Heritage Hall Stompers @ Central Park (Gosforth).

Gavin Lee (clt), ? (tpt), Terry Harvey? (bjo), ? (dms). Never having resided in Gosforth directions had to be asked. Now, ask anyone how to get to Central Park and they are going to say, "Take the Subway to Columbus Circle or 59th Street." This didn't actually happen to me when I posed the question to a Gosforth resident but it would have done had the positions been reversed.

As it happened, the question became academic as I could hear, in the distance, a trumpet calling the chillun' home to the strains of "Alexander's Ragtime Band."

As a four piece, the Heritage Hall were a few stompers short of les tout ensemble I was expecting but, nevertheless, the musicians played an entertaining, foottapping program with such old standbyes as "Basin Street Blues", "Big Butter and Egg Man", "Darktown Strutters Ball" and "Sentimental Journey" to name but a few.

Gavin Lee sounded not unlike Irving Fazola and, with his braces stretched somewhat across his midriff, even bore a resemblance to the old New Orleans master.

The trumpet player had some tasty moments whilst banjo and drums handled the responsibilities of a bassless rhythm section admirably.

Eating icecream and listening to jazz on a hot summer's day has much to recommend it.

Lance.

Photos.

Good Rockin' Tonight - Mo Scott Band @ The Magnesia Bank, North Shields.

Mo Scott (vcl), Rod Sinclair (gtr), Frankie Gibbon (bs), Rob Walker (dms).

Could one ask for a better night? Front row table in the company of those Fabulous Gilby Girls (Hil & Zoe), a packed house and the Mo Scott band almost rocking the 'Maggy Bank' right into the River Tyne below.

Mo was in magnificent voice hollering all the good old good ones from "Hound Dog" (nothing like Elvis I'm pleased to say) via Chuck Berry's "Teenage Wedding", Louis Jordan's "Let The Good Times Roll" "Is You Is or Is You Ain't My Baby?", "Fever" and a host of other 12 bars that straddled the narrow border between blues and rock 'n' roll.

On guitar, Rod was an electric storm that lit up the night. In particular, his slide/bottleneck thrashes had the adrenalin circulating dangerously fast whilst on the slows his night owling screamed tales of heartache and sorrow in Bb or thereabouts.

Frankie Gibbon had never played with the band before tonight but it didn't show. When Mo stepped down to re-charge, the stringmen changed gear for a Cream-like trio blast.

Behind it all, the inscrutable Rob Walker laid it down solid and decisive. This was as good as it gets in the blues world.

Lance.

Photos.

Afterthoughts: Russell should have been here tonight - seven real ales to choose from.

Zoe's engagement ring - very classy.

Zoe's next engagement - Harrogate Jazz Club on Tuesday.

Discs to Die For from Peter Hopkins.

I am a member of both Gateshead and Bishop Auckland jazz societies BA society meet in the Ship Inn Middlestone Village nr B.A. on alternate Wednesdays 8pm.Real Ale and good food if wanted. Friendly group meet for theme nights, record recitals news and gossip Contact Ron Applegarth 01325 464334. My 5 discs to die for? I' m willing to bet my first two will not be on anyone's list but I think James Morrson is a genius.. Check out his videos on you tube 1 James Morrison/Ray Brown - Two the Max. 2 The Hot Horn happening (Mark Nightingale, Brian Kellock Ricky Woodard, Jeff Clayton)- Live in Paris. 3 Humphrey Lyttelton - Triple Exposure. 4 Stan Tracey - Genesis. (Click here for Double Dave's review of recent live version.) 5 Erroll Garner - Concert by the Sea. Peter Hopkins

Complete list to date.

Sweet & Hot Orchestra @ The Discovery Museum, Newcastle. July 18th

John Carstairs Hallam's Sweet & Hot Orchestra: John Carstairs Hallam (string bass), Brian Chester (keyboards), ? (drums), Gavin Lee (reeds), Jim McBriarty (reeds), Alan Smith (trumpet), ? (trombone). A vintage steam roller, on loan from Beamish Museum, stood outside the Discovery Museum on this the 75th anniversary of the palace of science and engineering. Inside visitors were greeted by the vintage sweet and occasionally hot sounds of the Sweet & Hot Orchestra. Dance band and brass band were the sounds echoing round the cavernous hall housing the Turbinia. A vintage day out. Russell

Downbeat - July Edition

The July edition of Downbeat is an absolute gem. It's the mags 75th anniversary edition and contains articles and photos from past editions. Ellington, Goodman, Basie, Anita, Billie, Bird, etc. etc. to Zappa and Benny Golson. Whisper Not but that this has to be the best four quidsworth on the newstands (in Newcastle it's at Fenwicks) for the past 75 years.

