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

Wednesday, August 13, 2025

Album review: Sinne Eeg & Jacob Christoffersen - Shikiori (Stunt Records)

Sinne Eeg (vocals); Jacob Christoffersen (piano)

Danish singer/songwriter Sinne Eeg has won just about every music award Scandinavia has to offer including  the Ben Webster Prize - the first vocalist to do so. Further afield Eeg was also the recipient of France's prestigious Prix du Jazz. Earlier this year she was awarded the French Order of Arts and Letters. Previous recipients include such mega, and diverse, names as David Bowie and Meryl Streep.

Although Eeg and Christoffersen have collaborated on many of her twelve previous albums this is their first duo album together and it's a pippin - and we're not talking apples!

Eeg wrote words and music for three tracks, Christoffersen chipped in with four along with one each from Annie Lennox, Billy Strayhorn, the Gershwins, Leonard Bernstein and David Wheat/Bill Loughborough.

The voice is compelling and beguiling. It's the voice you hear in your nicest dream. The one that lingers on after you've awoken only to disappear as the day unfolds. However, you know there'll be other nights and other dreams and that, once again, that voice will rule the night.

If that voice should have Jacob Christoffersen on piano then you are in Shangri-La.

Well that's not quite true in fact it's not true at all as it was recorded at Shikiori, a concert hall in the Japanese countryside that inspired the album's title.

A beautiful recording that will be on my car stereo forever or until the powers that be decide I should be operating a white stick rather than a gear stick. Lance

BANDCAMP

Losing You; Hebi (Snake); Soba Flower; Lush Life; A Second Chance at Love; Cold; Maria; But Not For Me; Don't be so Blue; Seems Like Yesterday; Better Than Anything; Soba

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