Bebop Spoken There

Ethan Hawke (starring as Lorenz Hart in Blue Moon): ''Larry [Lorenz] Hart would be so happy that his music and his words and his poetry are still alive.'' - The Northern Echo 27 November 2025

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

18000 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 964 of them this year alone and, so far, 73 this month (Nov. 24).

From This Moment On ...

DECEMBER 2025

Sat 06: Sarah Spencer’s Transatlantic Band @ St Augustine’s Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm. £10.00.
Sat 06: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. £27.50. Tutor: Steve Glendinning. Minor Swing. Enrol at: learning@jazz.coop.
Sat 06: Jeff Hewer Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 06: NUJO Jazz Jam @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm (doors). £3.76 (inc. bf).
Sat 06: Kaberry Big Band @ The Seahorse, Whitley Bay. 7:30pm (7:00pm doors). £15.00. (inc. hot buffet). ‘Christmas 1945’. Kaberry Big Band, formerly Vermont Big Band.
Sat 06: Smokin’ Spitfires @ Platform 1, Bedlington. 7:30pm. £6.00. Rhythm & blues.
Sat 06: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00. Xmas Party with buffet.
Sat 06: The Jive Aces @ The Witham, Barnard Castle. 8:00pm. £22.00., £20.00.
Sat 06: Brass Fiesta @ Revoluçion de Cuba, Newcastle. 10:30pm. Free.

Sun 07: Ian Bosworth Quintet @ Chapel, Middlesbrough. 1:00pm. Free. Feat. special guest Donna Hewitt (sax, clarinet).
Sun 07: Finn-Keeble Group @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00pm. £10.00.
Sun 07: Sax Choir @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 07: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Skerritt w. backing tapes.
Sun 07: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 2:30pm. Free. Trio + Ruth Lambert.
Sun 07: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 07: Jason Isaacs Big Band @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 5:15pm (4:00pm doors). £21.50 (inc. bf).
Sun 07: Paul Skerritt @ 3 Stories, High St. West, Sunderland. 6:30pm. Skerritt w. backing tapes.
Sun 07: Lindsay Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Support set from Play More Jazz! course participants. Note earlier start.

Mon 08: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 09: Jazz Jam Sandwich @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm

Wed 10: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 10: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 10: Jam Session @ The Tannery, Hexham. 7:00pm. Free.
Wed 10: Mike Lindup Jazz Trio @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £26.50 (inc. bf). Lindup, Yolanda Charles (bass), John Sam (drums).
Wed 10: Bold Big Band @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £12.00.

Thu 11: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: West Coast (cool ) / Wordsearch (cool) Cool Jazz or ‘Cold’, ‘Cool’, ‘Hot’, ‘Warm’ in the title or lyrics.
Thu 11: George Robinson @ Prohibition Bar, Albert Road, Middlesbrough TS1 2RU. 7:00pm (doors). £5.42 (inc. bf). Vienna’s Voice charity evening featuring ’15 year old singing sensation the ‘Redcar Crooner’ George Robinson’. Over 35s only.
Thu 11: Paul Skerritt @ Chakh Dhoom, Jesmond, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Indian restaurant. Skerritt w. back tapes.
Thu 11: Ransom Van @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm.
Thu 11: Down for the Count Swing Orchestra @ Middlesbrough Town Hall. 7:30pm. £37.70 (inc. bf). ‘Swing into Xmas’.

Fri 12: Pete Tanton’s Chet Set @ Bishop Auckland Methodist Church. 1:00pm. £8.00.
Fri 12: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 12: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 12: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 12: Milne Glendinning Band @ Northumberland Club, Jesmond, Newcastle. 7:00pm. £15.00. ‘Xmas Soiree’.
Fri 12: A Jazzy Xmas @ St Cuthbert’s Centre, Crook. 7:30pm. £15.00. Paul Edis (MD, piano); Jo Harrop (vocals); Vasilis Xenopoulos (tenor sax, soprano sax); Matthew Forster (alto sax, clarinet); Sue Ferris (flute, piccolo); Graham Hardy (trumpet, flugelhorn); Jason Holcomb (trombone);Emma Fisk (violin); Andy Champion (double bass); Matt MacKellar (drums). SOLD OUT!
Fri 12: Tony Hadley: Xmas Big Band Tour 2025 @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 7:30pm.
Fri 12: Alexia Gardner @ The New Ship Inn, Newbiggin-by-the-Sea. 8:00pm. Gardner, Alan Law, Jude Murphy, Abbie Finn.
Fri 12: Jive Aces: Swingin’ Xmas Show @ The Witham, Barnard Castle. 8:00pm.

