Bebop Spoken There

Donovan Haffner ('Best Newcomer' 2025 Parliamentary Jazz Awards): ''I got into jazz the first time I picked up a saxophone!" - Jazzwise Dec 25/Jan 26

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

18146 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 24 of them this year alone and, so far this month (Jan. 7), 24

From This Moment On ...

JANUARY 2026

Sat 10: Mark Toomey Quintet @ St Peter’s Church, Stockton-on-Tees. 7:30pm. £12.00. (inc. pie & peas). Tickets from: 07749 255038.

Sun 11: New ’58 Jazz Collective @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 11: Am Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 11: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 11: Eva Fox & the Sound Hounds @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 12: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 12: Saltburn Big Band @ Saltburn House Hotel. 7:00-9:00pm. Free.

Tue 13: Milne Glendinning Band @ Newcastle House Hotel, Rothbury. 7:30pm. £11.00. Coquetdale Jazz.
Tue 13: Jazz Jam Sandwich @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Wed 14: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 14: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 14: Jam Session @ The Tannery, Hexham. 7:00pm. Free.
Wed 14: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 15: Mark Toomey Quartet @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm. Free. Quartet + guest Paul Donnelly (guitar).

Fri 16: Giles Strong Quartet @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. £8.00. SOLD OUT!
Fri 16: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 16: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 16: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 16: Darlington Big Band @ The Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. Opus 4 Jazz Club.
Fri 16: Leeds City Stompers @ Billy Bootleggers, Newcastle. 9:00pm. Free.

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, June 21, 2025

Alexia Gardner Quintet @ Sunderland Minster - June 20

© Russell
Alexia Gardner (vocals); Harry Keeble (tenor sax); Alan Law (piano); Jude Murphy (double bass, backing vocals); Abbie Finn (drums) + Paula Gardner (vocals)

The Old Black Cat Jazz Club lives on. As its days at 1719 in Hendon came to an end, promoter John Knox looked for an alternative venue. And, how about this, the OBCJC has relocated to Sunderland Minster! At the heart of Sunderland's 'Cultural Quarter' (Empire Theatre, Fire Station, Peacock, Ship Isis) with its 'old school' (rosewood?) Lipp & Sohn baby grand piano, the Minster is Sunderland's newest old school jazz venue!

This evening's inaugural jazz concert featured the Alexia Gardner Quintet. Since relocating to Northumberland, vocalist Alexia has made a big impression on the regional jazz scene. An engaging stage presence, working with a top flight band, Ms Gardner knows how to put on a show. Ms Gardner standing to one side, the band - Harry Keeble, Alan Law (hotfoot from a marvellous gig at Newcastle's Lit & Phil), Jude Murphy and Abbie Finn - opened with Softly as in a Morning Sunrise. The revived OBCJC was up and running!

© Russell
Cheek to Cheek, It Might as Well be Spring, verse and piano accompaniment to The Lady is a Tramp, Gardner was enjoying herself, high notes to low notes. Impressive. I Got Rhythm, tenor saxophonist Keeble fleet of finger, things were going well. Mo' Better Blues, Seven Steps to Heaven, yes, all good stuff. Ms Gardner's sister, Paula, was in the house. The Gardner sisters sang Chain Gang. Great! 

The Minster's high, vaulted ceiling didn't present much of a problem to the AG5, drummer Abbie Finn, for the most part, using brushes. Second set, AF picked up her sticks for Bob Marley's Jamming, Ms Gardner encouraged audience participation on Stand by Me (some of us opted out), Kris Kristofferson's Help Me Make it Through the Night worked well, One Note Samba had its usual quota of notes (a few more than one) and What a Wonderful World somehow seemed apposite on this balmy summer's evening. 

July's Sunderland Minster OBCJC concert (Friday 18) features the Zoë Gilby Quartet. Russell
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