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Bebop Spoken There

Xhosa Cole: ''Monk was unapologetically himself". (Jazzwise, February 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

17744 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 64 of them this year alone and, so far, 64 this month (Jan. 26).

From This Moment On ...

January 2025

Thu 30: Matters Unknown (aka Jonathan Enser, Nubiyan Twist) + support TBA @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 8:00pm (7:00pm doors). £12.22 (gig & food); £9:04 (gig only).
Thu 30: Soznak @ The Mill Tavern, Hebburn. 8:00pm. Free.
Thu 30: Struggle Buggy @ Harbour View, Roker, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Rhythm & blues.

Fri 31: Alan Barnes Quartet @ The Old Library, Auckland Castle, Bishop Auckland. 12 noon-2:00pm (two sets). £12.00. admission (card or cash at the door). Barnes (alto sax, baritone sax, clarinet); Alan Law (piano); Mick Shoulder (double bass); Tim Johnston (drums). Note change of venue, no longer at Mrs M’s as advertised, the concert will be in the Old Library (Bishop Auckland Jazz’s regular venue). Important! It’s a ‘BYOB’ arrangement - ie bring your own booze (and/or tea, coffee, soft drinks).
Fri 31: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 31: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 31: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 31: Café Orkestar @ Café Under the Spire, Gateshead. 6:00pm. ‘Klezmer, Gypsy Jazz, Balkan & More!’.
Fri 31: Nothing in Rambling @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. £10.00. + bf. Country blues duo.
Fri 31 Zoë Gilby Quartet @ Wylam Institute. 7:30pm (7:00pm doors). £15.00. + £1.50. bf.
Fri 31: Creakin’ Bones & the Sunday Dinners @ White Room, Stanley. 7:45pm. £10.00 + bf. Jazz, blues , jump jive, rock ‘n’ roll.
Fri 31: Alan Barnes Quartet @ The Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. £15.00 Barnes (alto sax, baritone sax, clarinet); Alan Law (piano); Mick Shoulder (double bass); Tim Johnston (drums).
Fri 31: SwanNek + Rivkala @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 8:00pm. SwanNek’s new single launch gig. Pilgrim, formerly Hoochie Coochie.
Fri 31: King Bees @ Blues Underground; Nelson St., Newcastle. 9:00pm. Free. Superb Chicago blues band.

February 2025

Sat 01: Alan Barnes & John Hallam with the Tom Kincaid Trio @ St Augustine’s Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm. £10.00.
Sat 01: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. £25.00. Tutor: Steve Glendinning - Cy Coleman’s Witchcraft. Enrol at: learning@jazz.coop.
Sat 01: Darling Dollies @ St George’s Church, Jesmond, Newcastle. 3:00pm. £10.00. Vocal trio.
Sat 01: Jason Isaacs @ STACK, Exchange Sq., Middlesbrough. 3:30-5:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 01: Jeff Hewer Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 01: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00.
Sat 01: Rockin’ Turner Brothers @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Western swing etc.

Sun 02: Smokin’ Spitfires @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:45pm. £7.50.
Sun 02: Lewis Watson Quartet @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00pm. £10.00.
Sun 02: Sax Choir @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free (donations).
Sun 02: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 02: Spilt Milk @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 5:15-7:00pm. Free. Nolan Brothers (vocal harmonies).
Sun 02: Jive Aces @ The Fire Station, Sunderland. 7:00pm. Sun 02: John Pope + Andy Champion + Ian Paterson @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. ‘Subterranean Explorations 1’. Three (half hour) solo bass sets.
Sun 02: Jazz Jam @ Fabio’s, Saddler St., Durham. 8:00pm. Free. A Durham University Jazz Society promotion. All welcome.

Mon 03: Andy Watt & Dan Rogers @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 1:00pm. £9.00. at the door; £8.20. (inc £0.20 bf) online, in advance. Jazz, blues, folk etc.
Mon 03: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 04: Customs House Big Band @ The Masonic Hall, North St., Ferryhill DL17 8HX. 7:00pm. Free.
Tue 04: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Ben Phillips, Paul Grainger, Bailey Rudd.
Tue 04: Dilutey Juice + Life Aquatics Band @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm.

Wed 05: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 05: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 05: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. 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

Sunday, November 12, 2023

Remembering Glenn Miller

This being Remembrance Day it seems an appropriate time to mention Glenn Miller.

Although much maligned, since his disappearance over the English Channel in Dec. 1944, there have probably been more Miller tribute bands than those of Basie, Ellington, Goodman and Shaw combined.

In America, Tex Beneke, Ralph Flanagan, Ray McKinley and even Glenn's previously unknown brother Herb jumped on to the 'bandwagon' if you'll pardon the pun.

In the UK, bands such as Syd Lawrence and Ray McVay continued to serenade the moon and I believe that there's even a Syd Lawrence tribute band doing the rounds.

In the excellent, albeit inaccurate, movie The Glenn Miller Story much emphasis was placed on Miller the arranger although some of his best numbers such as Little Brown Jug and String of Pearls were actually arranged by Bill Finegan and Jerry Gray. Billy May also chipped in. 

However, Miller's greatest achievement was his leadership of the Glenn Miller Army Air Force Band. 

Based in Bedford, England, the band of the American Expeditionary Force has been well documented in Geoffrey Butcher's book Next to a Letter From Home. Q

With a line-up that included Mel Powell, Peanuts Hucko, Bernie Priven, Ray McKinley, Nat Peck (later with Clarke, Boland) the band out-swung their civilian counterpart hands down. And, with vocalist Johnny Desmond, who was nicknamed 'The Creamer' - no guesses as to which part of his listener's anatomy he was 'creaming' - it was the real deal. Pure conjecture but, had Sinatra answered the call and Desmond been classified as being '4F' then the course of popular singing may have changed - at least until Elvis came along!

An RCA album displays the band at its most swinging with a version of Flying Home that ranks alongside Hamp's.

Then there was  the Uptown Hall Gang, the small group that was brilliantly recreated by Martin Litton at this year's Classic Jazz Party.

True there was a lot of schmaltz in Miller's recordings but there was also a lot of swing and it is for this latter quality I will remember him. Lance

3 comments :

Patti said...

I sometimes wonder how many fans of the more schmaltzy Glenn Miller records will know about the time he played 'hot trombone' with the Mound City Blue Blowers on that classic 1930 recording of Hello Lola. Incidentally, this was one of poet Philip Larkin's Desert Island top ten records.

Steve Andrews said...

The jazz world has Glenn Miller to blame for my efforts over the past 58 years - it was seeing the Jimmy Shhtewart movie on the telly in 1965 that got me into playing jazz. Further to Patti's comment above, Miller was also a fine soloist in the Ben Pollack band of the late 1920s, alongside such luminaries as Benny Goodman and Jimmy McPartland. He was replaced by Jack Teagarden, who, Miller was the first to admit, took jazz trombone playing to another level!

Steven Smith said...

Hello! I'm hoping to contact the New Century Ragtime Orchestra. I lead a Ragtime orchestra in Olathe, Kansas, USA, and I'm seeking an orchestration for "Hello, Ma Baby". Please email me at violaphone@gmail.com . Any help appreciated!

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