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, October 04, 2025

Lady Nade Sings Nina Simone @ Gosforth Civic Theatre - October 3

Lady Nade (vocals); Ruth Hammond (piano), Holly Carter (guitar); Chris Jones (bass); Matt Stockham-Brown (drums); Shirley Stockham (tenor sax)

At a loose end one evening a digital flick through what was on in Newcastle led me down to the Globe to see Lady Nade and I’ve been following her career ever since. She occasionally sends me e-mails with concert dates, recipes for food and cocktails (most notably a daiquiri - also available on her tea towels) as well as links to her videos. Despite the fact that she usually seems to operate in the fields of folk and Americana there is a logic to a singer with her voice stepping up to the mic with a ‘Sings Nina Simone’ show.

A friend of mine once saw Nina Simone and she spent half the time swearing about the piano and the sound which left the audience terrified. That’s the bit of Nina Simone that Lady Nade left on the bus. Instead she is warm and welcoming, despite the seven hour schlep up from 'Bristle' and backed by a strong band blessed with excellent sound from the man on the desk.

Simone’s repertoire was well represented with love songs, political songs (and comments) humour and wistful philosophy with too many highlights. The Lady’s voice is Simone-esque but she has a higher edge and it often sounded a bit thinner, more ethereal than her idol’s. Where Nina’s voice goes low, hers sometimes goes higher, using that edge well. She doesn’t have the widest of ranges (but then again, neither did Nina) but she sings with plenty of energy and emotion that carries the songs wherever they go, and the voice delivers the soul, the blues and the gutbucket gospel, the passion and the dramatic despair that we came for. She physically puts herself into the songs and brings out the drama and the characters in there.

There is humour a plenty with references to her Bristle accent, (which only very rarely comes through in her singing) and she says she’ll get the audience to buy her merchandise at the interval by putting a spell on us – cue for a song.

Lots of highlights where the familiarity of the songs were like a comfort blanket but the joyous delivery raised them a little bit higher. I Got Life was a wailing celebration for voice and sax; Mr Bojangles was gentle and wistful; Feeling Good showed voice and band working tightly together really well with the sax picking up the end of a vocal line and spinning away on a trip of Stockham’s own. As she had done with I Wish I Knew… and My Baby Just Cares For Me Hammond rolls some lovely rhythm and blues piano through the tunes. Break Down … and Lilac Wine get full dramatic readings, almost bordering on histrionic, and the tension building, adrenaline rush of Sinnerman has the Lady dancing in the aisles as it builds with no release until the band drop out for a rhythm battle with heavy grooves and charging drums before they all come back in and the sax lifts it up another notch.

The single encore song, Rainbow, is a Lady Nade original, a gentle lilting ballad, in which she sings of internal character contradictions and the need to give ourselves compassion. Even dressed completely in black, she’s a rainbow.

I was expecting a good time but, having battle my way through Storm Amy to get here, it was a lot better than that. The familiarity of the songs (many of which were long time favourites in this house) and the warmth and charisma of Lady Nade as well as the excellence of her band made for a great night out. No trees down on the way home. Easy for me; the Lady and the Band were heading to Edinburgh. Dave Sayer

Housekeeping

Lady Nade’s further tour dates for ‘Sings Nina Simone’ are on her website at ladynade.co.uk along with all the usual stuff (including tea towels).

Guitarist Holly Carter is back in Newcastle, at The Cumberland Arms, on October 31, though her own music is more Americana/folk than she’s been playing on the ‘Sings Nina’ tour. Her new album, Leave Your Mark, is pretty good.

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