Bebop Spoken There

Melissa Aldana: ''Having to play a ballads album, which is something very revealing for a saxophone player, would help me to question some new aspects of how to go deeper into sound." (DownBeat May, 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

18602 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 18 years ago. 466 of them this year alone and, so far this month (June 8) 17

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

June

Sat 13: Ladies of Midnight Blue + Northern Monkey Brass Band @ Northumberland Miners’ Picnic, Woodhorn Museum, Ashington NE63 9YF. Free. From 10:00am. Ladies of Midnight Blue (3:00-3:45pm); Northern Monkey Brass Band (4:00-4:45pm).
Sat 13: Sarah Spencer’s Transatlantic Jazz Band @ St Augustine’s Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm. £10.00. Darlington New Orleans Jazz Club.
Sat 13: Tees Bay Swing Band @ Saltburn Bandstand. 2:30-4:30pm. Free.
Sat 13: Courtney Pine @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm. £35.80. Pine (saxophones); Robert Mitchell (piano); Rio Kai (double bass); Romarna Campbell (drums). ‘A Modern-Day Jazz Story 1986 - 2026’.

Sun 14: Front Porch Band: Swing Tyne’s Swing Social @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12 noon (doors). Donations (£5.00. - £10.00. suggested). Swing dance event w. taster class (12:30pm).
Sun 14: 58 Jazz Collective @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00-3:00pm. Free.
Sun 14: Am Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 14: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Table reservations (0191 261 8000). Skerritt w. backing tapes.
Sun 14: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 14: Doctor Jazz @ The Old Church, Sacriston, Durham. 3:00-5:00pm . Free (donations welcome). New Orleans, blues & classic 20th century songs. Food & soft drinks available, BYOB.
Sun 14: Eddie Gripper Trio @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Gripper (piano); Clem Saynor (double bass); Patrick Barrett-Donlon (drums). Americana album tour.

Mon 15: Friends of Jazz @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 15: Dan Johnson w. Dean Stockdale Trio @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £10.00.

Tue 16: Alan Law Trio @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 2:00pm. Free.
Tue 16: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Stu Collingwood, Paul Grainger, Abbie Finn.

Wed 17: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 17: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 17: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 18: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ The Millstone, Mill Rise, South Gosforth, Newcastle. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 18: Castillo Nuevo Orquesta @ Pilgrim, Newcastle. £6.50. 7:30pm (doors).
Thu 18: Lindsay Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ Harbour View, Roker, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free.
Thu 18: Paul Skerritt @ Angels' Share, St George's Terrace, Jesmond, Newcastle NE2 2SX. 8:00pm. Free. Booking advised (0191 200 1975). Skerritt w. backing tapes.

Fri 19: Joe Steels Group @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 19: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 19: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 19: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 19: Ferg’s Imaginary Big Band @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm. £14.33., £11.16., £8.00.
Fri 19: Martin Litton @ Sunderland Minster. 7:30pm. £13.01 (inc. bf); £6.50 (inc. bf); £15.00 on the door. Solo piano. CANCELLED!
Fri 19: Jools Holland’s R&B Orchestra @ Hippodrome, Darlington. 7:30pm. Joe Webb support set.
Fri 19: Hot Club du Nord @ Warkworth Memorial Hall. 7:30pm.
Fri 19: Jive Aces: The Roots of Rock & Roll @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 7:30pm (doors). £20.00 + bf.

Friday, November 25, 2011

Frank Brooker @ Blaydon Jazz Club. November 24th

Frank Brooker (tenor saxophone & clarinet), James Birkett (guitar), Jeremy McMurray (piano), Mick Shoulder (double bass) & Tim Johnston (drums) + Bradley Johnston & James Birkett (guitars)
November 24th could mean only one thing - Christmas party time! Yes, a bit early for the tinsel 'n' all that but after the Arctic conditions this time last year Blaydon Jazz Club decided to play safe and get in there early. Temperatures were positively balmy and a good number of Blaydon regulars turned out. A sumptious buffet was assured thanks to the efforts of many to bring an offering to the table. 
Yorkshire's Frank Brooker made the journey north to have a bite to eat and play some jazz. Straight ahead, mainstream, swinging jazz, call it what you like it was first rate from start to finish. Just Friends, Meditation, In a Mellotone and Benny Carter's Only Trust Your Heart were just some of the first set tunes Brooker invited his friend James Birkett to revisit in relaxed fashion. 
House pianist Jeremy McMurray, a first class soloist in his own right, together with bassist Mick Shoulder and Tim Johnston (drums) ensured the evening would swing tastefully either side of the interval culinary feast. Brooker took a vocal on Sometimes I'm Happy as Birkett excelled with an extended solo topped off by some tasty chords. As the band ran through Oleo pianist McMurray couldn't resist alluding to Santa's Big Day with snatches of Jingle Bells and White Christmas - Yo, Ho, Ho!. 
A musical interval dessert was lapped up by all present - James Birkett reunited with fellow guitarist Bradley Johnston to waltz through John Lewis' Skating in Central Park and then, metaphorically speaking, dashed off to Chick Corea's Spain to nonchalantly dash off Spain. Now, we've come to expect this of Birkett (a virtuoso musician) yet it was something else to hear Johnson, in his teenage years, get to grips with the tune and stamp his own spirited sound on the piece. 
Foodies sated, raffle done, the second set began with Brooker picking up his clarinet to play Kurt Weill's Speak Low and Ellington's I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart (the latter featured a tremendous bluesy solo from Birkett). Switching once more to tenor, Brooker and the boys really did play the blues on Wardell Gray's Twisted. Mick Shoulder featured on this one and it was pretty much  a case of solos all round. Gershwin's Our Love is Here to Stay had everyone Relaxin' at Blaydon (if not Camarillo) and then it was time for a road journey or two. As Brooker and the boys breezed along Route 66, I took my leave to race along the A695. 
Blaydon Jazz Club goes into hibernation until March of next year. Make a date in that new 2012 diary - Thursday 8th March - and get along to hear the roaring big band sounds of the Customs House Big Band with the incomparable Ruth Lambert.
Russell.    
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1 comment :

Bradley Johnston (on Facebook). said...

What a night!

Friday, November 25, 2011 8:05:00 pm

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