Bebop Spoken There

Art Blakey (to Terence Blanchard): ''You ain't Miles find your own shit to do!'' (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

18532 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 18 years ago. 396 of them this year alone and, so far this month (May 15) 50

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

May

Sat 16: Sing Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. £27.50. Tutor: Alexia Gardner. God Bless the Child - Lady Day!. Enrol at: learning@jazz.coop.
Sat 16: Kaberry Big Band @ the Seahorse Pub, Hillheads Rd., Whitley Bay NE23 8HR. From 7:30pm. £15.00
Sat 16: Lady Nade @ Arc, Stockton. 8:00pm. ‘Lady Nade sings Nina Simone’.

Sun 17: Glenn Miller & Big Band Spectacular @ Forum Theatre, Billingham. 7:30pm.
Sun 17: QOW Trio @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £14.00., £12.00., £7.00. Spike Wells, Riley Stone-Lonergan & Eddie Myer.

Mon 18: Friends of Jazz @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 18: Mark Williams Trio @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £10.00.

Tue 19: GoGo Penguin + Daudi Matsiko @ Wylam Brewery, Newcastle. 7:00pm (doors). £22.00 + £4.40 bf.
Tue 19: Danny Lowndes’ Hot Club @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £15.00 + £5.00 bf.
Tue 19: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Michael Young (piano); Paul Grainger (double bass); Mark Robertson (drums).

Wed 20: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 20: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 20: Jordan Jackson @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £19.80 (inc. bf); £15.40 (inc. bf).
Wed 20: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 21: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ The Millstone, Mill Rise, South Gosforth, Newcastle. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 21: Jazz Classics with Rivkala @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. Rivkala (vocals); Alan Law (piano); Paul Grainger (double bass).
Thu 21: 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 22: Paul Skerritt @ Market Place, Durham. From 12 noon. Free. Skerritt w. backing tapes.
Fri 22: Paul Edis Trio @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. £9.00. Edis, Andy Champion, Steve Hanley.
Fri 22: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 22: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 22: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 22: Castillo Nuevo Trio @ Hotel Gotham, Newcastle. 5:30pm. Free.
Fri 22: Paul Edis Trio @ St Cuthbert’s Centre, Crook. 7:30pm. £TBC. Edis, Andy Champion, Steve Hanley.

Thursday, September 18, 2025

Press release: Beautiful Storm blows into Ambleside and London

© Douglas Robertson

Scottish saxophonist Phil Bancroft’s The Beautiful Storm trio plays concerts in the UK from Friday 19th September to Monday 29th September.

The dates mark the second instalment of the tour which launched the group’s debut album, Finding Hope (When All Seems Lost), in March and include an appearance at Zeffirellis in Ambleside on Sunday 28 and the Cockpit Theatre in London on Monday 29.

Featuring guitarist Graeme Stephen, of Edinburgh’s Playtime cooperative, and Delhi-based Indian percussionist Gyan Singh alongside Bancroft, The Beautiful Storm formed in 2022. They released Finding Hope (When All Seems Lost) on Bancroft’s Myriad Streams platform in late 2024.

“Our availability as a group is quite often determined by Gyan’s schedule,” says Bancroft. “He’s busy touring internationally with other groups including the Indo-Spanish ensemble Ativata and the Slovenian-Indian band Kurkuma. But he’s such an intuitive and creative player that what he brings to The Beautiful Storm compensates for any gaps in our concert schedule. Besides, Graeme and I have other musical commitments, so we’re quite happy to fit in what our diaries allow.”

For Bancroft, the tour the trio played in March, saw tangible developments in the group’s music.

“We already had a good understanding and a real team spirit and we were pleased with the way the album turned out,” he says. “But there’s nothing like travelling and playing together to strengthen and deepen the music. We’re really looking forward to playing live again and I can’t wait to play in Ambleside especially. I’ve heard so much about Zeffirellis and the annual Ambleside Days festival that happens there - it sounds like such a cool place to play.”

Tour dates: Catstrand, New Galloway, Friday 19th September; the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, Monday 22nd; Glad Cafe, Glasgow, Tuesday 23rd; Community Hall, Kilmuir, Isle of Skye, Thursday 25th; Sabhal Mor Ostaig, Sleat, Isle of Skye, Friday 26th; Zeffirellis, Ambleside, Sunday 28th; and the Cockpit Theatre, London, Monday 29th. 

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