Bebop Spoken There

Melissa Aldana: ''Having to play a ballads album, which is something very revealing for a saxophone player, would help me to question some new aspects of how to go deeper into sound." (DownBeat May, 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

18621 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 18 years ago. 485 of them this year alone and, so far this month (June 14) 37

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

June

Wed 24: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 24: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 24: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 25: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ The Millstone, Mill Rise, South Gosforth, Newcastle. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 25: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £5.00. Subject: Forgotten Ones & Any Quintets.
Thu 25: Edgar Ho Trio @ Newcastle Arts Centre. 7:30pm. Free. Brilliant alto sax, piano & double bass trio. Unmissable!
Thu 25: 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 26: Finn-Keeble Group @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. £9:00.
Fri 26: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 26: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 26: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 26: Clark Tracey @ Live Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Newcastle Jazz Festival. £26.00. Day 1/2.

Sat 27: OUTRI @ Live Theatre, Newcastle. 1:00pm. £13.01. 1:00-1:45pm. Newcastle Jazz Festival. Day 2/2.
Sat 27: Tees Bay Swing Band @ Richardson & Westgarth Sport & Social Club, Hartlepool. 1:30pm. Free. Open rehearsal. Note change of venue.
Sat 27: House of the Black Gardenia + Magpies of Swing @ The Cumberland Arms, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sat 27: Mark Toomey Quartet @ Live Theatre, Newcastle. 2:15-3:15pm. £13.01. Newcastle Jazz Festival. Day 2/2.
Sat 27: Alexia Gardner Quintet @ Live Theatre, Newcastle. 3:45-4:45pm. £13.01. Newcastle Jazz Festival. Day 2/2.
Sat 27: Rory Ingham @ Live Theatre, Newcastle. 5:30-6:30pm. £19.51. Newcastle Jazz Festival. Day 2/2. Ingham w. Dean Stockdale, Ian Paterson, Dave McKeague.
Sat 27: Castillo Nuevo Trio @ Revoluçion de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30pm. Free.
Sat 27: Laura Jurd @ Live Theatre, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £26.00. Newcastle Jazz Festival. Day 2/2. Sat 27: Brass Fiesta @ Revoluçion de Cuba, Newcastle. 10:30pm. Free.

Sun 28: Musicians Unlimited: Big Band Blast @ West Hartlepool RFC. 1:00-3:00pm . Free.
Sun 28: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 28: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Table reservations (0191 261 8000). Skerritt w. backing tapes.
Sun 28: Tim Kliphuis Trio @ St Mary’s Church, Wooler. 3:00pm. £18.00., £6.00. A Wooler Arts Summer Concerts event. Tim Kliphuis (violin); Nigel Clark (guitar); Roy Percy (double bass).
Sun 28: Ruth Lambert Trio @ Juke Shed, North Shields. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 28: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 28: An Evening of Jazz @ St James’ Church, Copper Chare, Morpeth. 7:30pm. Tickets: £10.00 from 01670 788869 or 01670 519923. Mid Northumberland Chorus (MD Robin Forbes, Emma Straughan, piano) w. jazz trio featuring Edgar Ho, Oscar Ho & Dave McKeague & special guest Emily Masser. Performance inc. Bob Chilcott’s A Little Jazz Mass + George Shearing’s Songs & Sonnets.
Sun 28: Led Bib @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £15.00., £12.00. JNE.

Mon 29: Friends of Jazz @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 30: Alan Law Trio @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 2:00pm. Free.
Tue 30: Eva Fox & the Sound Hounds @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Wednesday, July 26, 2023

Jazz sets the Edinburgh Fringe swinging


(© Benjamin Ealovega)

(Press release): Scottish jazz features prominently in a new pop-up venue on the Edinburgh Fringe during August.

Saxophonists Tommy Smith and Helena Kay (pictured left), pianists Fergus McCreadie and Brian Kellock, guitarist Graeme Stephen, drummer Tom Bancroft and singer Georgia Cécile are among the leading names included in the programme at the Rose Theatre in Edinburgh’s colourful Rose Street from Friday 4th to Monday August 28.

(Phone shot)
Graeme Stephen and his duo partner, guitarist and poet Don Paterson (pictured left) open the programme on the 4th. Paterson, who co-led the Celtic-jazz group Lammas with saxophonist Tim Garland before his poetry career took off, recently published a memoir, Toy Fights, which has been hailed as a classic of its kind. He and Stephen are united by their shared love of John Abercrombie and Bill Frisell.

Stephen will also present live soundtracks to the classic films The Penalty and Nosferatu on Wednesday 9 and Sunday 13.

(© Derek Clark)
Stars of the recent Buxton International Festival's jazz weekend, Tommy Smith and the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra’s regular pianist, Peter Johnstone (pictured left), play on Sunday 27, and Helena Kay’s trio play on Saturday 12. Fergus McCreadie features in a duo with saxophonist Matt Carmichael (Wednesday 16) and in Carmichael’s quintet (Thursday 24) and Brian Kellock presents his swinging tribute to guitarist and raconteur Marty Grosz (Sunday 13).

Tom Bancroft pays homage to drummer Paul Motian in Motian & Me (Friday 11 and Thursday 17) and his saxophone-playing twin, Phil, in addition to featuring in Motian & Me, plays a trio date on Monday 14. The multi-award-winning Georgia Cécile plays two concerts, on Tuesday 22 and Wednesday 23.

(Tommy Smith phone shot)
The programme also includes the hard grooving Nimbus Sextet, the manouche-styled Viper Swing, Glasgow-based jazz-funk-folk juggernaut Fat-Suit, saxophone-guitar pairing Konrad Wiszniewski & Haftor Medboe, singer Niki King, the free-wheeling AKU, and Trio Magico, who specialise in the music of Brazilian icon Egberto Gismonti.

Douglas Robertson, of the Soundhouse organisation who are running the venue in partnership with Bellfield Brewery, said: “We’re really pleased to be presenting a showcase of the best of Scottish music at this year’s Fringe. Along with the jazz programme, we have some of the best folk and traditional musicians and we’re looking forward to letting visitors to the Fringe experience the high quality that’s on Edinburgh’s doorstep.”

Tickets for all shows at the Rose Theatre are available HERE.

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