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: Tees Bay Swing Band @ Blacksmith’s Arms, Hartlepool. 1:30pm. Free. Open rehearsal.
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: Friends of Jazz @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
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.

Sunday, April 07, 2013

GIJF Day 2: Bireli Lagréne Quartet/ Kevin Mackenzie & Dave Milligan. April 6 Hall 2.

Bireli Lagréne (gtr); Franck Wolf (ten/sop); Jean Marc Robin (dms); Jean-Yves Jung (Hammond).
----- 
Kevin Mackenzie (gtr); Dave Milligan (pno).
(Review by Lance.)
I proclaimed to all who would listen that this would be the concert of the Festival and, to date, I have yet to be proven wrong. It was simply fantastic with Lagréne the icing on a cake that included many fine guitarists such as James Birkett with Djangologie, Mark Williams, with ACV, Bradley Johnston (pictured) with Jambone and Kevin Mackenzie of whom more later.
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GIJF Day 1: Jambone Friday April 5: Hall 1

(Review by Ann Alex)
Just in case there’s anyone out there who hasn't come across Jambone, they are the Sage’s own Regional Youth Jazz Ensemble.  They did themselves, the Sage, and jazz itself proud in this introduction to the NYJO Orchestra concert. 
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Saturday, April 06, 2013

GIJF Day 1 - Soweto Kinch & The Legend of Mike Smith. April 5.

Soweto Kinch (alto & tenor saxophones), Nick Jurd (double bass & electric bass) & Shaney Forbes (drums)
(Review by Russell)
Soweto Kinch arrived at the Gateshead International Jazz Festival with a story to tell - the Legend of Mike Smith. Our eponymous hero is an aspiring MC and on his journey to wherever (Dante’s Inferno perhaps) he encounters/experiences the Seven Deadly Sins.
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GIJF Day 1 NYJO with Mark Nightingale, Jacqui Dankworth and Jason Yarde. April 5.

(Review by Lance)
(NYJO trumpet section. Photo credit: Mark Savage.)
After Jambone's opening set with Tim Garland and Paul Edis' compositions (review due shortly), NYJO had it all to do.
However, NYJO has grown in stature over the years and these days it can hold its own against any big band anywhere. Add soloists of the calibre of Mark Nightingale, Jason Yarde and Jacqui Dankworth and you have the ingredients for an evening of unmitigated delight!
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Friday, April 05, 2013

The One That Almost Got Away!

The Festival opens with a session by the Dixie Ticklers who play a contemporary form of New Orleans - check them out here.
On the Concourse at 6:30pm today. FREE!.
Lance.
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The Collective @ Hoochie Coochie Thursday April 4, 2013.

Jamie Toms (ten/shakers); Keith Nicholson (tpt/flug/triangle/shakers); Tim Bloomer (gtr) Katie Trigger (bs); Dominic Snaith (keys); Robbie Houston (dms).
(Review by Lance).
The Collective had Toms and Nicholson as guests this month and the two horn players blew up such a storm that South Cones may have been hoisted 'twixt Dogger and Cromarty. Add Bloomer's wild thrashing and they may even have been reached for in the German Bight. What is certain is that there were moments when the band gave more than just a nod to Weather Report, The Crusaders and Herbie Hancock.
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Thursday, April 04, 2013

Alan Glen Trio/Take it to the Bridge @ The Chillingham. April 3, 2013

Alan Glen (keyboards), John Pope (double bass) & Paul Wight (drums)
(Review by Russell)
Pianist Alan Glen last played at the Chillingham in August of last year. It was good to have him back working once again with bassist John Pope and versatile drummer Paul Wight. Glen’s set list draws on the standards - It’s You or No One, How Deep Is the Ocean?, You Don’t Know What Love Is, Beautiful Love -  yet he finds something new to say every time. 
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Early Bird Specials @ The Millstone 1pm. Today


Specials include: Cumberland Feast A full 8oz traditional Cumberland sausage curl, fried egg, chips and peas. Served with your own gravy boat  £5.65
Irish Stew & Dumpings  A wholesome and hearty dish of pieces of tender, slow-cooked mutton with carrots, swede, onion and pearl barley in a rich gravy with dumplings. All served in a giant Yorkshire pudding with mashed potato £6.00 
The Vieux Carré Jazzmen + Brian Chester, trombone (pictured) Tasty, well-seasoned performers served with a generous portion of classic jazz. Free.   
Brian Bennett.
Thursday 4 April @The Millstone, Haddricks Mill Road, South Gosforth NE3 1QL.
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Wednesday, April 03, 2013

Peter Gilligan Trio @ The Star


Peter Gilligan (pno); Mike Clarke (bs); Mark Robertson (dms) + Ian Forbes (dms); John Rowland (ten).
(Review by Lance.)
Musically this was faultless. Gilligan, depping for guitarist Steve Glendinning, made sure there wasn't a note on the keyboard untouched. He plays 'em all!
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ACV on Tour.

Andy Champion writes on LondonJazz about ACV's gig at London's The Vortex tomorrow night (April 4).
They're at Dempsey's in Cardiff tonight.
North East fans can catch them at The Sage, Gateshead on Saturday although tickets are going fast..
Lance..
Photo by Robert Laing.
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