Category Archives: concerts

A full house at the Black Swan for Jackie Oates and Karen Tweed.  An excel­lent duo, the fiddle and accor­dion com­ple­ment­ing each other beau­ti­fully, Karen Tweed provid­ing some beau­ti­ful vari­ations as well as a num­ber of solo spots fea­tur­ing tra­di­tional … Con­tinue read­ing →

Yes, just one man and two sax­o­phones. and a bird whistle,  and a shaker, and a guitar-like instru­ment, and some elec­tronic wiz­ardry on stage.  The first piece turned some appar­ently dis­con­nec­ted sax­o­phone phrases into a rich back­ing and, sur­prise, there … Con­tinue read­ing →

A great pleas­ure to hear Tom McCon­ville, the New­castle Irish fid­dler and singer at the Black Swan. Mix­ture of tune sets and songs.  Lovely ver­sion of “Beeswing” and a great sin­galong “Battle of New Orleans” stand out. David Newey on … Con­tinue read­ing →

Stun­ning con­cert by the con­cer­tina and Northum­brian pipes player Alastair Ander­son, seem­ingly forever young, and backed by a young band it was lovely to see. Alastair’s reprise of “Steel Skies” which he wrote in 1982 was both lovely and lively, … Con­tinue read­ing →

It’s pos­sible that after a while Northum­brian pipe and fiddle tunes may get to sound a bit samey, but at a Kath­ryn Tick­ell con­cert she always intro­duces them so enga­gingly, talk­ing as if chat­ting to the audi­ence cas­u­ally, but utterly … Con­tinue read­ing →

Nor­we­gian female sax player — for this con­cert sop­rano sax.  Her own com­pos­i­tions — influ­enced clearly by her ori­gins in Nor­way and con­tem­por­ary Nor­we­gian jazz, but also more widely by European jazz.  Excel­lent back­ing but per­haps not as well sound-balanced … Con­tinue read­ing →

The Shed is cur­rently Hov­ing­ham Vil­lage Hall — where you might see a Brownies Tal­ent Show or the Ryedale Young Farm­ers doing their stuff.  But the Shed turns up some great acts, includ­ing Gwyneth Her­bert, who did two sets of … Con­tinue read­ing →

Some weeks ago now, but such a treat to live in a place where you can walk across town to a pub and spend an even­ing listen­ing to one of Britiain’s finest folk musi­cians in a small room.  And such … Con­tinue read­ing →