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Bebop Spoken There

John McLaughlin: '' A Love Supreme coincided with my search for meaning in life". (DownBeat, March 2025).

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

17873 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 194 of them this year alone and, so far, 41 this month (March 14).

From This Moment On ...

MARCH 2025.

Wed 19: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 19: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 19: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 20: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, Holystone. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 20: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: Nicknames.
Thu 20: Terri Green Experience @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £15.90.
Thu 20: King Bees @ The Cumberland Arms, Byker, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). Superb blues band.
Thu 20: Lindsay Hannon Trio @ The Harbour View, Roker, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Hannon’s ‘Tom Waits for No Man’ set.
Thu 20: Ray Stubbs R&B All Stars @ Mill Tavern, Hebburn. 8:30pm. Free.

Fri 21: Paul Skerritt @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. 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: Giles Strong Quartet @ 1719, Hendon, Sunderland. 7:30pm. CANCELLED!
Fri 21: New Century Ragtime Orchestra @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Featuring special guest Martin Litton (piano).

Sat 22: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 12:30-2:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 22: Jason Isaacs @ Seaburn STACK, Seaburn. 3:30pm-5:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 22: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 22: Swamp Stomp String Band @ The White Room, Stanley. 7:45pm.
Sat 22: Rivkala @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Country blues guitar & vocals.

Sun 23: Musicians Unlimited @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 23: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 23: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 23: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 23: Mississippi MacDonald @ Georgian Theatre, Stockton. 3:00pm. Blues.
Sun 23: Tweed River Jazz Band @ Barrels Ale House, Berwick. 7:00pm. Free.
Sun 23: The Great Deceivers @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Tom Atkinson & co play King Crimson (1969-1974). Atkinson (guitar); Josh Bentham (alto sax); Stu Dawson (bass); Jeff Armstrong (drums).

Mon 24: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 24: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 6:30pm. Free.

Tue 25: Fred Wesley & the New JB’s @ The Cluny. 7:30pm (doors). £27.50. POSTPONED! New date Wednesday 26 November.

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

Wednesday, November 15, 2023

Press release: Christine Tobin makes overdue return to Scotland

(©David Woodfall)
Award-winning Irish singer Christine Tobin pays her first visit to Scotland in almost ten years when she and her partner, guitarist Phil Robson play duo concerts in Greenock, Linlithgow and Perth from November 30 to  December 2.

One of the most distinctive voices on the European jazz scene and both a strikingly inventive composer and a notably imaginative interpreter of other writers’ work, Tobin comes to Scotland for the first time since 2014, having launched her latest album, Returning Weather at London Jazz Festival this month.

On her previous Scottish tour, Dublin-born Tobin was promoting A Thousand Kisses Deep, the album from her stage presentation of Leonard Cohen songs for which she was awarded a Herald Angel at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2013. She has also won the BBC Jazz Award for Best Vocalist in 2008 and Jazz Vocalist of the Year at the Parliamentary Jazz Awards in 2014.

Having first come to national attention with the Celtic-jazz group Lammas, where she sang alongside saxophonist Tim Garland and guitarist-poet Don Paterson, Tobin released her first album under her own name, Aililiu, in 1995. She has gone on to release a further eleven albums, including her critically acclaimed Sailing to Byzantium, which featured her settings of poems by W B Yeats and a guest appearance by Irish film actor – and Christine’s former drama teacher at school - Gabriel Byrne.

 

Following five years spent living and working in New York, Tobin and Robson moved to County Roscommon in Ireland in 2020. Robson is a hugely resourceful musician who has appeared with Barbra Streisand, Dame Cleo Laine and former James Brown saxophonist Maceo Parker, as well as topline jazz musicians including saxophonist Dave Liebman, drummer Billy Hart and bassist James Genus. He brings creativity and deep musical understanding to the duo’s live performances.

 

“We had a great time touring A Thousand Kisses Deep across Scotland back in 2014, seeing the country and playing in some lovely venues,” says Tobin. “Ten years is a long time between visits, so we’re really looking forward to this return trip, visiting some different places and sharing some new songs and some familiar but slightly reworked material.”

 

Christine Tobin & Phil Robson play Beacon Arts Centre, Greenock on Thursday November 30; St Peter’s Church, Linlithgow on Friday December 1 and Perth Theatre on Saturday December 2.

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