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

18482 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 18 years ago. 346 of them this year alone and, so far this month (April 30 ) 80

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

Sun 03: Chilcott Jazz Mass @ St George’s Church, Jesmond, Newcastle. 9:30am. Free. Sung communion with Parish Choir (featuring Bob Chilcott’s music). A Jesmond Community Festival event.
Sun 03: Smokin’ Spitfires @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:45pm. £10.00.
Sun 03: Ian Bosworth Quintet @ Chapel, Middlesbrough. 1:00pm. Free. Feat. guest Mark Toomey (alto sax).
Sun 03: Sax Choir @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 03: Tom Waits for No Man @ Oxygenic, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm (2:30pm doors). Neckties and Boxing Gloves album launch. £14.00 (gig & a CD); £8.00 (gig only). SOLD OUT!
Sun 03: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 03: NUJO Jazz Jam @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm (doors). £3.76.
Sun 03: John Pope & John Garner @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £12.00., £10.00.

Mon 04: Friends of Jazz @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 04: Pete Tanton’s Cuban Heels @ The Library, South Parade, Whitley Bay. 4:00-6:00pm. Free.
Mon 04: Saltburn Big Band @ Saltburn House Hotel. 7:00-9:00pm. Free.

Tue 05: Leah Kirk (voice): Final Year Music Recital @ The Band Room, Music Studios, Assembly Lane, Newcastle University. 2:30pm. Free, open to the public.
Tue 05: Jenny Baker (voice): Final Year Music Recital @ The Band Room, Music Studios, Assembly Lane, Newcastle University. 4:20pm. Free, open to the public.
Tue 05: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Stu Collingwood (piano); Paul Grainger (double bass); Tim Johnston (drums).
Tue 05: Customs House Big Band @ The Masonic Hall, Ferryhill. 7:30pm. Free.

Wed 06: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 06: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 06: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 07: Robert Finley @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £17.50. Excellent US falsetto soul/blues voice.
Thu 07: ALT @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. Alan Law, Paul Grainger, Rob Walker. Thu 07: Liam & Shayo @ The Globe , Newcastle. 8:00pm. £5.00. Liam Oliver (guitar), Shayo Oshodi (vocals).
Thu 07: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm.

Fri 08: Alan Law Trio @ Bishop Auckland Methodist Church. 1:00pm. £9.00. Law, Mick Shoulder, John Bradford.
Fri 08: Giles Strong & Richard Herdman @ Jesmond Library, Newcastle. 1:00pm. £5.00. Guitar duo.
Fri 08: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 08: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 08: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 08: Milne Glendinning Band @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 6:00pm . Free. A Late Shows event.
Fri 08: Nigel Kennedy @ The Hippodrome, Darlington. 7:30pm. Line-up inc. Alec Dankworth.

Sat 09: SH#RP Collective w. Lindsay Hannon @ Church of Holy Name, Jesmond, Newcastle. 7:30pm (7:00pm doors). £15.00 (inc. a welcome drink). Advance booking essential. Bring own snacks, drinks to be purchased at ‘donations’ bar. All proceeds to charity. A Jesmond Community Festival event.
Sat 09: East Coast Swing Band @ Jubilee Hall, Rothbury. 7:30pm. £10.00.

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                                

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