Bebop Spoken There

John McLaughlin: ''It was then that Coltrane came along and single-handedly brought this dimension of spirituality into jazz. It was a pivotal experience to me.'' (DownBeat September, 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

19,012 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 18 years ago. 876 of them this year alone and, so far this month (Oct. 16) 55.

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

October.

Sat 17: SunOrbitUs @ Culture House, Sunderland. 11:00am - 5:00pm. Closing event in a year-long piece of music. 11:00am-1:00pm Improvisation workshop w. Faye MacCalman; 2:00-5:00pm Collective Improvised Performance by Sunderland residents. SOLD OUT!
Sat 17: Tees Bay Swing Band @ Blacksmith’s Arms, Hartlepool. 1:30pm. Free. Open rehearsal.
Sat 17: Martin Taylor @ Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle. 7:30pm. £48.72; £43.37. Solo guitar. SOLD OUT!

Sun 18: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 18: Creakin’ Bones & the Sunday Dinners @ Tyne Bar, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. Jump jive.
Sun 18: Guisborough Big Band @ Redcar Rugby Club. 5:00-8:00pm. ‘Charity Big Band Birthday Bash’ in aid of Parkinson’s UK & Young Sounds UK. Free (donations on the door).
Sun 18: Martin Taylor @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm. £23.30. Solo guitar.
Sun 18: Ben Crosland Quartet with Steve Waterman @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 19: Friends of Jazz @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 19: Sue Ferris Quintet @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £10.00.

Tue 20: Alan Law @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 2:00pm. Free. Alan Law (piano) w. Pete Tanton (trumpet, flugelhorn).
Tue 20: Graham Hardy’s Eclectic Quartet @ Queen’s Head, Rothbury. 7:30pm. £11.00. Tickets from Tully’s, Rothbury. Coquetdale Jazz. Note change of venue.
Tue 20: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Alan Law, Paul Grainger, Scotty Adair.

Wed 21: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 21: FILM: Blue Moon @ Washington Arts Centre. 1:00pm. £4.50 (inc. bf). Biopic of lyricist Lorenz Hart.
Wed 21: De'Sean Jones’ Urban Art Orchestra @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £10.00.; £5.00. student, unwaged; free to Mercury Awards ticket holders. De'Sean Jones (tenor sax, EWI); Tjoe Man Cheung (guitar); Mikele Montolli (double bass) + others TBA.
Wed 21: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 21: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 21: Roby Glod-Steve Sewell Quartet @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 8:00pm.

Thu 22: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ The Millstone, Mill Rise, South Gosforth, Newcastle. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 22: Mercury Prize @ Utility Arena Newcastle. 8:00pm. £60.25.; £48.75. Line-up inc. Knats.
Thu 22: Dean Stockdale Trio @ Bandstand!, Exhibition Park, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Tickets: £10.20 (inc. bf) via Instagram. Dean Stockdale (piano); Mick Shoulder (double bass); John Bradford (drums).
Thu 22: Olly Styles Trio @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £7.75.

Fri 23: Sara Oschlag w. Arnie Somogyi Trio @ The Lit & Phil. 1:00pm. Sara Oschlag (vocals); Ben Lawrence (piano); Arnie Somogyi (double bass); John Hirst (drums). SOLD OUT!
Fri 23: Emma Fisk’s Hot Club du Nord @ Gala Theatre, Durham. 1:00pm. Durham Jazz Festival. SOLD OUT!
Fri 23: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 23: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 23: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 23: Maja Bugge & Dave Evans @ Claypath Deli, Durham. 7:00pm. Durham Jazz Festival.
Fri 23: Knats @ King Street Social Club, North Shields. 7:00pm. £17.00., £14.70., £11.30., £5.50. SOLD OUT!
Fri 23: King Bees @ Billy Bootleggers, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. Superb Chicago blues band.
Fri 23: Sara Oschlag & Arnie Somogyi w. Ben Lawrence @ Ship Isis, Sunderland. 7:30pm. Sara Oschlag (vocals); Ben Lawrence (keyboards); Arnie Somogyi (double bass).
Fri 23: Ronnie Scott’s Soho Songbook @ Redhills, Durham. 8:00pm. James Pearson (piano); Sam Burgess (double bass); Chris Higginbottom (drums); Alex Garnett (sax); Polly Gibbons (vocals). Durham Jazz Festival. SOLD OUT!
Fri 23: SwanNek + Jacob Egglestone @ Fabio’s Bar, Durham. 9:00pm. Durham Jazz Festival.

