Bebop Spoken There

John McLaughlin: ''It was then that Coltrane came along and single-handedly brought this dimension of spirituality into jazz. It was a pivotal experience to me.'' (DownBeat September, 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

18957 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 18 years ago. 821 of them this year alone and, so far this month (Sept. 30.) 100.

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

September.

Fri 02: Alison Gill + Markrokosmos @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music (NFOJAIM).SOLD OUT!
Fri 02: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 02: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 02: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 02: Gilby & Hunter + Andy Champion @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 6:00pm. NFOJAIM. SOLD OUT!
Fri 02: Abbie Finn Quartet @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm. The Abbie Finn Trio augmented by Dean Stockdale (piano).
Fri 02: Alexia Gardner Trio @ Warkworth Memorial Hall. 7:30pm. £15.00.
Fri 02: Zoe Rahman Trio @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 8:00pm. NFOJAIM. SOLD OUT!

Sat 03: New Orleans Ragtime Band @ St Augustine’s Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm. £10.00. Darlington New Orleans Jazz Club. Gavin Lee & co.
Sat 03: Anemone Quartet + Jeepe Zeeburg @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. NFOJAIM.
Sat 03: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. £27.50. Tutor: Steve Glendinning. Caravan. Enrol at: learning@jazz.coop.
Sat 03: Struggle Buggy @ The Peacock, Sunderland. 6:00pm. Free. Excellent blues band.
Sat 03: Bright Street Big Band @ Washington Arts Centre. 6:30pm. £12.50 (inc. bf). Two sets: 7:30-8:15pm & 8:45-9:30pm. ‘Swing Band Dance Night’.
Sat 03: Olie Brice Quartet + Alexander Hawkins + Harper Trio @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 7:00pm. NFOJAIM.
Sat 03: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00.

Sun 04: Tees Bay Swing Band @ Heugh Battery, Hartlepool. 11:00am-12 noon & 1:00-2:00pm.
Sun 04: Smokin’ Spitfires @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:45pm. £10.00.
Sun 04: Ian Bosworth Quintet @ Chapel, Middlesbrough. 1:00pm. Free. Quintet w. special guest Bill Watson (trumpet).
Sun 04: Sax Choir w. Rachel Musson @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 04: Rivkala + Ceitidh Mac + Thatcher & Knowles @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:30pm. A NFOJAIM event.
Sun 04: Ruth Lambert Trio @ The Juke Shed, North Shields. 3:00pm. Free. RESCHEDULED from September 27.
Sun 04: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 04: NUJO Jazz Jam @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm. £3.00.

Mon 05: Saltburn Big Band @ Saltburn House Hotel. 7:00-9:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).

Tue 06: Alan Law @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 2:00pm. Free. Alan Law (piano) w. Paul Grainger (double bass).
Tue 06: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Murray Oak, Paul Grainger, John Bradford.
Tue 06: Customs House Big Band @ The Masonic Hall, Ferryhill. 7:30pm. Free.
Tue 06: Black is the Color of My Voice @ Northern Stage, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Apphia Campbell’s one-woman stage play inspired by Nina Simone. First night of two.

Wed 07: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free. Wed 07: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 07: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 07: Black is the Color of My Voice @ Northern Stage, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Apphia Campbell’s one-woman stage play inspired by Nina Simone. Second night of two.

Thu 08: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ The Millstone, Mill Rise, South Gosforth, Newcastle. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 08: Amphitrio @ The Forum, Darlington. 7:30pm. £8.00. Andrei Petrache (piano); Mike Alex (double bass); Philip Goron (drums).
Thu 08: Pete Tanton’s Chet Set @ Newcastle Arts Centre. 7:30pm. Free (donations).
Thu 08: Indigo Jazz Voices w. Little Big Band @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:45pm. £5.00.

Monday, June 29, 2026

An Evening of Jazz @ St James' Church, Morpeth - June 28

Emily Masser (vocals); Edgar Ho (piano); Oscar Ho (double bass); Dave McKeague (drums) + Robin Forbes (MD); Ollie  Hall & Will Straughan (vocal duet); Kirsty McDowell (cello); Mid Northumberland Chorus

A summer's evening in Morpeth. A coffee, then a stroll over to St James' Church. The occasion? An Evening of Jazz. The Mid Northumberland Chorus and guests would perform to a full house, all pews occupied long before the scheduled start. At half past seven the chorus filed onto the stage. 

Bob Chilcott's A Little Jazz Mass opened the concert programme. The Chorus, Piano and Jazz Band. The 'Piano and Jazz Band' just happened to comprise Edgar Ho (piano), Oscar Ho (double bass) and Dave McKeague ('David' in the programme, it was a Sunday, after all)! The trio, plus guest, would form the centrepiece of both the first and second halves of the evening's concert programme.

'Jazz Trio featuring Emily Masser'...Del Sasser, then Everything Happens to Me, a superb Star Dust, concluding with The Boy Next Door. The Ho twins, heard most recently at Newcastle Arts Centre's Black Swan, really can play! Meeting Dave McKeague for the first time, the trio played as if a long-established unit. And then there was, of course, Emily Masser. Fresh (not!) from a long drive (Cornwall to Morpeth!), Emily sang her heart out. Fabulous.

An interval of twenty minutes or so, time to say 'hello' to Emily and Oscar, then they, the Mid Northumberland Chorus and jazz trio, were back at it. First, George Shearing's Songs and Sonnets, the trio sight reading their parts.

The evening's high point would feature four numbers: How High the Moon (Emily soaring through the register), A Foggy Day (Emily  knew this one inside out), Ruby, My Dear (our vocalist not so familiar with Monk's tune, singing it for the first time in public - bravo!), then the killer diller. Ray Noble's Cherokee, taken at a ridiculous tempo, was nothing short of WOW! WOW! WOW! Four fabulous musicians going for it. Sensational! It had been a canny night out in Morpeth.           
The concert programme: Chorus, Piano & Jazz Band: Bob Chilcott's A Little Jazz Mass; Jazz Trio feat. Emily Masser: Del Sasser, Everything Happens to Me, Star Dust, The Boy Next Door; Ollie Hall & Will Straughan: Well,  Did You Evah! (from High Society); Chorus & piano, Kirsty McDowell (solo cello): O Love; Chorus & piano, Ollie Hall & Will Straughan: Sit Down, You're Rockin' the Boat.

I
Interval.

The concert programme continued: Chorus & Jazz Band: George Shearing's Songs & Sonnets (words William Shakespeare); Jazz Trio feat. Emily Masser: How High the Moon, A Foggy Day, Ruby, My Dear, Cherokee; Chorus & piano: Hushabye Mountain (from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang); Chorus & piano: Ain't Gonna let Nobody Turn Me Around (trad., arr. Rollo Dilworth). Russell 
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