Bebop Spoken There

Dominick "Domo" Branch: ''Most people say drummers can't write, they're just time-keepers only beating on things. But I have a very musical brain.'' (DownBeat February, 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

18288 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 18 years ago. 142 of them this year alone and, so far this month (Feb. 14), 42

From This Moment On ...

February

Fri 20: Alex Clarke w. Dean Stockdale Trio @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT! Clarke w. Dean Stockdale, Mick Shoulder, Abbie Finn.
Fri 20: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 20: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 20: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 20: Squabble @ Warkworth Memorial Hall. 7:00pm. Steve Chambers (organ); Jude Murphy (double bass, vocals); Sid White (drums).
Fri 20: Jive Aces @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 7:00pm (6:30pm doors).
Fri 20: Alex Clarke w. Dean Stockdale Trio @ Sunderland Minster. 7:30pm. Clarke w. Dean Stockdale, Mick Shoulder, Abbie Finn.

Sat 21: ???

Sun 22: Musicians Unlimited: Big Band Blast @ West Hartlepool RFC. 1:00-3:00pm . Free.
Sun 22: Joe Steels Group @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm. A Blue Patch album tour.
Sun 22: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 22: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 22: Harben Kay Quartet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 23: Joe Steels Group @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 1:00pm. A Blue Patch album tour.
Mon 23: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 24: Finn-Keeble Group @ Newcastle House Hotel, Rothbury. 7:30pm. £11.00.
Tue 24: Liam Oliver & Shayo Oshodi @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Wed 25: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 25: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 25: Geordie Jazz Jam @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. Newcastle University jam session. All welcome.
Wed 25: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 26: Castillo Nuevo Orquesta @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £6.50.
Thu 26: Shalala @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £7.00 adv.
Thu 26: Mick Cantwell Band @ The Harbour View, Roker, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Blues.

Fri 27: Joe Steels Group @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. £8.00. SOLD OUT! A Blue Patch album tour.
Fri 27: Alan Barnes w. Mick Shoulder Trio @ Bishop Auckland Methodist Church. 1:00pm. £9.00. Trio: Rick Laughlin (piano); Mick Shoulder (double bass); Tim Johnston (drums).
Fri 27: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 27: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 27: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 27: Radio Hito + Eddie Prévost, Silvain Schmid & Tom Wheatley @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm (doors). £12.22., £10.10., £8.00.
Fri 27: Giacomo Smith w Strictly Smokin’ Big Band @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm.
Fri 27: Alan Barnes w. Mick Shoulder Trio @ The Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. £15.00. Trio: Rick Laughlin (piano); Mick Shoulder (double bass); Tim Johnston (drums).

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

Friday, August 18, 2023

Newcastle Jazz Festival: Strictly Smokin' Big Band @ the Bridge - August 17

(© Malcolm Sinclair)
Michael Lamb (MD), Pete Tanton, Dick Stacey, Gordon Marshall (trumpets); Jamie Toms, Matt Forster, Keith Robinson, Dave Kerridge, Sue Ferris (reeds); Mark Ferris, Kieran Parnaby, Ben Haslam, John Flood (trombones); Pawel Jedrzejewski (guitar); James Peacock (keyboards); Michael Whent (bass guitar); Guy Swinton (drums); Alice Grace (vocals)

One of the established traditions of the Newcastle Jazz Festival is that Thursday night's action takes place at the Bridge where the Strictly Smokin' Big Band pull in the punters and not just because it's free. If it were ten times the price (joke) they'd still show.

They had a few deps in but such is the depth of talent that they have to draw from it didn't show.

The solos were spread around the saxes with Toms and Robinson picking up the lion's share and only Sue Ferris missing out. However, Sue's festival moment will come on Saturday at Tyne Bank Brewery when, along with SSBB colleague (missing from last night's concert) Steve Summers, they will recreate the Gerry Mulligan/Paul Desmond session Two of a Mind which they debuted at the Globe last year, following up at Blaydon. Matt Forster too will be featured on Saturday leading his quartet.

Pete Tanton handled most of the trumpet solos, although leader Lamb, in between directing from front and rear, had some blasts of his own. His kicker on Dizzy's Things to Come was the biz.

Parnaby took care of the trombone solos with bass 'bone Flood playing a burping intro to Alice's irreverent version of It Was a Very Good Year and the sound you heard wasn't Frank turning in his grave, even though the previous number was Maynard Ferguson's Knarf which is actually Frank spelt backwards, but the 19:20 Newcastle to King's Cross crossing the High Level Bridge. I'm sure Sinatra would have been clapping his hands as did Alice on her final number, the encore, called, appropriately enough, Clap Your Hands which we duly did.

I could go on and on about each and every number but that would take too long. So I'll just mention the piano/guitar exchanges on a number which I didn't catch the title of, the three part Film Noir Suite that had everything apart from Bogart and Bacall although there were a few hardboiled characters and a couple of femme fatales in the audience and, of course, all of Alice's vocals.

The festival continues tonight at the Black Swan with the Alex Clarke Quartet. Lance

TNT; You Turned the Tables on me (v); Things to Come; Knarf; It Was a Very Good Year (v); Film Noir Suite; Love me or Leave me (v); Tickletoe; Late Late Show (v); ?; You Can Feel it All Over (v); ? ? (two numbers from Kenton's Cuban Fire album); Lullaby of Bigfoot; Midnight Prayer (v); Avalon (v); Clap Your Hands (v)

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