Bebop Spoken There

Donovan Haffner ('Best Newcomer' 2025 Parliamentary Jazz Awards): ''I got into jazz the first time I picked up a saxophone!" - Jazzwise Dec 25/Jan 26

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

18146 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 24 of them this year alone and, so far this month (Jan. 7), 24

From This Moment On ...

JANUARY 2026

Sat 10: Mark Toomey Quintet @ St Peter’s Church, Stockton-on-Tees. 7:30pm. £12.00. (inc. pie & peas). Tickets from: 07749 255038.

Sun 11: New ’58 Jazz Collective @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 11: Am Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 11: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 11: Eva Fox & the Sound Hounds @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 12: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 12: Saltburn Big Band @ Saltburn House Hotel. 7:00-9:00pm. Free.

Tue 13: Milne Glendinning Band @ Newcastle House Hotel, Rothbury. 7:30pm. £11.00. Coquetdale Jazz.
Tue 13: Jazz Jam Sandwich @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Wed 14: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 14: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 14: Jam Session @ The Tannery, Hexham. 7:00pm. Free.
Wed 14: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 15: Mark Toomey Quartet @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm. Free. Quartet + guest Paul Donnelly (guitar).

Fri 16: Giles Strong Quartet @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. £8.00. SOLD OUT!
Fri 16: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 16: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 16: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 16: Darlington Big Band @ The Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. Opus 4 Jazz Club.
Fri 16: Leeds City Stompers @ Billy Bootleggers, Newcastle. 9:00pm. 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

Tuesday, February 14, 2023

Press release: Bartholomew - ‘Moorbound’ album launch

Brand New, semi-improvised arrangements featuring Faye McCalman, John Pope, Late Girl (Laura Stutter Garcia) & Will Hammond

Bartholomew (or Chris to his friends) makes experimental electronic music with a cinematic tinge - you might file him alongside Hannah Peel, Tim Hecker or Ben Frost. Bartholomew’s live shows combine radical re-interpretations of his music with sonic exploration and improvisation - in one moment he might be sampling a frying pan into melody or looping the sounds of the magnetic waves surrounding him, before deftly integrating them into a live remix of one of his tracks. 


Bartholomew’s third release represents a bold and conscious move by the artist to break with his own inimitable style. Documenting relocation from South London to North Newcastle, magnetically drawn by the open expanses of the Moors. Sonically the album combines stirring leitmotifs, hypnotic beats through sweeping, symphonic electronics. As such it is a veritable hymn to Newcastle’s fringe lands as well as celebrating the importance of these spaces in the everyday existences of local people. Moorbound is being released on the 3rd of March, 2023 on CD and digital via Wormhole World.


For the album launch Bartholomew will be joined by Newcastle improv stalwarts Faye McCalman and John Pope (from Archipelago), Laura Stutter Garcia (Late Girl and composer in residence at Sage) and percussionist Will Hammond (Ceitidh Mac, The Cusp). 


Venue: Little Buildings, Newcastle NE1 2PW

Date: 09.03.2023

Time: 7.30pm (doors from 7pm) 

Ticket Link: https://tinyurl.com/BartholomewNCL

1 comment :

keith b said...

Hi Chris

We had a brief chat after the Late Girl/Polypores/FLC gig on Saturday at The Cumby.
I knew the date for your album launch was close to something else I had lined up (William Basinski in Leeds on the 8th!) but I will try to get back up to Newcastle for this.

Cheers, Keith.

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