Lance.

Neilsound MySpace Blog

Came across this rather fine posting from a very talented friend of mine Neil Gutteridge. MySpace.com Blogs - Neilsound MySpace Blog Shared via AddThis A complete surprise as I haven't seen Neil for a number of years. Visit the Neilsound MySpace site for some classical tuba/piano duets that are quite amazing. Lance. PS: thank you Neil for your kind words.

Issie Barratt with Voice of the North Jazz Orchestra featuring Steve Waterman @ Bishop Auckland Town Hall. July 16.

Issie Barratt (composer/conductor), John Warren (composer/conductor), Steve Waterman (trumpet) with Voice of the North Jazz Orchestra: Paul Edis (keyboards), Andy Champion (double bass & electric bass), Adrian Tilbrook (drums), James Russell (tenor sax), Lewis Watson (tenor sax), Rod Mason (alto sax & flute), Andy Bennett (alto sax, soprano sax & clarinet), Bill Sneddon (baritone sax), Alan Bravey (bass trombone), Keith Norris (trombone), Chris Hibbard (trombone), John Millgate (trombone), Dave Connolly (trumpet), Graham Hardy (trumpet), Sean Hollis ? (trumpet), Matt Roberts (trumpet). A stroll through the grounds of Auckland Castle, a visit to Wetherspoon's Stanley Jefferson (named in honour of the great Stan Laurel) and a pint of Ferryhill Brewery's First Yard before it was time to walk across the Market Place and into the Town Hall for tonight's eagerly anticipated concert.

The north east's premier big band has worked with Ms.Barratt on more than one occasion over the last year or so and this was an opportunity to revisit some of her fiendishly difficult charts.

It was, however, the orchestra's long-time leader John Warren who got things under way with 'Park Bench Story' . A now familiar piece to north east audiences, it afforded solo space to Steve Waterman and the jovial Rod Mason, trumpet and alto respectively. Barratt took up the baton to run through 'Hold Down the Moon' from the 'Astral Pleasures' CD and tenorist Lewis Watson delivered the goods with his first solo feature.

Warren introduced a township number, 'Sanae Stomp', written to celebrate the many fine South African musicians exiled in England during the 1960s - James Russell, tenor and Andy Bennett, alto, stepped up to the plate. The first set drew to a close with an extended work from the pen of Ms.Barratt. The solo spotlight shone on altoist Rod Mason and he produced an outstanding effort. The second set began with, effectively, the Steve Waterman Quartet playing the trumpeter's own composition 'Destination Unknown', thus allowing the rest of the boys in the band extra time in the bar (or should that be 'time to compose themselves into a state of Zen-like meditation'?). The tune has become something of a party piece for this virtuoso musician with its circular-breathing coda that has to be heard to be believed (those of us fortunate to be at Waterman's small-group gig at Newcastle's Side Cafe in March were more than a little impressed on hearing it then) and tonight's rhythm section - Edis, Champion and Tilbrook - enjoyed the experience as much as the audience.

The full orchestra reassembled to perform Warren's reworking of JJ Johnson's 'Lament' and Barratt's composition 'Noneffency', the world premiere of which was heard last autumn in Stockton and made possible by being commissioned by Jazz Action. A towering work, tonight's outing featured searing solos from Watson, Waterman, Andy Champion (playing electric bass and sounding, at times, not unlike Marcus Miller and Stanley Clarke) and baritone saxophonist Bill Sneddon. Sneddon's part was compulsory, so said Barratt, she herself being a baritone saxophonist! Barratt and Warren work well together and the band more than does justice to their material - a case of 'Friends in Jazz'. Issie Barratt and John Warren have created a website devoted to promoting the work of comtemporary composers. Visit www.fuzzymoonrecords.co.uk Jazz Action, the regional jazz development agency's website is: www.jazzaction.co.uk Russell .

More 'Discs To Die For' - Angela's choice..

