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Bebop Spoken There

Kurt Elling: ''There's something to learn from every musician you play with''. (DownBeat, December 2024).

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

17630 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 904 of them this year alone and, so far, 49 this month (Dec. 20).

From This Moment On ...

December

Thu 26: The Boneshakers @ Tyne Bar, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. The 17th annual Boneshakers’ Shindig.

Fri 27: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 27: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free. Business as usual!.
Fri 27: Jason Isaacs @ Seaburn STACK, Seaburn. 3:30-5:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Fri 27: Michael Woods @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Country blues guitar & vocals.

Sat 28: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 11:30am. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 28: Fri 20: Castillo Nuevo @ Revoluçion de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30pm. Free.
Sat 28: Jude Murphy, Rich Herdman & Giles Strong @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sat 28: Ray Stubbs R & B All-Stars @ Billy Bootlegger’s, Stepney Bank, Newcastle. 9:00pm. Free.

Sun 29: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 29: Alexia Gardner Quintet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 30: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 30: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Wheatsheaf, Benton Sq., Whitley Road, Palmersville NE12 9SU. Tel: 0191 266 8137. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 30: Jason Isaacs @ STACK, Exchange Sq., Middlesbrough. 4:00-6:00pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.

Tue 31: Jason Isaacs @ Seaburn STACK, Seaburn. 12 noon-2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Tue 31: Lapwing Trio @ Wallington (National Trust), Cambo, Morpeth NE61 4AR. 12 noon & 2:00pm. Admission to site £19.00.
Tue 31: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 3:30-5:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Tue 31: Archie Brown & Friends @ Tyne Bar, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 4:00-8:00pm. Free.

January 2025

Wed 01: ???

Thu 02: ???

Fri 03: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 03: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 03: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 03: John Gregory @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Country blues guitar.

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, January 28, 2024

Nicola Farnon Trio: a Perfect Loverly Day @ The Gala, Durham - Jan 26

© Russell)
Nicola Farnon (double bass, vocals); Richard Wetherall (piano); Phil Johnson (drums)

After a break of a couple of months or so, the Gala Theatre's monthly lunchtime concert series resumed with the welcome return of Nicola Farnon. Last heard in Durham pre-pandemic (April 2017) working in a scratch trio with Paul Edis and Russ Morgan, it came as little surprise Ms Farnon would once again play to a full house. 

For this January 2024 engagement, Farnon brought along her established trio of Richard Wetherall and Phil Johnson, pianist Wetherall making the trip across the Pennines, bassist and vocalist Farnon travelling 'up north' with drummer Phil Johnson from their Yorkshire base. Opening with Vernon Duke's Taking a Chance on Love, in an instant Farnon's trio won over the capacity audience. Straight ahead, swinging jazz, just what Dr Jazz ordered to blow away those mid-winter blues. 

(© Russell)
It's one thing to be a swinging bass player (Farnon is just that), it's another to simultaneously sing and play swinging bass lines. Pianist Wetherall has been around the block a few times. In demand throughout the north of England and beyond, a cv boasting sessions with the likes of Alan Skidmore and Bobby Wellins, Radio 3 exposure, and sharing a concert bill with Tony Bennett, the term 'go-to' springs to mind. Drummer Phil Johnson cuts a casual figure. An alumnus of the celebrated Wigan Youth Jazz Orchestra, gigs with the likes of Alan Barnes, Jim Mullen, Bobby Shew and a long list of big bands (Nelson Riddle Orchestra UK, Squadronnaires), Johnson knows the score.

A set comprising GASbook gems and two or three original compositions simply flew by. Farnon's engaging performance, the trio swinging along with aplomb, the Gala audience lapped it up: Rodgers and Hart's I Didn't Know What Time it Was, a perky take on Jerome Kern's Pick Yourself Up, Farnon's When Love's as Good as Loving Gets and, a candidate for modern day GASbook status, Perfect Loverly Day, replete with Farnon's affecting Wiltshire burr.

At the end of an entertaining hour the audience wanted to hear more, a quick encore, then to the sales desk. Farnon's CDs deservedly found many new homes. Russell        

Set list: Taking a Chance on Love; Perfect Loverly Day; Pick Yourself Up; It's Just Got to be That Way; When Love's as Good as Loving Gets; I Didn't Know What Time it Was; The Nearness of You; Sing; I Could Have Danced All Night; The Little Things That Matter the Most. 

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