Bebop Spoken There

Ron Carter quoting Sonny Rollins: ''What we call jazz - that's keeping the world in equilibrium. I don't care what kind of music you like out here today. It all comes from jazz.'' (DownBeat August, 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

18799 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 18 years ago. 663 of them this year alone and, so far this month (Aug. 12) 32.

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

August

Sun 16: Vintage Explosion @ Cliffe Park, Roker, Sunderland SR6 8DB. 5:00-10:30pm. £44.00 (inc. bf).

Mon 17: Friends of Jazz @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 18: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Joe Steels, Paul Grainger, Abbie Finn.

Wed 19: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 19: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 20: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ The Millstone, Mill Rise, South Gosforth, Newcastle. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 20: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £5.00.
Thu 20: Edson Angus Quartet @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Thu 20: Paul Skerritt @ Angels' Share, St George's Terrace, Jesmond, Newcastle NE2 2SX. 8:00pm. Free. Booking advised (0191 200 1975). Skerritt w. backing tapes.

Fri 21: Andrzej Baranek Trio @ The Lit & Phil. 1:00pm. £8.00. Andrzej Baranek (piano); Josh Cavanagh-Brierley (double bass); Dave Walsh (drums). SOLD OUT!
Fri 21: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 21: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 21: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 21: David Gray Flextet @ Sunderland Minster. 7:30pm. Old Black Cat Jazz Club.
Fri 21: Errol Linton & His Band + Michael Littlefield & Scott Taylor @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. Excellent blues double bill.

Sat 22: Durham Alumni Big Band + Durham Alumni All Stars + Swing Manouche @ Darlington Market Place. From 1:00pm. Free. The All Stars (1:00pm); The Alumni (2:00-4:00pm); Swing Manouche (4:15pm).

Wednesday, January 18, 2023

Rossano Sportiello & Lucy Yeghiazaryan: Live at the Flat, # 86 - Jan. 17

Rossano Sportiello (vocals); Lucy Yeghiazaryan (vocals)

Stream number 86, Live at the Flat. That's pianist Rossano Sportiello's long running series of online concerts, some solo piano, some as a duo or trio. This evening - 10:00pm BSH time, 5:00pm Greenwich Village, NYC time - Sportiello invited singer Lucy Yeghiazaryan to join him to sing some GASbook gems and more. The duo recently worked together in Uruguay and  here they were back on home turf. It must have been cold, Lucy said as much, sitting there all wrapped up.

Rossano Sportiello is elegance personified, both sartorially and as a piano player. Rossano plays stride piano with a feather-like touch, the supreme accompanist, the exact requirements for this evening's Greenwich Village session. Lucy Yeghiazaryan, of Armenian heritage, is a student of the GASbook, opening the hour-long stream with I Only Have Eyes for You. Sublime, from here on in it was one classy duo performance. I Cried for You (Rossano recalled Zoot Sims playing the number), Lucy sang You're Blasé (superb), Nicholas Brodszky's Wonder Why (superb), a tune our twenty-something vocalist has recently turned to, the tag 'the real deal' applies to Ms Yeghiazaryan. 

Give Me the Simple Life (Tony Bennett would have been impressed, perhaps the man was watching online) I've Got a Crush on You (Sinatra would have been impressed), then to close, Come Fly with Me. If Rossano and Lucy aren't heading over the Atlantic any time soon, there's only one thing for it...NYC here we come!  Russell

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