Bebop Spoken There

Melissa Aldana: ''Having to play a ballads album, which is something very revealing for a saxophone player, would help me to question some new aspects of how to go deeper into sound." (DownBeat May, 2026)

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

18656 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 18 years ago. 520 of them this year alone and, so far this month (June 25) 72

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

From This Moment On

June

Wed 01: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 01: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 01: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 02: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ The Millstone, Mill Rise, South Gosforth, Newcastle. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 02: Paul Skerritt @ Angels' Share, St George's Terrace, Jesmond, Newcastle NE2 2SX. 8:00pm. Free. Booking advised (0191 200 1975). Skerritt w. backing tapes.
Thu 02: De’Sean Jones & Blaque Dynamite feat. Urban Art Orchestra @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). De’Sean Jones (MD, tenor sax); Blaque Dynamite (Mike Mitchell, drums); Jamie Murray (drums) with UAO horns & strings.
Thu 02: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm.
Thu 02: Howlin’ Mat @ Newcastle Arts centre. 7:30pm. Free. Acoustic

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: Paul Donnelly Quartet @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm.
Fri 03: Martin Taylor @ Arc, Stockton. 8:00pm. Taylor (solo guitar).

Sat 04: Spats Langham’s Hot Fingers @ St Augustine’s Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm. £10.00. Darlington New Orleans Jazz Club.
Sat 04: Michael Woods @ Cycle Hub, Quayside, Ouseburn. 1:30-2:30pm & 3:00-4:00pm. Free. Acoustic blues guitar. An Ouseburn Festival event.
Sat 04: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. £27.50. Tutor: Steve Glendinning. Take the ‘A’ Train to Summertime: From Melody to Masterclass. Enrol at: learning@jazz.coop.
Sat 04: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00.

Sun 05: Smokin’ Spitfires @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:45pm. £10.00.
Sun 05: Ian Bosworth Quintet @ Chapel, Middlesbrough. 1:00pm. Free. Feat. guest Kevin Eland (trumpet).
Sun 05: Michael Woods @ Cycle Hub, Quayside, Ouseburn. 1:30-2:30pm & 3:15-4:00pm. Free. Acoustic blues guitar. An Ouseburn Festival event.
Sun 05: Lydia Rae Quintet @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00pm. £10.00. Rae (vocals); Sam Lightwing (alto sax, tenor sax); Ben Lawrence (piano); Andy Champion (double bass); John Bradford (drums).
Sun 05: Sax Choir @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 05: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Table reservations (0191 261 8000). Skerritt w. backing tapes.
Sun 05: Storytellers Street Band @ Ouseburn Woodland, Ouseburn. 5:00-6:00pm. Free. An Ouseburn Festival event.
Sun 05: Gerry Richardson’s Big Idea @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Sun 05: Jambone @ Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:15-9:45pm. Free but ticketed.

Mon 06: Friends of Jazz @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 06: Saltburn Big Band @ Saltburn House Hotel. 7:00-9:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).

Tue 07: Alan Law Trio @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 2:30pm. Free.
Tue 07: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Ben Lawrence (piano); Paul Grainger (double bass); John Bradford (drums).
Tue 07: Customs House Big Band @ The Masonic Hall, Ferryhill. 7:30pm. Free.

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!

Blog Archive