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Bebop Spoken There

Trevor Mires: ''My mum is a Dean Martin fan: I'm not, so I would grab my skateboard and get out of the house whenever I heard "Everybody Loves Somebody, Sometime." ". (Jazzwise, April 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

17972 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 293 of them this year alone and, so far, 49 this month (April 22).

From This Moment On ...

April 2025.

Thu 24: Mary Coughlan @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm. £33.80. Blues, jazz etc.
Thu 24: Darlington Big Band @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm.

Fri 25: Vasilis Xenopoulos & Paul Edis @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT! Duo performance.
Fri 25: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 25: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 25: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 25: Andrea Vicari Trio @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. £8.00. Vicari (piano); Andy Champion (double bass); Russ Morgan (drums).
Fri 25: Jason Isaacs @ STACK, Exchange Sq., Middlesbrough. 4:00-6:00pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Fri 25: Red Kites Jazz @ Land of Oak & Iron, Winlaton Mill. 6:00-9:00pm. Free.
Fri 25: Vasilis Xenopoulos & Paul Edis @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 7:30pm. £15.00. at the door; £14.35. (inc £0.35 bf) online, in advance.
Fri 25: Struggle Buggy @ The White Room, Stanley. 7:45pm. Rhythm & blues.
Fri 25: Paul Skerritt Big Band @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm. £20.30., £18.00. All-star big band.
Fri 25: Andrea Vicari Trio @ Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. Vicari (piano); Andy Champion (double bass); Russ Morgan (drums). An Opus 4 Jazz Club event.

Sat 26: Durham Alumni Big Band @ Number One Bar, Darlington. 12 noon. Free (donations).
Sat 26: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 26: Vasilis Xenopoulos & Paul Edis @ Elvet Methodist Church, Durham. 7:30pm. Tickets: £12.00. + bf. Duo performance.
Sat 26: Neil Cowley Trio @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm. £22.50.
Sat 26: Pete Tanton & the Cuban Heels @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 27: Musicians Unlimited @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 27: Andrea Vicari Trio @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00pm. Vicari (piano); Andy Champion (double bass); John Bradford (drums).
Sun 27: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 27: Vasilis Xenopoulos-Paul Edis Quartet @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm. Xenopoulos, Edis, Paul Susans, Russ Morgan.
Sun 27: Ruth Lambert Trio @ Juke Shed, North Shields. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 27: JustKing Jones @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. 7:00pm (doors). £17.50. JustKing Jones (alto sax, soprano sax); Jordan Williams (piano); Jason Clotter (bass); Malcolm Charles (drums). Ace NYC outfit!
Sun 27: Jazz Jam Sandwich! @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 27: Swing Manouche @ Warkworth Memorial Hall. 7:30pm. £15.00. Tickets from 01665 711388.
Sun 27: Vasilis Xenopoulos-Paul Edis Quartet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Xenopoulos, Edis, Ken Marley, Russ Morgan.

Mon 28: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 29: ???

Wed 30: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 30: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 30: International Jazz Day @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £16.00.; £14.00. adv.. Feat. Guido Spannocchi, John Pope & Steve Hanley + Take it to the Bridge participants + Open Mic Night participants.

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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