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

18621 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 18 years ago. 485 of them this year alone and, so far this month (June 14) 37

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

Sat 20: Tyne Valley Big Band @ Tynedale Beer Festival, Corbridge. 5:00-6:00pm.
Sat 20: Castillo Nuevo Trio @ Revoluçion de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30pm. Free.
Sat 20: Red Kites Jazz @ Staithes Café, Dunston. 7:00-9:00pm. Free.
Sat 20: New Century Ragtime Orchestra @ Trinity Church, Gosforth, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £20.00. NCRO w. guests Dean Stockdale & Nick Ward.

Sun 21: From Lagos to Longbenton: Unity in the Community @ Sunderland Minster. From 1:30pm. Free. A multi-bill Unity in the Community event, inc. From Lagos to Longbenton.
Sun 21: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Table reservations (0191 261 8000). Skerritt w. backing tapes.
Sun 21: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 2:30pm. Free. Trio w. Graham Hardy.
Sun 21: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 21: Tweed River Jazz Band @ Barrels Ale House, Berwick. 7:00pm. Free.
Sun 21: Magpies of Swing @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 22: Friends of Jazz @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 23: Alan Law Trio @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 2:00pm. Free.
Tue 23: Jude Murphy & Dan Stanley @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Wed 24: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 24: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 24: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 25: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ The Millstone, Mill Rise, South Gosforth, Newcastle. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 25: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £5.00. Subject: Forgotten Ones & Any Quintets.
Thu 25: Edgar Ho Trio @ Newcastle Arts Centre. 7:30pm. Free. Brilliant alto sax, piano & double bass trio. Unmissable!
Thu 25: Paul Skerritt @ Angels' Share, St George's Terrace, Jesmond, Newcastle NE2 2SX. 8:00pm. Free. Booking advised (0191 200 1975). Skerritt w. backing tapes.

Fri 26: Finn-Keeble Group @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. £9:00.
Fri 26: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 26: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 26: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 26: Clark Tracey @ Live Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Newcastle Jazz Festival. £26.00. Day 1/2.

Saturday, July 19, 2025

Greg Abate w. Dean Stockdale Trio @ Opus 4 Jazz Club, Darlington - July 18

Greg Abate (alto sax, flute); Dean Stockdale (piano); Mick Shoulder (double bass); Abbie Finn (drums)

The second of two gigs in a day for visiting American alto saxophonist Greg Abate. Earlier, the man from Woonsocket, Rhode Island played to an encore-demanding full house up the road in Newcastle, this evening the setting was somewhat different. The Traveller's Rest is the sort of hostelry which allows the resident jazz club to get on with it. The upstairs room on West Auckland Road attracted considerably more punters than of late - clearly word had got around!

Greg Abate tours the UK twice a year (July and November) and in visiting these shores for the best part of a quarter of a century, Darlington was new territory. Looking at the portraits on the walls around the room (see photo of Abate playing flute), Abate concluded he was the special guest of a 'modern jazz' club. Opening with On Green Dolphin Street he hit the spot with the regulars, his hard bop alto sax was just what Darlington's Dr Jazz ordered. Whoops and hollers told Abate all he needed to know.

Bird's Barbados, Joe Henderson's Recorda Me (flute and alto), Bird's Red Cross, Abate couldn't, and didn't, put a foot wrong. This evening's concert wasn't entirely the Greg Abate show, it would have been a waste of the talent sharing the stand with him: pianist Dean Stockdale, just as he had done earlier in the day, played a blinder, bassist Mick Shoulder likewise, and drummer Abbie Finn responded in a nanosecond to each and every twist and turn - of which there were many!

In a Sentimental Mood, Kenny Barron's contrasting Voyage, a trip to Surrey (the one with the fringe), tiptoeing Softly, as in, the double-barrelled blowout on Bird's K.C. Blues and My Little Suede Shoes, the Opus 4 Jazz Club crowd loved what they were hearing. It's no secret Greg Abate is a Bird disciple, similarly many of the Opus 4 crowd, playing Confirmation merely confirmed a new relationship - G. Abate likes Darlington and Darlington likes G. Abate. As someone whispered: He [Abate] will be back!  Russell
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