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Bebop Spoken There

George Porter Jr.: ''To me, syncopation is like jazz. It wasn't meant for the masses. It was meant just for a hip few". (DownBeat, May 2025).

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

18018 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 339 of them this year alone and, so far, 17 this month (May 7).

From This Moment On ...

MAY 2025

Tue 13: ???

Wed 14: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 14: Recital (stage 2): Leah Kirk (voice) @ The Band Room, Music Studios, Assembly Lane, Newcastle University. 3:00pm. Free.
Wed 14: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 14: Tannery jam session @ The Tannery, Hexham. 7:00pm.
Wed 14: Jerron Paxton @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £24.20. Excellent country blues multi-instrumentalist.
Wed 14: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. BACK IN BUSINESS, all welcome!

Thu 15: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. Subject: The Greatest in Jazz - Guitarists.
Thu 15: Pete Tanton & the Cuban Heels @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 15: New Ways of Moving in the Counterworlds @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 8:00pm (7:00pm doors). John Garner & John Pope.

Fri 16: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 16: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 16: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 16: Sophie Speed with the Dean Stockdale Trio @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 16: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 1:00-2:45pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Fri 16: Jason Isaacs @ STACK, Exchange Sq., Middlesbrough. 4:00-6:00pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Fri 16: Giles Strong Quartet @ Longframlington Memorial Hall. 7:00pm (doors). Tickets: £12.00. from 01665 570984.
Fri 16: Hot Club du Nord @ St Cuthbert’s Centre, Crook. 7:30pm. £10.00.
Fri 16: Peter Donegan & Anthony Donegan @ The Witham, Barnard Castle. 7:30pm. ‘Lonnie Donegan - The Stories’.

Sat 17: Teresa Watson Band @ Billy Bootleggers, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. Blues.
Sat 17: The Society Quartet @ Hilton Garden Inn, Sunderland. 6:00pm. Tel: 0191 500 9494. £26.00 (inc. two course meal). Line-up: Jason Holcomb, Hannah Taylor, Alix Shepherd & Abbie Finn.
Sat 17: Milne Glendinning Band @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 17: Archie Brown & the Young Bucks @ Billy Bootleggers, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. Rhythm & blues, Americana etc.
Sat 17: Rockin’ Turner Brothers @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Rockabilly, Western swing etc.

Sun 18: Jason Isaacs @ STACK, Seaburn. 12 noon-2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sun 18: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 18: Ruth Lambert & Giles Strong @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 18: Steve Summers Quintet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 19: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 19: Lewis Watson Quartet @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £10.00.

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

Tuesday, May 13, 2025

Press release: manchesterjazzfestival update

Manchester’s longest-running music festival is back this Summer for 10 days of jam-packed festival fun and musical vibes across the city starting this Friday, May16, to Sunday, May 25)!

EVENTS

Press release: Big Sounds and Big Names for Buxton International Festival’s Jazz Programme

Buxton International Festival (10-27 July) announces big sounds and big names for 2025, with more than 160 events including a dedicated jazz programme, world-class operas, classical music concerts and book events.

Public Booking is open. The popular opening ‘Jazz Weekender’ ticket (10-13 July) features 12 gigs for just £175 or tickets can be bought separately. Tel: 01298 72190/buxtonfestival.co.uk 

Festival Website/Programme is here.

Gregory Porter + Jo Harrop @ o2 Newcastle City Hall - May 12

© Russell
Gregory Porter (vocals); Tivon Pennicott (tenor sax); Chris Storr (trumpet); Trevor Mires (trombone); Chip Crawford (piano, Fender Rhodes); Ondřej Pivec (Hammond B3); Jamal Nichols (double bass, bass guitar); Emanuel Harrold (drums); ? (backing vocals); ? (backing vocals)

Four nights at the Royal Albert Hall served as warm up gigs for Gregory Porter's sold out appearance at Newcastle City Hall. As the lights dimmed excitement levels were off the scale. Members of Porter's band strolled out onto the stage, then the man himself. The hall erupted. For the best part of two hours the American superstar would hold court. 

Opening with Holding On, Porter was in fine voice, his band one of the best in the business. Dressed in a sharp, double-breasted suit, Porter told us about his afternoon stroll around toon (town) admiring the architecture and the Tyne's many bridges - one every ten paces, said the man. Porter spoke fondly of Hoochie Coochie, the crowd roared, someone local had tipped him off that the venue had changed its name! Brownie points in the bag.

Monday, May 12, 2025

Album review: Ellie Martin - Morning Glories (self-produced)

Ellie Martin (voice, vocal backgrounds); Peter Eldridge (piano, vocal backgrounds); Kurt Krahnke (bass); Olman Piedra (drums, percussion); Andrew Bishop (tenor/soprano saxophones) (1,4,5,11,12); Ben Wolkins (trumpet) (5); Kevin Ganz (guitar); Rob Avsharian (drums) (10,13).

