Bebop Spoken There

David Bailey (photographer): ''When I was 16 I wanted to look like Chet Baker. He was my idol - him and James Dean.'' (Talking Pictures documentary : Four beats to the bar and no cheating April, 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

18445 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 18 years ago. 309 of them this year alone and, so far this month (April 20 ) 43,

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

April

Thu 23: FILM: Big Mama Thornton: I Can’t Be Anyone But Me @ Tyneside Cinema, Newcastle. 6:15pm. Dir. Robert Clem (2025).
Thu 23: Castillo Nuevo Orquesta @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. £6.50. 7:30pm (doors).
Thu 23: Eva Fox & the Sound Hounds @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Thu 23: Jeremy McMurray’s Pocket Jazz Orchestra & Musicians Unlimited @ ARC, Stockton. 8:00pm. £19.00. inc. bf.

Fri 24: Noel Dennis Trio @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. Dennis, Mark Willams, Andy Champion. SOLD OUT!
Fri 24: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 24: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 24: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 24: Trio Grand @ Land of Oak & Iron, Winlaton. 6:00-9:00pm. Free.
Fri 24: Ben Vince + The Exu @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm (doors). £14.33., £11.16, £8.00. A ‘jazz adjacent’ gig!
Fri 24: Daniel John Martin w. Swing Manouche @ The Ship Isis, Sunderland. 7:30pm. £13.20 (inc. bf).
Sat 25: Giles Strong Quartet @ Hindmarsh Hall, Alnmouth. 7:30pm. CANCELLED!
Sat 25: Daniel John Martin w. Swing Manouche @ The Old Cinema Launderette, Durham. 7:30pm (7:00pm doors). £13.20 (inc. bf).
Sat 25: ‘Portrait in Evans’: Noa Levy & Alan Barnes w. Paul Edis Trio @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm. £24.00. Sage Two. ‘Portrait in Evans’. Levy, Barnes, Edis, Andy Champion & Steve Hanley.

Sun 26: Musicians Unlimited: Big Band Blast @ West Hartlepool RFC. 1:00-3:00pm . Free.
Sun 26: Daniel John Martin w. Swing Manouche @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00pm. £10.00.
Sun 26: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 26: Ruth Lambert Trio @ Juke Shed, North Shields. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 26: Ni Maxine + Nauta @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm. £17.51., £14.33., £11.16.
Sun 26: Joe Steels @ The Pele, Corbridge. 7:00pm. Free (donations direct to the musicians). Joe Steels & Friends.
Sun 26: C.A.L.I.E @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £16.00., £14.00., £7.00.

Mon 27: Friends of Jazz @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 27: House of Blues @ the Globe, Newcastle. 7:00pm. £7.00., £5.00. advance. A student-led jazz session. ‘House of Blues’ is, perhaps, a misnomer.
Mon 27: Littlewood Trio @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £10.00 + bf, £7.00. + bf.

Tue 28: Long/Remon/Zilker @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. Tom Remon plays Irish folk!

Wed 29: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 29: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 29: Long/Remon/Zilker @ The Ship Isis, Sunderland. 7:00pm. £10.00. + £1.00. bf. Tom Remon plays Irish folk!
Wed 29: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 29: Hackney Colliery Band @ Alnwick Playhouse. 7:30pm. £25.00.

Friday, October 03, 2025

Scarborough Jazz Festival - Sunday evening (Sept. 28)

Joe Stilgoe & The Entertainers

Joe Stilgoe (piano, vocals); Lucy-Anne Daniels (vocals); Pete Horsfall (trumpet, vocals); Tom Jarvis (clarinet, tenor sax); Nick Costley-White (guitar); Tom Farmer (double bass, bass guitar, vocals); Luke McCarthy (drums)


Sunday evening, the closing session of the 2025 Scarborough Jazz Festival. First up, Joe Stilgoe took to the stage with one or two notable absentees from his 'Entertainers' - no Emma Smith, no Giacomo Smith and no Joe Webb. 


Pianist Joe Stilgoe presented a fast-moving revue celebrating the jazz club - your jazz club - and its multivarious characters. As we sketched the characters in the mind's eye, Stilgoe's Entertainers played and sang: Stilgoe, Horsfall and Daniels the principal voices, Farmer the enthusiastic backing vocalist. Stilgoe stomped, Jarvis exited the stage to reappear at the back of the hall blowing his liquorice stick. Entertainers? Yes, indeed!


Joe Stilgoe has a knack of connecting with his audience. Whatever the occasion, the foot-stomping, piano-playing entertainer is forever Puttin' on the Ritz.      

                

Simon Spillett Big Band plays Tubby Hayes


Simon Spillett (conductor, tenor sax); Nathan Bray, Mark Armstrong, Steve Fishwick, Tom Dennis, Tom Smith (trumpets); Mark Nightingale, Andy Flaxman, Ian Bateman, Mark Frost (trombones); Pete Long, Alex Garnett, Tom Smith, Robert Fowler, Alan Barnes (reeds); Rob Barron (piano); Alec Dankworth (double bass); Pete Cater (drums)


As the Simon Spillett Big Band assembled on stage for the closing concert at this year's Scarborough Jazz Festival, it was a procession of one A-lister after another taking a seat in an all-star orchestra. As the house lights went down, big band aficionados in the auditorium were in their element. One imagines Simon Spillett, an authority on Tubby Hayes, felt like a kid in a sweet shop. 


From Take Your Partners for the Blues to Bud Powell's Parisian Thoroughfare, the Simon Spillett Big Band laid down a marker: this is one of the great big bands. Alan Barnes, playing baritone sax, featured on Soft and Supple. AB was having a busy old time: festival compere, working musician on several sets, making time for all and sundry, then, to top it off, taking his place in the Simon Spillett Big Band. 


At every turn stellar soloists stepped up to the plate: Mark Armstrong and Steve Fishwick (trumpet), Mark Nightingale (trombone) and in the reeds, special mention of Tom Smith, holding his own in such exalted company. And then there was the rhythm section - Messrs Rob Barron, Alec Dankworth and Pete Cater - none better. And what of Simon Spillett? One suspects it's a dream come true for one of Britain's finest tenor saxophonists to conduct an all-star ensemble of this calibre. Perhaps next time our bandleader will pull rank and stand in the soloist's spotlight for one or two numbers. It had been a marvellous finale to the 2025 Scarborough Jazz Festival. Thanks to Simon Spillett, Mark Gordon (festival director) and all of the many festival volunteers.  Russell                                

at

No comments :

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments ( Atom )

Blog Archive