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Bebop Spoken There

Stan Woodward: ''We're part of the British jazz scene, but we don't play London jazz. We play Newcastle jazz. The Knats album represents many things, but most importantly that Newcastle isn't overlooked". (DownBeat, 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

17923 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 244 of them this year alone and, so far, 91 this month (March 31).

From This Moment On ...

April 2025.

Thu 03: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: Women in Jazz.
Thu 03: Eva Fox & the Jazz Guys @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 03: New ’58 Jazz Collective @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm. Free. A Tees Hot Club promotion. First Thursday in the month.

Fri 04: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 04: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 04: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 04: Ruth Lambert Quartet @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm. £12.00.
Fri 04: Tom McGuire & the Brassholes @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £20.00.
Fri 04: Nicolas Meier’s Infinity Group + Spirit of Jeff Beck @ The Forum, Darlington. 7:30pm.

Sat 05: Tenement Jazz Band @ St Augustine’s Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm. £10.00.
Sat 05: Sleep Suppressor @ Head of Steam, Newcastle. 5:30-6:00pm.
Sat 05: King Bees @ Billy Bootlegger’s, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 6:00pm. Free.
Sat 05: Raymond MacDonald & Jer Reid @ Lubber Fiend, Newcastle. 6:00-9:30pm. £7.72., £1.00. (minimum donation). MacDonald & Reid + Objections + Yotuns.
Sat 05: Jeff Hewer Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 05: Kamasi Washington @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 7:30pm. £33.00.
Sat 05: Vermont Big Band @ The Seahorse, Whitley Bay. 7:30pm. Tickets: £10.00 (from the venue).
Sat 05: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00.

Sun 06: Smokin’ Spitfires @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:45pm. £7.50.
Sun 06: Learning & Participation Showcase @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm (1:00pm doors). Free. Featuring participants from Play More Jazz! Play More Folk! Blue Jam Singers & more.
Sun 06: Joe Steels Group @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00pm. £10.00. Ferg Kilsby, Joe Steels, Ben Lawrence, Paul Susans, John Hirst.
Sun 06: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 06: Paul Skerritt @ The Hooch, Quayside, Newcastle. 6:00pm.
Sun 06: Leeway @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 07: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 08: ???

Wed 09: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 09: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 09: Tannery jam session @ The Tannery, Hexham. 7:00pm.
Wed 09: Anatole Muster Trio @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £17.50., £12.50. concs.
Wed 09: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. CANCELLED?

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, December 21, 2024

My top ten Christmas related songs.

I've heard lots of versions of Santa Baby, White Christmas, The Christmas Song, Winter Wonderland and Let it Snow this year. However, there are still a few Christmas songs that have yet, unlike those distant relatives, to have overstayed their welcome. Here are a few in no particular order:

Baby It's Cold Outside. The classic song of seduction although the suggestion that a drink may have been spiked (Say, what's in this drink?)  may have made it no longer politically correct. A lot of  radio stations banned it. Love this version by Ella and Louis Jordan.

Be Careful it's my Heart. (It's not my watch you're holding it's my heart - heart, watch, ticker, get it?) Isn't exactly a Xmas song but it was featured in the film Holiday Inn which was the song where White Christmas was first heard. In the clip Bing sings and Fred dances and, seemingly, wins Marjorie Reynolds' ticker.

Love You Didn't do Right by me. This great number was in the film titled White Christmas and Rosemary Clooney puts it over well. There's also a seasonal-ish reference in the lyric: You sent me a Joe who had winter and snow in his heart - nice one Irving. Over the years Alice Grace has included Love You Didn't do Right by me in her repertoire.

Some Sunday Morning. Recorded in 1945 as a duet by Helen Forrest and Dick Haymes it turned up again five years later, as George Watt once pointed out to me, as Frosty the Snowman where Ella takes the vocal. Surprisingly no legal action was taken between the two sets of composers: M.K. Jerome, Ray Heindorf & Ted Koehler (Some Sunday Morning) and Steve Nelson & Jack Rollins (Frosty the Snowman).

What Are You Doing New Year's Eve? A beautiful song with a title that clocks in either 7 days too late or 358 days too soon. Great workout by Postmodern Jukebox. Composer Frank Loesser hated it being only sung in December defeating the whole idea behind the lyric.

Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer. Another gem from PMG covering a song by  Elmo and Patsy. The wonderful line: Now we're all so proud of grandpa, he's taking it so well, watching football, drinking beer and playing cards with Uncle Mel

I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas. More festive fun from PMG. Just love them! 

Last Christmas. The version by Wham! has topped  the Christmas charts for the past two years but PMJ  have reimagined it as it might have sounded if the Andrews Sisters had topped the 'Happy Cat Hit Parade' with it.

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas. It's one of the better ones and it's what we at BSH wish all of our readers with a little help from Norah Jones and Laufey. Lance

2 comments :

Patti said...

Christmas love to Sir Lancelot. I'm sure all BSH readers will second that!

Lance said...

They ain't done no seconding so far!

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