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

18429 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 18 years ago. 293 of them this year alone and, so far this month (April 13 ) 27,

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

Sun 19: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 2:30pm. Trio + Lara Hopper.
Sun 19: Pete Tanton’s Chet Set @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm. £12.00., £10.00.
Sun 19: Straight to Tape @ The Tyne Bar, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. Edd Carr, Jonathan Proud, John Hirst. Blues trio. CANCELLED!
Sun 19: Tweed River Jazz Band @ Barrels Ale House, Berwick. 7:00pm. Free.
Sun 19: Graham Hardy’s Eclectic Quartet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £12.00., £10.00., £7.00.

Mon 20: Friends of Jazz @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 20: Dean Stockdale Trio @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £10.00. Stockdale, Mick Shoulder, Abbie Finn.

Tue 21: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ The Victoria & Albert Inn, Seaton Delaval NE25 0AT. Tel: 0191 237 3697. Tickets: £14.00. ‘Pie & Pea Lunch’.
Tue 21: Neil Cowley Trio @ The Fire Station, Sunderland. 7:30pm. £29.00., £26.00., £23.00.
Tue 21: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Joe Steels (guitar); Paul Grainger (double bass); Jack Littlewood (drums).

Wed 22: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 22: Nubiyan Twist @ Digital, Newcastle. 7:00pm. £28.75 (inc. bf).
Wed 22: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 22: Daniel John Martin w. Swing Manouche @ Bishop Auckland Methodist Church. 7:30pm. Date, time & admission TBC.
Wed 22: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

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.
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).
Fri 24: TBC @ The Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm.

Sat 25: Giles Strong Quartet @ Hindmarsh Hall, Alnmouth. 7:30pm.
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.

Saturday, December 13, 2025

A Jazzy Xmas @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. Dec. 13 (afternoon).

© Sylvia
Paul Edis (MD, piano); Jo Harrop (vocals); Vasilis Xenopoulos (tenor sax, soprano sax); Faye Thompson (alto sax, clarinet); Sue Ferris (flutes, piccolo); Graham Hardy (trumpet, flugelhorn); Jason Holcomb (trombone);Emma Fisk (violin); Andy Champion (double bass); Matt MacKellar (drums)

Following on from a review of the same band playing the same tunes, even at a different venue, is a two-edged sword. Do you agree or contradict? It's difficult but someone has to do it and when it's a show of this quality then who's contradicting?

Unlike Crook, the Glasshouse didn't have a raffle and nor were there  any Cadbury's Roses going free. However, the music more than made up for it - this was Quality Street.

Winter Wonderland: Dressed in a white gown Jo looked every bit the Angel of the North that MD Edis described her as - move over Anthony Gormley. The voice too was angelic but not without the suggestion of  a devil lurking inside. Soloists abounded during the course of the afternoon Graham Hardy's being the first.

© Sylvia
The Christmas Waltz: an early Sinatra hit that had never really clicked with me unlike Jo's vocal and the blistering tenor solo from Vasi.

Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree did what it said on the tin and I'm sure there were some in the two tiers and a bit crowded room who were eager to shake it like they did last summer.

Joni Mitchell's The River is about as morbid a song as you can get in the 'season of good will' and yet Jo lightened it, her voice lessening the pain. Jo's original Winter Love Affair, music by Edis, was another slice of seasonal
sadness that touched the heart.

© Lance
The set closed with This Xmas and the consensus of opinion was very much on the positive, activated by the rhythm section and all the soloists: Jason, Faye, Sue and Emma all having there say along with those already mentioned - the negative had been well and truly eliminated (apart from the jokes!).

© Sylvia
Back on our heads, the second set opened with piano, bass and drums doing things to Santa Claus is Coming to Town before the band returned for Driving Home For Christmas which, despite a sizzler from Vasi, isn't as effective without the emotive lyric.

Santa Basie had Jo playing around with the Eartha Kitt classic and Basie's Splanky. The powerhouse closing riff with voice and band was, to put it mildly, sensational!

What Are You Doing New Year's Eve? is my favourite non-Xmas Xmas song and Jo and the gang did nothing to change that. 

Like Jerry, I'd never heard of Feliz Navidad either but the audience knew it and they sang merrily along.

Not a dry eye in the house when Jo and Paul gave us Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas -  pure magic. 

More merriment on God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen. The band, during the previous duo number had sneaked off to reappear at strategic points on the periphery of the auditorium in glorious stereophonic sound.

This was the end except it wasn't and the band, after the traditional on and off and back on again finale, bid farewell with, unsurprisingly, White Christmas.

This had been the ninth year - I can't wait for next year. Lance

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1 comment :

JERRY said...

"Quality Street" - nice one, Lance! I, too, love the ending to Santa Baby - probably one of the loudest moments of the show. The crescendo of sound on their "walkabout" version of God Rest Ye.......is pretty impressive as well. For once, I didn't try to crane my neck and see who was playing behind me but focussed on the rhythm section instead as they built up a kind of wall of sound: Paul attacking the piano like Monk in demolition mode; Andy doing growly bowed bass and Matt "giving it some brush" on the high hats and cymbals. I don't think there was a tune involved just a rush of sound adding to the already surreal effect. Amazing!

Sunday, December 14, 2025 9:22:00 am

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