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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

Tuesday, January 07, 2025

Press release: Fergus McCreadie and corto.alto join stellar cast for SNJO’s Planet World

© Derek Clark

Mercury Prize nominees Fergus McCreadie and corto.alto join a stellar cast of musician-composers on tour with the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra for Nu-Age Sounds ll – Planet World with gigs in Edinburgh, Dundee and Glasgow from January 31 to February 2.

Following the resounding success of the inaugural Nu-Age Sounds tour in March 2024, the SNJO has again commissioned new music from eight of Scottish jazz’s most exciting young representatives.

Pianist McCreadie and corto.alto (aka multi-instrumentalist-producer Liam Shortall), along with singer kitti, saxophonists Helena Kay and Matt Carmichael, trombonist Anoushka Nanguy, bassist Ewan Hastie and grooving powerhouse KARMA, will combine thrilling new jazz sounds with science fiction to highlight the transformative power of live orchestral jazz.

“The artists in our line-up are all award-winners,” says SNJO founder-director, saxophonist Tommy Smith, who has played a major role in creating Scotland’s currently thriving, internationally admired young jazz scene through the jazz course he established at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. “Planet World allows them to be super-creative as composers and to trigger their own creativity and that of the orchestra’s players in the heat of a live performance.”

In addition to McCreadie and corto.alto’s Mercury Prize recognition, Ewan Hastie is a BBC Young Jazz Musician winner, Helena Kay is a former Young Scottish Jazz Musician of the Year and Matt Carmichael won the Best Band title with his quintet at the Scottish Jazz Awards 2024. Anoushka Nanguy has won the Rising Star title at the Scottish Jazz Awards, kitti has twice won the Best Singer title at the same awards, and pianist Peter Johnstone, who features in KARMA, is also a former Young Scottish Jazz Musician of the Year.

As with Nu-Age Sounds 2024, this latest edition combines orchestral jazz with visual commentaries in a stunning sound and light spectacle that will make a special live gig experience.

“What makes this second Nu-Age Sounds tour particularly exciting is the way our composers have responded to a specific brief,” says Smith. “The narrative of Planet World calls for each composer to convey the character of a planet and its inhabitants as the universe becomes in danger of imploding. Jazz musicians are renowned for applying their imaginations in spontaneous situations. Planet World allows them to be super-creative as composers and to trigger their own creativity and that of the orchestra’s players in the heat of a live performance.”

Nu-Age Sounds ll – Planet World tours to the Usher Hall, Edinburgh on Friday Jan. 31; Dundee Rep on Saturday Feb. 1 and the Old Fruitmarket, Glasgow on Sunday Feb. 2.

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