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Bebop Spoken There

Trevor Mires: ''My mum is a Dean Martin fan: I'm not, so I would grab my skateboard and get out of the house whenever I heard "Everybody Loves Somebody, Sometime." ". (Jazzwise, April 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

17972 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 293 of them this year alone and, so far, 49 this month (April 22).

From This Moment On ...

April 2025.

Wed 23: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 23: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 23: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. CANCELLED!

Thu 24: Mary Coughlan @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm. £33.80. Blues, jazz etc.
Thu 24: Darlington Big Band @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm.

Fri 25: Vasilis Xenopoulos & Paul Edis @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT! Duo performance.
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: Andrea Vicari Trio @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. £8.00. Vicari (piano); Andy Champion (double bass); Russ Morgan (drums).
Fri 25: Jason Isaacs @ STACK, Exchange Sq., Middlesbrough. 4:00-6:00pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Fri 25: Red Kites Jazz @ Land of Oak & Iron, Winlaton Mill. 6:00-9:00pm. Free.
Fri 25: Vasilis Xenopoulos & Paul Edis @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 7:30pm. £15.00. at the door; £14.35. (inc £0.35 bf) online, in advance.
Fri 25: Struggle Buggy @ The White Room, Stanley. 7:45pm. Rhythm & blues.
Fri 25: Paul Skerritt Big Band @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm. £20.30., £18.00. All-star big band.
Fri 25: Andrea Vicari Trio @ Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. Vicari (piano); Andy Champion (double bass); Russ Morgan (drums). An Opus 4 Jazz Club event.

Sat 26: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 26: Vasilis Xenopoulos & Paul Edis @ Elvet Methodist Church, Durham. 7:30pm. Tickets: £12.00. + bf. Duo performance.
Sat 26: Neil Cowley Trio @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm. £22.50.
Sat 26: Pete Tanton & the Cuban Heels @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 27: Musicians Unlimited @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 27: Andrea Vicari Trio @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00pm. Vicari (piano); Andy Champion (double bass); John Bradford (drums).
Sun 27: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 27: Vasilis Xenopoulos-Paul Edis Quartet @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm. Xenopoulos, Edis, Paul Susans, Russ Morgan.
Sun 27: Ruth Lambert Trio @ Juke Shed, North Shields. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 27: JustKing Jones @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. 7:00pm (doors). £17.50. JustKing Jones (alto sax, soprano sax); Jordan Williams (piano); Jason Clotter (bass); Malcolm Charles (drums). Ace NYC outfit!
Sun 27: Jazz Jam Sandwich! @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 27: Swing Manouche @ Warkworth Memorial Hall. 7:30pm. £15.00. Tickets from 01665 711388.
Sun 27: Vasilis Xenopoulos-Paul Edis Quartet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Xenopoulos, Edis, Ken Marley, Russ Morgan.

Mon 28: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 29: ???

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

The John Potts Story


Ted Fry of the notorious Figleaf Jazz Band passed your e mail on to me. So great to hear from you. You say from a website people are hunting me down – hope it’s not collection agencies after the 3 quid I borrowed from Joe Shenton in 1951. You are right about the College of the Venereal Bede connection – we were there at the same time – moi from 57-59. Do you remember GE Selby of the English department – he tolerated some of our more bizarre interests in eng lit. Keith Oglesby was my room buddy and he had the entire Frank Sinatra Capitol recordings at the time – big influence in later years.

I think 1957 was the year I started with the River City Jazz Band of Newcastle. In the early 1950s I had started with Tojo’s Jazzmen from Gosforth with me on mandolele (cross between mandolin and ukulele) and Tojo on bass trombone – we played Norrie Paramour arrangements – the reedman played an A clarinet while the rest of us were in Bb so we had some very advanced dissonance for the time! A little later I played banjo in Clem Avery’s Jazzmen with Peter Cole on piano – we were both at Heaton Grammar where there was quite a bit of jazz – and pitched fisticuffs between the trad jazz maniacs and the Stan Kenton aficionados.

Around 1952 Peter Cole and I formed a band with Johnny Handle on piano (he later moved on to folk and the High Level Ranters) with Colin Beale on clarinet and Chas Cole on drums, Pog Hall on banjo. We played some dances at All Saints Youth Club in Gosforth. Called up for 2 years in the RAF 54-56.  

Meanwhile Ray Shenton, Herbie Hudson and Harry Stevenson who had heard us at All Saints were involved in a mouth organ band called the Harmonica Hoodlums coached by Maxie Share who had a music store in the Grainger Market. After I got demobbed I was working as a porter at Newcastle Central Station when this bloke told me on a coffee break that the only other person he knew who wore orange crepe sole shoes was a geek called John Potts. By this time heavily bearded I confessed that it was indeed I. Ray said that they had recently formed a band called The River City and that their trumpet player had just been called up for national service and was I interested in playing for them – did Harold Wilson vote labour!! – of course I joined up right away and played with them until 1962. Great fun years with Ray Shenton on the oldest tuba in western Europe, Joe Shenton on washboard, Herbie Hudson trombone, Harry Stevenson on clarinet, Brian Sampson on drums, Colin Hopper on banjo and self on trumpet.

Ray Shenton tracked me down through the Figleaf Jazz Band website and we have corresponded a few times and exchanged photographs of the early River City.

I was married in 1960 with a sweetheart I met at the Downbeat Club in Newcastle. With two kids we headed off to teach in Cadiz Spain in 1962. Returned to Gateshead in 1963 for a year then off to Ankara Turkey to teach for 4 years before emigrating to Canada with 5 kids (a Canuck baby added in 1974). Didn’t play any jazz until about 1973 when my mom-in-law brought my trumpet from  Blighty. I had no case and carried it around in a paper bag. Fell in with the early Figleaf Jazz Band about this time – by coincidence the piano player is Geoff Mulholland from Walker, Tyneside (didn’t know him in the UK), Roger Kerslake trombone played with various bands in Devon before coming to Canada. Ted Fry drums and Dildo Dave banjo were mates in Toronto recently deported to the Great Frozen North for unsavory behaviour. Bass player Bruce Rumble was at the time an acne blighted teenager – now in appalling physical decline like the rest of us. 28 years later the band still has the same personnel although we have gone through several reed players two of whom passed on to celestial (or otherwise) endeavours some time ago.

Glad to hear that the Ashington Jazz Club is going strong. Perhaps you can send me some stories about jazz in the northeast. The 1970s and early 80s were the halcyon days for the Figleafs – bars, ski clubs, restaurants often 4 or 5 times a week. In recent years there has been little interest in trad jazz and we are regarded as pre-Jurassic dinosaurs. The band gets a few summer jobs in parks and plays the Simcoe County Jazz Society once a year. I play mostly now with a group called Moonglow which as a trio concentrates on swing style while as a duo (plus computer) play senior citizen residences – standards (Gershwin, Porter, Rodgers-Hart), Irish, Scottish, Newfoundland, novelty songs.

You were pretty accurate guessing my age – actually I’m 75 pushing 76. I would love to hear about your adventures since Bede College.I think you found the figleaf website which also has a link to Moonglow. If you listen to the musical examples you will hear that my excruciating tone has deteriorated over the years and my pathetic technique is even more pitiable.

http://rstrathdee.com/
moonglow/
John Potts (pottsi with a small pee.)
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Original post. from George Simpson.

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