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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, March 02, 2019

Great North Big Band Jazz Festival 2019 (Day 1) - Mar 1

(Review/photos by Russell).

The sixteenth Great North Big Band Jazz Festival got off to a flyer...no snow! From Church Chare the venue - Park View Community Centre - was easily found thanks to a trail of strategically positioned arrowed signs proclaiming JAZZ! 

Friday evening is the non-competition day of a fantastic weekend of big band jazz. By tradition Hartlepool based Musicians Unlimited opened the show. Mick Donnelly's outfit hit the ground running with Ja- Da (comp. Bob Carleton) featuring first solos for Mark Toomey, alto, and evergreen Neville Hartley, trombone. 


There was much to get through in the band's one set performance. I Get a Kick Out of You introduced Paul Skerritt to the stage for the first time and, as usual, he gave a charismatic display with Sue Ferris announcing herself with the first of several knockout tenor solos. MU's other vocalist, Jan Specelayh followed and lost nothing by comparison singing My Heart Belongs to Daddy.

County Durham's Mick Shoulder switched from bull fiddle to bass guitar as the band went for it on High Maintenance with altoist Toomey once again in the spotlight as was festival director Bill Watson contributing from the trumpet section. 

Our vocalists shared duties - Skerritt returning to sing Georgia, My Baby Just Cares for Me and a non-ballad take on Misty, Spencelayh That Ole Devil Called  Love and Don't Know Why. The band was given ample opportunity to show what it could do with Count Bubba a good example of ensemble playing at its best and Jim Martin's Semi-Mental Journey a feature for MD Donnelly on alto...it was as if to say: Hey, I too can play! Talking of being able to play...the orchestra's special guest, pianist Marcus Brown certainly could do just that! As Bill Watson pointed out Brown's resumé is quite something - as pianist, composer, arranger, Brown has worked with countless star names including James Morrison, Tina Turner, Richard Ashcroft and Madonna. He also finds time to score Hollywood movies!  

Musicians Unlimited, with Josh Bentham blowing tenor, went out on Sweet Georgia Brown

Musicians Unlimited: Mick Donnelly (MD, alto sax); Kevin Eland, Bill Watson, Bob Temple, Dave Harrison, Alan Catherall (trumpets); Neville Hartley, John Day, Helen Grainger, Peter Morgan (trombones); Josh Bentham, Sue Ferris, Mark Toomey, Barbara Fagan, Jill Nelson (reeds); Ian Bosworth (guitar); Marcus Brown (piano); Mick Shoulder (double bass, bass guitar); John Bradford (drums); Ernie Jackson (percussion); Jan Spencelayh, Paul Skerritt (vocals) 

Earlier the Festival Band (with Marcus Brown, piano) directed by Bill Watson presented a programme of familiar and not so familiar big band charts. The sections were populated by some familiar faces - the rhythm section of Richard Brito, guitar, Mick Shoulder, double bass and drummer John Bradford to name but three - and some less familiar faces. MD Watson is steeped in the world of big bands and it came as little surprise that charts by the likes of Bill Ashton (NYJO) and Lennie Niehaus formed the nucleus of a fine set. Saturday's competitive action gets underway at eleven o'clock.      
Russell

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