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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

17838 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 159of them this year alone and, so far, 6 this month (March 3).

From This Moment On ...

MARCH 2025.

Mon 10: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club.

Tues 11: Solea @ Earthlings, the Healing Café, 94 Buckingham St., Newcastle, NE4 5QR. 7:00-8:45pm. Food available if ordered before 6:30pm. New band: Johannes Dalhuijsen (tenor sax, bass clarinet); Richard Herdman (guitar); Nick Bagnall (bass guitar); John Hirst (drums).
Tue 11: Giles Strong Quartet @ Newcastle House Hotel, Rothbury. 7:30pm.

Wed 12: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 12: Jam session @ The Tannery, Gilesgate, Hexham. 7:00-9:00pm. Free.
Wed 12: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 12: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 13: The Exu + Matt Cliffe @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Thu 13: Oh La La! @ Allendale Village Hall, Northumberland. 7:30pm. £12.00.; £6.00. child. Fifi La Mer (accordion, vocals), Oliver Wilby (reeds).
Thu 13: Fiona Finden’s Jazz Express @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Fri 14: Pete Tanton’s Chet Set @ Auckland Castle, Bishop Auckland. 1:00pm. £8.00.
Fri 14: Paul Taylor @ Jesmond Library, Newcastle. 1:00-2:00pm. £5.00. at the door. Second Friday in the month lunchtime concert series.
Fri 14: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 14: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 14: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 14: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 4:00-6:00pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Fri 14: Brass Funkeys + Dilutey Juice @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm. £12.00., £10.00., £8.00.
Fri 14: Oh La La! @ Edmundbyers Village Hall, Co. Durham. 7:30pm. £12.00.; £10.00. (additional £5.00. supper option, ordered in advance). Fifi La Mer (accordion, vocals), Oliver Wilby (reeds).
Fri 14: The Collective @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £8.50.
Fri 14: Bridget Metcalfe Quintet @ St George’s Venue, Park Road, Hartlepool. 7:30pm.

Sat 15: Hot Teapots @ St Augustine’s Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm.
Sat 15: Creakin’ Bones @ Billy Bootleggers. Ouseburn, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free.
Sat 15: Joseph Carville Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 15: Is This Jazz? @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Tickets: www.eventbrite.co.uk. Performances by Mu Quintet, Jinjé, A Brief Utopia, John Pope & Co + André Marmot (author of Unapologetic Expression: The Inside Story of the UK Jazz Explosion) in conversation + DJ sets ‘til 3:00am. ‘A Festival of New Jazz’.
Sat 15: Vintage Explosion @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 7:30pm. SOLD OUT!
Sat 15: Alligator Gumbo @ The Forum, Darlington. 7:30pm. £15.00.
Sat 15: One Night Standards @ The White Room, Stanley. 8:00pm. £8.67 (inc. bf). Note - previously advertised Salty Dogs cancelled.
Sat 15: Howlin’ Mat @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. 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

Saturday, June 15, 2024

Strictly Smokin' Big Band: Ella & Ellington @ Queen's Hall, Hexham - June 14

Michael Lamb (MD, trumpet); Dick Stacey, Billy Bradshaw, Pete Tanton (trumpets); Kieran Parnaby, Mark Ferris, Chris Kurgi-Smith, John Flood (trombones); Steve Summers (alto sax, soprano sax, clarinet), Keith Robinson  (alto sax, soprano sax, clarinet); Jamie Toms (tenor sax, soprano sax); Matt Forster  (tenor sax); Sue Ferris (baritone sax, soprano sax); Graham Don (piano); Pawel Jedrzejewski (guitar); Michael Whent (bass guitar); Guy Swinton (drums); Alice Grace (vocals)

Ella & Ellington. The SSBB's tour continues, this evening's concert a return visit to Beaumont Street, Hexham. The A-Team reported for duty, the stalls all but full, Michael Lamb's superb big band is on a roll. Evocative images of Ella, Duke et al projected onto a backcloth, the scene was set.

Lounge suits across the sections, a sequined Alice Grace out front, the Strictly Smokin' do it in style. Opening with Something's Gotta Give, the sound balance just right, vocalist AG heard loud and clear. Quite some start! More a potted history than a chronological sweep down the decades, Ella F, Edward K and their various collaborators - Billy Strayhorn, Chick Webb, Norman Granz, Nelson Riddle, Frank De Vol, Marty Paich et al - would receive name checks throughout the evening.

A-Tisket, A Tasket had to be in there and it was, East St Louis Toodle-OoCaravan, John Flood's shuddering bass trombone anchoring Such Sweet Thunder, this was one of the very best present day big bands in full swing. AG sang I Ain't Got Nothing but the Blues and Lullaby of Broadway (excellent), a Wycliffe Gordon arrangement of Mood Indigo put the 'bones through their paces (A+) and a first half highlight, Keith Robinson's alto sax feature on Isfahan (exceptionally good). 

The interval. Allendale Brewery's Golden Plover was calling. First in the queue, a table secured, it was time to chill out. Surveying the scene, Tynedale's big band fans were out in force, many of them rarely, if ever, seen down stream in Newcastle. 

Second set. An instrumental to resume affairs, Skin Deep, no less. As Alice G sang Nelson Riddle's arrangement of I'm Gonna Go Fishin'  something was amiss. Bandleader Michael Lamb was nowhere to be seen. Trumpet section buddy Pete Tanton picked up the narrator's baton, strange...

Take the 'A' Train, a terrific AG vocal on Time After Time, then in a matter of fact style, the SSBB's star vocalist announced Michael Lamb had taken ill.* In true showbiz style, the show went on. Perdido with Graham Don's transcription of its boogie-woogie piano intro, thoughts were, understandably, wandering. And then, without fanfare, MD Lamb returned to the stage, assuming his place in the section. Hmmm...

Thoughts continued to wander. AG refocussed, singing Imagine My Frustration (top class stuff). An encore won, Alice, Michael (!) and the SSBB went out all guns blazing on Let's Do It (Let's Fall in Love).                      

On leaving Queen's Hall your correspondent asked about Michael. Good news, the SSBB's MD was fine. 

The Strictly Smokin' Big Band's Ella & Ellington show turns up next in Alnwick. Friday 21 June, Alnwick Playhouse. Seats are at a premium, book now at: www.alnwickplayhouse.co.uk. Russell 

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