Bebop Spoken There

Ron Carter quoting Sonny Rollins: ''What we call jazz - that's keeping the world in equilibrium. I don't care what kind of music you like out here today. It all comes from jazz.'' (DownBeat August, 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

18799 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 18 years ago. 663 of them this year alone and, so far this month (Aug. 12) 32.

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

August

Sat 15: Tees Bay Swing Band @ Blacksmith’s Arms, Hartlepool. 1:30pm. Free. Open rehearsal.
Sat 15: Jake Leg Jug Band @ The White Room, Stanley. 7:45pm. £16.26.

Sun 16: Vintage Explosion @ Cliffe Park, Roker, Sunderland SR6 8DB. 5:00-10:30pm. £44.00 (inc. bf).

Mon 17: Friends of Jazz @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 18: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Joe Steels, Paul Grainger, Abbie Finn.

Wed 19: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 19: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 20: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ The Millstone, Mill Rise, South Gosforth, Newcastle. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 20: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £5.00.
Thu 20: Edson Angus Quartet @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Thu 20: 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 21: Andrzej Baranek Trio @ The Lit & Phil. 1:00pm. £8.00. Andrzej Baranek (piano); Josh Cavanagh-Brierley (double bass); Dave Walsh (drums). SOLD OUT!
Fri 21: David Gray Flextet @ Sunderland Minster. 7:30pm. Old Black Cat Jazz Club.
Fri 21: Errol Linton & His Band + Michael Littlefield & Scott Taylor @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. Excellent blues double bill.

Sunday, May 31, 2026

More J.G. Windows...

I spent a huge amount of Thursday evenings (and a huge amount of my salary) in the Jazz CD Department in the 80s/90s/2000s - which was then upstairs - receiving a lot of great information and advice from a chap called Rob/Robert. Looking back at my collection now, I have remarkably few 'duds', which was entirely down to him - he was always trying to push me into less 'safe' jazz areas and steer me away from 'honking' tenor players for whom he had no time. It was a perfectly symbiotic relationship - I always left with 3 or 4 CDs on Thursday evenings which boosted the shops numbers a bit, and I ended up with an excellently curated jazz CD collection.

I lost touch with Robert after I left Newcastle College which I regret and wondered if you had any information as to his whereabouts. Andrew Pidd

2 comments :

Lance said...

Hi Andy, although I knew Robert and shared much of his taste in jazz I didn't know much about him away from the shop. Hopefully someone else will pick up on this post.

Mark Toomey said...

Like yourself Andy, I was a regular visitor to Windows and always enjoyed chatting with Robert in the record/CD dept. He was a very knowlegable jazz fan who I could always rely on to suggest listening to different jazz players once he got to know your regular listening habits. Although he was obviously a salesman, he would never give you the hard sell approach and he would happily put tracks on in the shop, a sort of try before you buy. This was the pre-internet times. I know that he left Windows but it is unclear why, and like you, I lost contact with him. Someone out there must have some more information.

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