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Bebop Spoken There

Sullivan Fortner: ''I always judge it by the bass player: If the bass player is happy, it's going to be a good night". (DownBeat, 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

17805 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 126 of them this year alone and, so far, 51 this month (Feb.16).

From This Moment On ...

February 2025

Sun 16: MOBO Song @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 12 noon. Free, performances on the concourse. Line-up inc. Jazz Attack (on stage time TBC) & Jambone (12:20pm).
Sun 16: Jason Isaacs @ STACK, Exchange Sq., Middlesbrough. 1:00-2:45pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sun 16: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 16: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 16: MOBO Awards Fringe 2025: BBC Introducing NE X MOBO Showcase @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 6:00pm. Free (ticketed). Line-up inc. Jambone, Knats, Rivkala, SwanNek.
Sun 16: The Shayo Experience @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 16: Gerry Richardson Quartet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. .

Mon 17: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 17: Matt Forster Quartet @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 1:00pm. £9.00. at the door; £8.20. (inc £0.20 bf) online, in advance.
Mon 17: Russ Morgan Quartet @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £10.00.

Tue 18: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Alan Law, Paul Grainger, John Hirst.

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: James Birkett & Emma Fisk @ King’s Hall, Newcastle University. 1:15pm. Free.
Thu 20: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: Jazz Milestones - 1975.
Thu 20: Renegade Brass Band @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors).
Thu 20: Orange Claw Hammer + Peony @ The Globe, Newcastle.7:30pm. Orange Claw Hammer play Captain Beefheart.
Thu 20: Jeremy McMurray & the Pocket Jazz Orchestra @ Arc, Stockton. 8:00pm. Featuring special guest Zoë Gilby.

Fri 21: JazzMain @ 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: Joe Steels Trio @ The Pele, Corbridge. 7:00pm. £10.00. TBC.
Fri 21: Emma Rawicz w. Strictly Smokin’ Big Band @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm.

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: Mississippi MacDonald @ Claypath Deli, Durham. 7:00pm. Blues.
Sat 22: Lindsay Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ Old Cinema Laundrette, Durham. 7:45pm. £16.50. SOLD OUT!
Sat 22: Michael Woods @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Country blues guitar & vocals.

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

Monday, February 12, 2024

(Press release) SNJO concert tour showcases top young Scots

The Scottish National Jazz Orchestra’s Nu-Age Sounds marks a major celebration of Scotland’s vibrantly exciting young jazz scene with performances in Dundee, Glasgow and Edinburgh from Friday 1st to Sunday 3rd March.

Conceived and produced by the orchestra’s artistic director, saxophonist Tommy Smith, the project brings together a cast of trailblazing musicians, each of them multiple award winners, with the internationally acclaimed SNJO and visual producer Dillon Barrie. 

Scottish Album of the Year 2022 winner and Mercury Music Prize nominee, pianist Fergus McCreadie, BBC Young Jazz Musician 2022, bassist Ewan Hastie, singer kitti, saxophonists Helena Kay and Matt Carmichael and trombonists Noushy and Liam Shortall, who has earned acclaim under the name corto.alto, are all contributing new music to the project. Smith has also orchestrated music by his band KARMA, whose debut album won the Album of the Year title at the Scottish Jazz Awards.

Watching as students from the jazz course he overseas at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland have gone on to make an impression nationally and internationally, Smith decided to showcase this success and bring orchestral jazz, with its long history, to a young audience who might not have experienced this rich tradition before.

"As Fergus, Matt, Peter, Ewan, Noushy, and Liam were students of mine for four years at the RCS, I greatly respect and admire their musicianship and observe with amazement their blossoming careers,” says Smith. “Educating musicians of this calibre in harmony, composition, etc., was a joy, especially sharing my ideas in music business, which I taught throughout their four years. I am very proud of where they have all reached. It’s also great to have kitti and Helena onboard as they are very much part of Scotland’s thriving young jazz scene.” 

Noushy and kitti’s music is being arranged by Berlin-based saxophonist-composer-bandleader Fabia Mantwill and Ewan Hastie’s by pianist-composer Florian Ross, from Cologne. However, Fergus McCreadie, Helena Kay, Matt Carmichael and Liam Shortall are rising to the challenge orchestrating their own work to an international standard. Due to commitments with his popular trio, McCreadie will play his new composition, As the Mist Clears, on the first two concerts only. His place will be taken for the final concert by another award-winning pianist, former Young Scottish Jazz Musician of the Year and SNJO regular, Peter Johnstone.

Each piece of music will be accompanied by a video, created by Dillon Barrie and his team and projected on to the stage backcloth.

“Dillon, who I chose as a visual producer and social media guru of Nu-Age Sounds, is also a current student of mine at the RCS,” says Smith. “I've seen him really charge on, producing his successful Supersonic shows over the last three years. Dillon and his team, with Daisy Mulholland, Niki Zaupa, and Connor McGhie, will bring an illuminating vision for our artists and concertgoers."

For Smith, the concerts are a timely indication of the strength of jazz in Scotland. A scene has grown up around the RCS jazz course in Glasgow and there are talented young musicians emerging across the country.

“I am confident that Nu-Age Sounds will be a standout tour for the SNJO’s ever-growing audience,” says Smith. “It's also vital for the orchestra to embrace the younger audience and adopt a new focus on future sounds and fusions, widening our musical horizons.”

Nu-Age Sounds tours to Dundee Rep Theatre on Friday 1st March, the Old Fruitmarket, Glasgow on Saturday 2nd March and the Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh on Sunday 3rd March.

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