Thursday, March 30, 2023

2023 Cheltenham Jazz Festival Programme details announced

(Press release) Cheltenham Jazz Festival will return in four weeks with a broad programme featuring over 50 concerts from an eclectic mix of established stars and pioneering emerging talent. Details/tickets HERE.

Running across six days from Wednesday 26 April – Monday 1 May 2023, the Festival will present shows from UK vocalist Laura Mvula, who will celebrate the 10th anniversary of the release of her Mercury-nominated debut album Sing To The Moon, 10 million-selling pop troubadour MIKA, who performs his first UK concert outside of London for 10 years, Van Morrison, who will draw on his vast back catalogue alongside performing tracks from soon-to-be-released new album Moving on Skiffle, Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Orchestra, who will join forces with Spandau Ballet lead singer Tony Hadley to perform new arrangements of standout tracks from across his career, Damian Lewis, who teams up with seven-piece jazz outfit Kansas Smitty’s to perform tracks from his much-anticipated forthcoming debut album, acclaimed US singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright, Grammy-winning Mexican guitar duo Rodrigo y Gabriela, much-loved British singer Will Young, chart-topping blues-rock singer and guitarist Jake Bugg, acclaimed UK singer and pianist Joe Stilgoe, and British pop royalty Squeeze, who will perform a hit-laden set from across their near-50-year career.

 

Once again returning as the Festival’s Artistic Curator is Gregory Porter who, alongside handpicking a selection of artists for this year’s programme, will perform his own headline show featuring an array of star special guests including Lizz Wright and more. Porter will also perform as part of Soul Jazz Summit, a brand-new annual show for the Festival which will feature the BBC Concert Orchestra celebrating the explosion of jazz and soul that reverberated around the globe in the late fifties. The Soul Jazz Summit concert will also feature guest appearances from Madeline Bell, Mica Millar, Ashton Jones, Vanessa Haynes and Georgia Cécile.

 

A strong contingent of the thriving UK scene will be represented on this year’s line-up with performances from the likes of boundary-pushing trumpeter Laura Jurd, pioneering London jazz collective Ezra Collective, Mercury-nominated pianist Fergus McCreadie, multi-award-winning Scottish singer Georgia Cécile, fast emerging soul singer Mica Millar, Pat Thomas and Orphy Robinson’s duo Blacktop featuring BBC Young Jazz Musician Of The Year winner Xhosa Cole, and acclaimed vocal trio SKYLLA, led by bassist Ruth Goller and featuring Lauren Kinsella and Alice Grant.

 

The leading lights of the international scene will feature in the form of star of Buena Vista Social Club Eliades Ochoa, the legendary four-time Grammy-winning bassist Stanley Clarke, US American jazz-soul vocalist Lizz Wright, wildly acclaimed Blue Note guitarist Julian Lage, and experimental Norwegian guitarist Stian Westerhus who teams up with Mark Sanders and Chris Mapp for CollapseUncollapse.

 

Additional concerts include Dutch gypsy swing guitarist Mozes Rosenberg with Giacomo Smith Quartet, Deadeye, featuring Berlin-based musicians Kit Downes, Reinier Baas and Jonas Burgwinkel, Norwegian drummer Paal Nilssen-Love’s Circus, Espen Eriksen Trio with Andy Sheppard and Angusori, which brings together the Norwegian Stavanger Kitchen Orchestra and a selection of musicians from Roma.

 

The Festival’s talent development strand offers opportunities for young, up-and-coming jazz artists. The sought-after double bill pairing in the Jazz Arena for rising stars will feature Tamzene and Immy. Kansas Smitty’s late-night takeover sessions in The Daffodil will introduce special guests from across the Festival programme and there is an international collaboration between the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire and students from Siena Jazz Accademia. On the Free Stage, local school jazz bands will entertain the crowds in the popular Jazz It Up morning sessions while an array of family-themed events will include Family Sing – with Black Voices, Arun Ghosh – Indo-Jazz Adventures, and Fabulous Flamenco. This year’s Jerwood Jazz Encounters commission is Waves II, Andrew Woodhead’s bellringing project which explores the relationship between music and physics.

 

Cheltenham Jazz Festival 2023 is hosted in a tented Festival village in Montpellier Gardens, featuring the Big Top stage, Jazz Arena, Free Stage, a programme of family activities and events and a food, drink and market area. The Festival reaches beyond the Festival village into Cheltenham, bringing jazz to venues throughout the day until late into the night. These include Cheltenham Town Hall, Parabola Arts Centre, Hotel du Vin, and The Daffodil, as well as a free “…around town” programme in association with Cheltenham BID. 

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