Horace Silver - Song for My Father - damn it, it's up already! Cannonball Adderley - Something Else - darn it, you've got it up. Dexter Gordon - Go - Damn, every time I choose one, it's there. Charlie Mingus - Blues and Roots - doh! Miles Davis - Kind of Blue - grrr argh So this is the alternate selection: Lee Morgan - Sidewinder - ha! not there, good! Eddie Jefferson - Letter from Home - love this man. It was a toss up between him and King Pleasure. Eddie won. Pat Metheny - Works - best ever from the man that turned my son into a guitarist in the womb! Lambert, Hendricks and Ross! - The Hottest New Group in Jazz - Yep, good scatting ; ) Carmen McCrae - Carmen Sings Monk - she was very old when she made this but it is a goody. Angela. Click here for latest complete list. For those who have still to submit their list the rules are: 5 discs, 1 per artist, no duplications (check with list first).

Maine Street Jazzmen @ Rosie Malone's South Shields.

Iain McCaulay (tpt/tmb/vcl), Derek Fleck (clt), Colin Haikney (pno), Alan Rudd (bs), Ollie Rillands (dms), Olive Rudd (vcl). On the face of it, Rosie Malone's Bar in South Shields and Lanercost Priory may not be spiritually close but, as they both have an affinity to jazz perhaps the only difference is that they worship different Gods. At Rosie's it is Bacchus who is in the top job and it has to be said that the music comes a distant second. Nevertheless, although some parishioners were missing from both the congregation and the choir, today the Maine Street Men gave a stalwart performance. Particularly impressive was Colin Haikney who soloed inventively although I wasn't quite sure what the synthesised electronics had to do with "Bye Bye Blackbird". Olive was in good voice and she sang really well on "I Thought About You". Good solos from Iain on trombone and Derek on clarinet. Colin too had some nice fills behind the vocal. Not an easy tune to get round. There are worse ways of spending an afternoon. Lance.

Andy Sheppard to play historic Lanercost Priory

I received the following info on this rather unusual gig which, nevertheless, sounds as if it could be a rural gem.

Situated in rural North East Cumbria alongside Hadrian’s Wall Lanercost Priory was founded in 1169 by Robert de Vaux, Lord of Gilsland, and today the nave and the north isle of the original priory serve as the parish church. Lanercost Priory hosts a successful music festival each year in June however this may be first time that a jazz artist has graced its hallowed walls. Such a magnificent building is, if not an unusual one, a perfect setting for Sheppard’s sublimely beautiful sound on soprano and tenor saxophones. The high timber arched ceiling produces a resonance to sound that will add a new dimension to the masterfully melodic and irresistible rhythmic playing that Sheppard is known for. Now one of Britain’s foremost tenor and soprano saxophonists, Andy was introduced to the music of John Coltrane at the age of nineteen and immediately went out and bought his own saxophone. A successful recording artist, bandleader and composer (for film, TV and theatre), Andy Sheppard is one of a very few British jazz artists to have made a significant international impact. He has worked with an astonishing range of musical partners and is remarkably, one of a very few soloists to have played in the big bands of all three of the greatest post-war jazz composers, Carla Bley, George Russell and Gil Evans. Local man David Gosling is organising the concert as a way to raise funds for the up keep of this much loved church and, as a keen jazz fan, thought that Andy Sheppard’s playing would be the perfect match for the priory’s acoustics. “I have heard Andy Sheppard play in many differing venues and every time he surprises me with the width of his repertoire. Whether his duets with pianists Joanna McGregor and Rita Marcotulli or his latest quintet recording Movements in Colour, his music is always fresh, well crafted and wonderfully entertaining” At Lanercost Andy will play solo and David has no doubt that those in attendance will be treated to an unforgettable experience. Local band, Hip Graffiti (Jay Myerson – guitar, Laurence Blackadder – bass and Katerina El Haj – vocals) will open the concert and are delighted to be sharing the bill with someone as esteemed as Andy Sheppard and at the same time make their own contribution to the priory funds. The concert details are: Saturday September 12th 2009, 7.30pm Lanercost Priory, Lanercost, Brampton, Cumbria Tickets £15 available from – Brampton Post Office, Omega Music, Brampton Lanercost@hotmail.co.uk 016977 41829 For more information contact: Promoter - David Gosling: 016977 41829, 07803 282876 or dgos2@aol.com.

See you there,

Lance.