Bebop Spoken There

Gary Bartz: ''Music is nature's gift to man. It's the only religion. We're living in a terrible era, but what a beautiful thing music is. Look how it brings us together like religion is supposed to; and with no language barriers.'' (Jazzwise 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

18918 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 18 years ago. 782 of them this year alone and, so far this month (Sept. 18.) 61.

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.

Thu 24: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ The Millstone, Mill Rise, South Gosforth, Newcastle. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 24: Castillo Nuevo Orquesta @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. £6.50. 7:30pm (doors).
Thu 24: Arun Ghosh @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 8:00pm (7:30pm doors). £21.05. (£22.00. on the door). A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Thu 24: Shalala @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £7.00.

Fri 25: Mark Williams Trio @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. £9.00.
Fri 25: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 25: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 25: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 25: Get the Blessing + Dilettante @ The Cluny (Cluny 2), Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £18.00. + bf. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Fri 25: Jazz Sabbath @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm.

Sat 26: Adam Fairhall & Johnny Hunter: Play Mary Lou Williams @ The Cumberland Arms, Byker, Newcastle. 6:00pm. Free. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Sat 26: John Pope Quintet + Urvashi @ The Cumberland Arms, Byker, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £15.40. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.

Sun 27: Salty Dog @ The Cluny. 12:30pm (doors). Free (donations).
Sun 27: Musicians Unlimited @ West Hartlepool RFC. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 27: Zach Sewell-Lara Hopper Quintet @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm. £12.00., £10.00.
Sun 27: Sun 27: Ruth Lambert Trio @ The Juke Shed, North Shields. 3:00pm. Free. RESCHEDULED to Sunday 4 October.
Sun 27: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 27: Alex Hitchcock Quartet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £16.00., £14.00. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.

Mon 28: Friends of Jazz @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 29: Tenderly: The Life & Times of Nat ‘King’ Cole @ Hepscott Parish Hall. 7:30pm. . £15.00., £12.00. (Early Bird advance ticket), £10.00. Off-Broadway production feat. Duane Forrest.
Tue 29: Red Kites Jazz @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Wed 30: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 30: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 30: Tenderly: The Life & Times of Nat ‘King’ Cole @ The Hearth, Horsley. 7:30pm. £15.00., £12.00. (Early Bird advance ticket), £10.00. Off-Broadway production feat. Duane Forrest.
Wed 30: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 30: New Ways of Moving in the Counterworlds + Juliana Day & Manon McCoy + Helen Anahita Wilson @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm. A BBC Introducing-Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.

Thursday, September 24, 2026

Lewis Watson Quartet @ the Lit & Phil: A John Coltrane Centenary Concert - Sept. 23

Photo © John Lyons
Lewis Watson (tenor/soprano sax); Mark Williams (guitar); Andy Champion (bass); John Bradford (drums)

If you weren't at Blaydon Jazz Club on Monday or the Lit & Phil last night then you have my sympathy - you missed one/two of the great moments in the ongoing saga of jazz on Tyneside. This was a gig worthy of Newport (Rhode Island) on a summer's day.

The spirit of John Coltrane hovered all around and it was given substance by the Louis Watson Quartet's tribute to the appropriately initialled saxophonist who would have been one hundred years old yesterday had he still been with us in the flesh.

Coltrane was deeply into religion so it wasn't surprising that the concert opened with Spiritual and closed with Dear Lord. These weren't the kind of hymns that you mime at funerals but varied from tenderness to thunderous sheets of sound delivered by an amazing tenor player who makes all the others start woodshedding 24/7.

Of course behind every great horn player there's a rhythm section although to think of Williams, Champion and Bradford as just a rhythm section sells them short, each one a soloist par excellence in their own right. Together it's "come on world - bring it on"!

A switch to soprano for The Promise - a Latin affair that indicated Lewis' (or Trane's) music covered many cultures. Back to tenor for Syeeda's Song Flute before the set closed with Naima, a tune dedicated to his first wife. Incidentally those last two tunes were the only duplications from the Blaydon gig.  

The second set was an uninterrupted continuous performance beginning with Welcome - it had a suggestion of Happy Birthday about it. Amazingly, throughout the whole gig despite the multi-note flurys I can't recall Lewis, or indeed Mark or Andy resorting to that much used crutch 'the quote'.

Photos © John Lyons
Before reaching the promised land of Dear Lord we heard Resolution, Crescent and Liberia. I didn't always catch the transitions - they were that seamless - however, it didn't matter I just let the whole experience allow me to have a butcher's of what's to come 'up there'.

Mark, Andy and John - such a creative team and worthy of the praise Lewis bestowed upon them. They did him proud as he did them.

The great man left behind such a vast legacy that Lewis was able to present the two shows with very little repetition and still have material left over. 

A third gig sometime in the future?

Who knows? Lance
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