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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.

Sunday, July 15, 2018

Mavis Staples @ The Boiler Shop, Newcastle - July 13

Mavis Staples (vocals); Rick Holmstrom (guitar, vocals); Jeff Turmes (bass guitar); Stephen Hodges (drums); Vicki Randle (vocals); Donny Gerrard (vocals) + Benjamin Booker (vocals) 
(Review by Russell)
The Boiler Shop on South Street, the historic site of Stephenson's Works, the workshop in which George and Robert Stephenson built the first locomotives - Locomotion and Rocket - has been lovingly restored to its former glory.  


On a sweltering Friday evening, Sage Gateshead's concert promotion across the Tyne in Newcastle attracted a near capacity crowd to hear a set of blues, gospel and r 'n' b by one of the enduring figures in popular music. 

The Staples Singers first came to public attention in 1949 and since then the family, for many years guided by Pops Staples, has continued to preach the gospel, the book of good music. Mavis Staples, seventy-nine years young last Tuesday, took to the stage to a heroic reception from an adoring crowd. Backed by her long-serving trio - Rick Holmstrom, guitar, Jeff Turmes, bass and drummer Stephen Hodges - and friends Vicki Randle and Donny Gerrard supplying sublime backing vocals, Staples worked the crowd for seventy-five minutes, later returning to the stage to deliver a fifteen-minute encore. 
The voice as strong as ever, Staples exuded love and warmth in a non-stop set of classic material and songs from her current album If All I Was Was Black. 1972's Billboard chart-topping I'll Take You There espoused love and togetherness but before that Staples revived memories of Dr Martin Luther King and the civil rights marches, singing Who Told You That? - an admonishment of those who have failed to stand up and challenge the pernicious political forces of our times. We Go High took as its inspiration the words of Michelle Obama in seeking to empower the young. Yes, Staples was in no mood to take anymore BS. Preaching to the converted in an historic, converted engineering workshop, Staples said she could feel the love. 
 
Civil rights, Black Lives Matter, Staples was only too well aware of how some things have changed very little and her invitation to Benjamin Booker to join her on stage to sing the eponymous song Witness from his 2017 album further illustrated that generations apart - the age difference between Staples and Booker is 50 years - there is still much work to be done. 

Earlier Benjamin Booker played a half hour support set. Benjamin Booker, vocals and guitar accompanied by Sam Coles, guitar and vocals won new friends here on Tyneside. Booker's vocal style is unusually husky, husky rather than hoarse, at times wrought, the voice of a singer-songwriter. His occasional guitar playing was just that, occasional and for accompaniment only. Sam Coles played the guitar parts, themselves pared down contributions with minimal vocal backing. Booker's Witness - think Can I Get a Witness? (Marvin Gaye) - spoke to the Black Lives Matter campaign. Pertinently, poignantly, Mavis Staples would later invite Booker to join her in reprising his timely composition. 

An evening of blues, gospel and r 'n' b with as much soul as you could possibly wish for. Staples said she'd be back. Let's hold her to that.  
Russell.

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