Bebop Spoken There

Joe Alterman: ''All I wanted to do growing up was to sound like Erroll Garner playing "Poor Butterfly." I thought that was the coolest sound I'd ever heard.'' (DownBeat November, 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

19,061 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 18 years ago. 925 of them this year alone and, so far this month (Oct. 30) 104.

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

October.

Sat 31: Saltburn Big Band + Durham Alumni Big Band @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm.
Sat 31: East Coast Swing Band @ Cramlington Village Club, Park View, Cramlington NE23 6QJ. 7:30pm. £10.00. (from venue).

November

Sun 01: Smokin’ Spitfires @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:45pm. £10.00.
Sun 01: Ian Bosworth Quintet @ Chapel, Middlesbrough. 1:00pm. Free. Quintet w. special guest Donna Hewitt (tenor sax, clarinet)
Sun 01: Sax Choir @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 01: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 01: Sarah Heneghan Trio @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 02: Friends of Jazz @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 02: Saltburn Big Band @ Saltburn House Hotel. 7:00-9:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).

Tue 03: Alan Law @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 2:00pm. Free. Alan Law (piano) w. guest tba
Tue 03: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Stu Collingwood, Paul Grainger, Abbie Finn.
Tue 03: Customs House Big Band @ The Masonic Hall, Ferryhill. 7:30pm. Free.

Wed 04: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 04: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 04: An Evening of Erykah Badu @ Holy GrAle, Durham. 7:30pm. £3.00.; £2.50. A Durham University Jazz Society event.
Wed 04: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 05: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ The Millstone, Mill Rise, South Gosforth, Newcastle. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 05: Hejira - Celebrating Joni Mitchell @ Alnwick Playhouse. 7:30pm.
Thu 05: Cut Capers @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 7:00pm (doors).
Thu 05: Northern Reaches @ Newcastle Arts Centre. 7:30pm. Free (donations). Pete Tanton, Joe Steels, Laurence Blackadder, John Hirst.
Thu 05: Fergus McCreadie @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm.

Fri 06: Mike Durham’s International Classic Jazz Party @ Village Hotel, West Allotment. 12 noon. Day 1/3.
Fri 06: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 06: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 06: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 06: Jazz Night: Bridget Metcalfe @ Saltburn House Hotel. From 6:00pm. Tickets: £40.00 (inc. a two-course meal & glass of Prosecco). Tel: 01287 658977.

Tuesday, May 13, 2025

Cheltenham Musings 2025 – Day 1 (May 2)

A theme established itself quite early at this year’s festival and it was summed up by a comment one of Steve’s ex-bosses was fond of making, namely “In business, always take the money off the customer, mate.” This seemed to be a reasonable rule of thumb for any retail business, and yet, time and again we found ourselves unable to spend our money in Cheltenham. Points go to the ice-cream vendor in the main area who was eager to take our cash and plenty of it for a couple of outsize salted caramel cones. “Never eat anything bigger than yer ‘ed,” was another one of Steve’s, however on this occasion we let it slide. The surprise was that we were eating ice-cream at Cheltenham instead of standing under the trees out of the rain, as in previous years. Indeed there were stand pipes for the dehydrated to fill their water bottles from. If we wanted some more water at Cheltenham 2024 we just wrang out everything we were wearing.

Armed with our ice-creams we sauntered over to the main free stage and caught about ten minutes of mellow summery soul from Vanessa Carr. More heavyweight fare came from Superorganic fusion. As we’d arrived we had been surprised by a blues wailing teenager whose name we didn’t get. A bold Joplinesque delivery, verily she was the Bessie Smith of Cheltenham Ladies College.

With cash to spend we headed for the Record Lounge, provided this time round by Rough Trade On Tour. Last year there was no on-site record and CD shop and we had to bring our money home with us. Surely, this year would be different. In the ‘Lounge’ the Ishoo Bishoo Band was playing on the speakers. They weren’t on at Cheltenham and, if you liked what you were hearing you couldn’t buy any of their albums. You could buy albums by Led Zeppelin, Iggy & The Stooges and Sam Fender. Demand for their albums was low because they weren’t on at the Festival. I bought a Duke Ellington At Newport double CD. He wasn’t on either. Across the weekend a few more enterprising acts were selling their own albums straight after their gigs but vast amounts of money were not being spent.

In keeping with the theme of this year’s festival (see above) when we got to the Parabola Arts Centre for our first gig the card machine at the bar wasn’t working and they wouldn’t take cash.

It was still sunny when we came out. Dave Sayer

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