 

(© Pam)
Tenor sax in hand, Clarke opened with Who Can I Turn To?. Solos all, regulation fours, we were on our way. Poor Butterfly (Clarke switching to alto), a mid-tempo Autumn Leaves, bandleader Clarke didn't go for the 'hard sell' when introducing Billy Strayhorn's Ballad for Very Tired and Very Sad Lotus Eaters, saying simply 'it's on the new album', (CDs were available on the night). Clarke played it as a duet with the masterful Dave Newton. Yes, masterful. A New Orleans shuffle brought in Beetroots Burn (an anagram of Bourbon Street). An A-list quartet, a listening audience, you could describe the first set as a 'resounding success'.   

Second set, alto sax, for a while we were were in bop territory - VoyageIt's You or No One, the new album's title track Only a Year (a Clarke original, referencing her brief time at Birmingham Conservatoire), the breadth of material and Clarke's undoubted composure, suggests the Jazz Co-op's guest star is going to have a long, illustrious career. The trio swung like the proverbials bringing in Just in Time, Clarke must be living the dream working with these guys - Newton and Tracey the senior men, Owston, like Clarke, an outstanding 'rising star'. At about twenty past ten Clarke thought it high time for an end-of-set blues. This Alex Clarke Quartet gig set the standard, the Jazz Co-op's 2023 gig diary features many 'big names', they've got it all to do. It's going to be a fun year. Russell    

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