It is a certainty that vocalist, composer, educator Ellie Martin knew that titling her recent release, Morning Glories would offer more profound and resonant meanings beyond the horticultural. Martin’s poetic lyric content and musically robust originals here – a hefty thirteen of them all performed splendidly – give it away.

Love and Light spins things off in a brisk bossa nova take wherein Martin confidently delivers her poignant, optimistic lyrics. A long, lyrical tenor sax solo from Andrew Bishop follows. Vocal overdubs and Martin’s scatting take things out. It is a superb opener.

4B @ Whitley Bay's Ticket Office - May 11

Bernie Ranson (tenor sax); Barbara Wilcox (keyboards, vocals); Jude Murphy (double bass, vocals); Alan Wann (drums)

A perfect late spring (early summer?) afternoon down at the coast. The Ticket Office was doing a roaring trade, inside and out. A dog-friendly establishment, man and man's best friend basked in the glorious sunshine. The former ticket office, now a popular micro pub, stands on the concourse at Whitley Bay Metro Station. At three o'clock on Sundays, Bernie Ranson's 4B entertains drinkers and those waiting for a metro. 

Sunday night @ the Globe: Sekoya - May 11

Luke Cunningham (keys); Simon Toner (double bass); Gavin Lamont (drums).

In the absence of BSH's regular reviewing team and as Sekoya's music is so lyrical, dynamic and exciting, I felt it would be unfair to both the band and the small audience who made the effort to allow this enjoyable gig to pass unnoticed.  

The pieces, all composed by the band members, were drawn from their debut album Shuna  (CD and vinyl) which they recorded in Memphis.

Luke referred to "playing the beautiful music we have prepared for you" at the beginning of the gig - a promise that was certainly fulfilled. 

Sunday, May 11, 2025

Album review: Sandra-Mae Lux - Seasons in Jazz (Sandra-Mae Music/ECN)

Sandra-Mae Lux (vocals, tenor sax) + Rob Barron (piano); Tristan Paxton (guitar); Calum Gourley (bass); Sebastiaan de Krom (drum)
- tks 1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11.
Christian Vaughan (piano); Dave Jones (bass); Tristan Maillot (drums) - tks 2, 3, 4, 9, 12, 13. 

Canadian born, London resident since 2017, Sandra-Mae Lux is a new name to me but, as the saying goes, better late than never! Well that never is now - or it will be on May 30 with the release of this beautiful album of ballads by Lux and her lyricist partner Alan Marriott. 

Young Man With a Horn - Remembering the book and the film

Coming across a DVD of the 1949 movie starring Kirk Douglas, Lauren Bacall and Doris Day, Young Man With a Horn (the title was changed for UK audiences to Young Man of Music), gave me cause to reflect on both the film and Dorothy Baker's 1938 novel of the same name on which the film was based.

In her forward to the book Baker states: "The inspiration for the writing of this book has been the music, but not the life, of a great musician, Leon (Bix) Beiderbecke, who died in the year 1931. The characters and events of the story are entirely fictitious and do not refer to real musicians, living or dead, or to actual happenings". So this made it clear this was jazz related novel not a biopic of Bix.

Paul Edis & Friends @ Musicwonders, Chester-le-Street - May 10

Paul Edis (piano, flute); Graham Hardy (trumpet, piano); Susan Sinclair (vocals); Adam Sinclair (snare drum)

Musicwonders is a new resource centre located just off Front Street in Chester-le-Street. Formerly home to Citizens Advice Bureau, the modest, discreet building is many things to many people. To quote from the venture's publicity material: Musicwonders is a not-for-profit community organisation offering inclusive music, arts and wellbeing sessions for people of all ages and abilities.

This evening's inaugural concert featuring four of the region's finest musicians attracted a select, capacity audience. Musicwonders' Adam Sinclair and Susan Sinclair invited two friends to join them to help raise funds for the project, Messrs Paul Edis and Graham Hardy. 

Saturday, May 10, 2025

Jazz Time Aycliffe Radio - Sundays 6.30-8.00pm (repeated Tuesdays 8.00-9.30pm).

https://www.ayclifferadio.co.uk/listen

Playlist 11/05/25 (repeated Tuesday 13/05/25)

 

VE Day: Glenn Miller & His Orchestra, the Andrews Sisters, Ella Fitzgerald and the Ink Spots.

Requests from the Hot Fingers gig at Darlington New Orleans Jazz Club: Hot Fingers, Clarence Williams, Fletcher Henderson, Sauter - Finegan Orchestra, Jack Teagarden, Ottilie Patterson, Oscar Peterson, Ella Fitzgerald.

Other Requests: Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, the Savoy Havana Band, Duke Pearson Big Band.

New Release: Louis Stewart.

Memories: King Oliver & His Orchestra, Mary Lou Williams.

What’s happening in the NE: Jo Harrop, Emma Fisk's Hot Club du Nord.

Scarborough Festival: Fergus McCreadie Trio.

 Aycliffe Radio is now available on DAB in County Durham & the Darlington Area.

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