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Bebop Spoken There

Ambrose Akinmusire: “ I am certainly always aware of what the masses are doing. And when I see too many people going one way, I'm going another way - even when I don't know what's over that way". DownBeat, March, 2024.

The Things They Say!

Hudson Music: Lance's "Bebop Spoken Here" is one of the heaviest and most influential jazz blogs in the UK.

Rupert Burley (Dynamic Agency): "BSH just goes from strength to strength".

'606' Club: "A toast to Lance Liddle of the terrific jazz blog 'Bebop Spoken Here'"

The Strictly Smokin' Big Band included Be Bop Spoken Here (sic) in their 5 Favourite Jazz Blogs.

Ann Braithwaite (Braithwaite & Katz Communications) You’re the BEST!

Holly Cooper, Mouthpiece Music: "Lance writes pull quotes like no one else!"

Simon Spillett: A lovely review from the dean of jazz bloggers, Lance Liddle...

Josh Weir: I love the writing on bebop spoken here... I think the work you are doing is amazing.

Postage

16287 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 169 of them this year alone and, so far, 41 this month (Mar 18).

From This Moment On ...

March

Tue 19: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Michael Young, Paul Grainger, Tim Johnston.

Wed 20: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 20: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 20: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 21: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 21: Castillo Neuvo Trio + Conor Emery & His ‘Bones Band @ The Grove, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 7:30pm (7:00pm doors). £10.00. (£7.00. student).
Thu 21: Remi Banklyn + Chris Corcoran Trio @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £12.50. Chicago blues. An International Guitar Foundation promotion.
Thu 21: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Ragtime piano.
Thu 21: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm.

Fri 22: Vasilis Xenopoulos & Paul Edis @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. £8.00. SOLD OUT!
Fri 22: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 22: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 22: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 22: Nauta + Remy CB + Last Orders @ Hoochie Coochie, Newcastle. 8:30pm (7:30pm doors). Free.
Fri 22: Vasilis Xenopoulos-Paul Edis Quartet @ Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. £15.00. Opus 4 Jazz Club.
Fri 22: Redwell @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sat 23: Jambone @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 6:30pm. Free (ticketed). End of term performance in the Northern Rock Foundation Hall.
Sat 23: Milne-Glendinning Band @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 23: Red Kites Jazz @ Rowlands Gill Community Centre NE39 1JB. 7:00pm. Tickets: £12.00. (gibsidecommunityfarm@gmail.com). A ‘Build a Barn’ fundraiser. BYOB, tea/coffee available.
Sat 23: New Century Ragtime Orchestra @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £20.00. + bf (book in person at venue - no booking fee!). Featuring pianist Martin Litton.
Sat 23: Pete Tanton’s Cuba Libre @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 24: Musicians Unlimited @ Park Inn, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 24: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:30pm. Free.
Sun 24: Luis Verde @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm. Verde (alto sax); Joe Steels (guitar); John Pope (double bass); John Hirst (drums). Alto sax brilliance!
Sun 24: Elsie Franklin @ The Globe, Newcastle. 3:00pm. £10.00. Country blues. An International Guitar Foundation promotion.
Sun 24: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay Metro Station. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 24: Las Vegas Live with the Rat Pack @ The Forum, Billingham.
Sun 24: Ian Millar & Dominic Spencer @ Otterburn Memorial Hall. 7:30pm. £12.00.
Sun 24: Lindsay Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Note start time - 7:00pm.
Sun 24: Bold Big Band @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 25: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 25: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 6:30pm. Free.

Saturday, June 02, 2012

Gavin Lee’s 7th Street Dixieland Band: Jazz @ the Fell - Friday June 1.

(Review by Russell - Photos by Oliver Soden).
Gavin Lee (clarinet), Jim McBriarty (alto saxophone & vocals), Brian Chester (piano), Phil Smith (double bass), Fred Thompson (drums & vocals) & Beth Miller (vocals)
Gateshead Royal British Legion Club on Coatsworth Road, home to Jazz at the Fell, had, for some reason, made an effort to be festive. A hand-drawn poster announced a party for all the family would be held on Monday. A tired-looking string of flags signalled something – perhaps indifference.
The jazz would surely be anything but indifferent. Clarinetist Gavin Lee’s 7th Street Dixieland Band straddles the Mason-Dixon Line in the world of jazz centred around Jazz Age Chicago with occasional sorties south. George Gershwin made the first contribution to the party; Somebody Loves Me featured the first of the vocalists – Jim McBriarty. Fred Thompson sang You Can Depend on Me (you sure can) with solo efforts from McBriarty (alto) and Lee (clarinet). Beth Miller came up from the delta – Teesside Delta – to sing with the band. A bright and breezy On the Sunny Side of the Street made it easy to warm to Miller’s assured low-register delivery. My Funny Valentine, ostensibly an incongruous selection, worked well; Miller impressed, so too Lee, given that the clarinetist had never before played the tune. The outstanding number of the night came courtesy of drummer and sweet-toned vocalist Fred Thompson. Pianist Brian Chester (on top of the material all night) offered the one chord and Thompson sang the verse from Stardust unaccompanied. The band joined him and it was brushes all the way from Thompson. You know how it is – hundreds of gigs waiting for that moment…this was it. I don’t know about gig of the year but this was a contender for moment of the year! 
The interval came and went - raffle, domino card, buffet, another Brown Ale (the club doesn’t do real beer) – and Strike Up the Band marshalled a parade of brolly dollies and a hand-knitted red, white and blue number (a ‘jersey’) was sighted. What’s that about getting dressed in the dark? Harold Arlen focused the mind once more – As Long as I Live – and vocalist Miller returned to the stage to sing September in the Rain. That’s who she reminds me of…there is something of Sassy Sarah Vaughan in her lazy, languorous tone and it wasn’t cold, it wasn’t damp, she ain’t but Miller gave us The Lady is a Tramp
This was a good night out, not strictly Dixieland by any means, simply good tunes played by good musicians. Chester, Phil Smith (bass) and Thompson coped admirably with numbers thrown at them by amiable bandleader Lee and the frontline – Lee and McBriarty – rattled-off the solos. Next week get along to Jazz at the Fell to hear the Maine Street Jazzmen.
Russell

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