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Bebop Spoken There

Steve Coleman: ''If you don't keep learning, your mind slows down. Use it or lose it''. (DownBeat, January 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

17719 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 39 of them this year alone and, so far, 39 this month (Jan. 15).

From This Moment On ...

January 2025

Mon 20: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 21: ???

Wed 22: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 22: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 22: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 22: Pasadena Roof Orchestra @ Fire Station, Sunderland. 7:30pm.

Thu 23: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, Holystone. 1:00pm. Free. Fortnightly.
Thu 23: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: Obituaries 2024.
Thu 23: Jason Isaacs @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 4:30-6:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Thu 23: Pedal Point Trio @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Fri 24: Zoë Gilby Quartet @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm.
Fri 24: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 24: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 24: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 24: Creakin’ Bones & the Sunday Dinners @ Lindisfarne Social Club, Wallsend. 9:00pm. Admission: TBC. Jazz, blues , jump jive, rock ‘n’ roll.

Sat 25: Boys of Brass @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 3:30-5:30pm. Free.
Sat 25: New '58 Jazz Collective @ Jackson's Wharf, Hartlepool. 6:30pm (doors). Free. A Burns' Night event. Jazz, swing, funk, soul, blues etc.
Sat 25: Edison Herbert Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 25: Jack & Jay’s Songbook @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 26: Musicians Unlimited @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 26: Graham Hardy Eclectic Quartet @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm.
Sun 26: Ruth Lambert Trio @ The Juke Shed, Union Quay, North Shields. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 26: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 26: Jazz Jam Sandwich! @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 26: Tweed River Jazz Band @ Barrels Ale House, Berwick-upon-Tweed. 7:30pm. Free.
Sun 26: Gratkowski, Tramontana, Beresford, Affifi @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £12.00. JNE.
Sun 26: Jazz Jam @ Fabio’s, Saddler St., Durham. 8:00pm. Free. A Durham University Jazz Society promotion. All welcome.

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

Friday, January 03, 2025

Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club - Jan. 3

Jim McBriarty (alto/soprano sax, clarinet, vocals); Alan Marshall (tenor sax, clarinet); David Gray (trombone, vocals); Jeremy McMurray (piano); Alan Rudd (bass); Ian Stocks (drums); Olive Rudd (vocals)

Hell and high water, not to mention Metro disruptions and the threat of snow on the  horizon didn't stop Classic Swing's fanbase turning out for the first Friday session of 2025. The traumatic journey home was but a minor blip in a very enjoyable afternoon.*

Kicking off as per with their signature tune, Tommy Moran's eponymously titled Classic Swing, it soon became evident the band were 'up for it' with cutting solos all round.

Don't Get Around Much Anymore sang Jim McBriarty in between blowing the lead on alto and soloing on whichever instrument he chose from his armory.

It was a day for the vocalists to assert themselves and
next up was Olive who, over the course of the two sets, sang: Almost Like Being in Love, You Made me Love You, When the Midnight Choo Choo Leaves For Alabam, It's a Sin to Tell a Lie, The Best Things in Life Are Free, duetted with David Gray's atmospheric 'bone on Trombone Cholly and wrapped up the show with Doctor Jazz

Gray himself vocalised on Fly me to the Moon and a number, new to me, that was recorded by Dick Haymes with Harry James' band in 1940, Secrets in the Moonlight.

Jim McB had another vocal on I'll See You in my Dreams but the big hit of the afternoon was an instrumental - Freddy Johnson's Harlem Bound.

This really swung with great solos and beautiful harmonies. Could have been an Ellington small group.

Other instrumentals: Christopher Columbus and Tangerine.

Apart from the soloists, the rhythm section did their bit admirably. Ian Stocks, particularly impressive on brushes and Alan Rudd, as ever, solid on bass. His one solo, full-toned and resonant, had me thinking he should grab the limelight more often.

A lovely band that does what it sets out to do - swing in the classic style. Lance

*When it comes to public transport never make assumptions. I assumed that if a bus stops at a town's transport hub heading east it would stop at the same hub when heading west. The number 9 does but the number 1 doesn't! Still, this disruption was but a hill of beans in an otherwise enjoyable afternoon.

1 comment :

Russell said...

Never make assumptions...Metro pulling into Cullercoats station, a mad dash up the stairs, across the footbridge and down. Jump on. made it! Alight South Gosforth (no choice in the matter due to damage to overhead wires up ahead). What to do? Wait for a bus? Walk? Opting for the latter, a diversion up to the High Street for some shopping, then catch a bus home. Bus? What bus? It was cold, dark but not damp (he hates California...), half an hour later, chilled to the bone, a bus deigned to turn up. Happy days...

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