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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.

Monday, March 11, 2019

Sunday @ Bix Fest, Racine, Wisconsin - March 10

(Review by Russell)

Sunday at this thirtieth edition of Bix Fest coincided with Bix Beiderbecke's birth date - March 10 (1903). Born in Davenport, Iowa, the legendary cornetist could never have imagined that 116 years after his death there would be more than one festival celebrating his contribution to jazz including Bix Fest here in Racine, Wisconsin some 200 miles northeast of his birthplace. To mark Bix's birth date there would be cake for all Bixians.  

The line-up on the final day was, in effect, a reprise of Saturday evening's concert. Andy Schumm returned with his Cellar BoysReginald Robinson and John Reed-Torres 
enthralled the capacity audience with yet more spellbinding ragtime piano, Milwaukee's Sweet Sheiks made the short trip down the freeway a second time and the Shake 'Em Up gals were around to close the party. 

The Cellar Boys' Paul Asaro introduced Andy Schumm's arrangement of a Gershwin number - Yankee Doodle Blues - saying it was one he hadn't come across.  The band had rehearsed it and, with the music in front of him, pianist Asaro and his fellow Chicagoans made a grand job of it. Schumm's sensational hot tenor playing throughout the weekend will be a lasting memory of the band's performance. If you happen to be in Chicago on a Sunday get along to the Honky Tonk BBQ as the Cellar Boys maintain a weekly residency at the joint. Alternatively, Schumm will be on Tyneside in November at the Classic Jazz Party. Go hear him!

To hear one world class exponent of ragtime piano is a treat, to hear two of them together on the same platform was the rarest of treats. Reginald Robinson and John Reed-Torres are virtuoso performers on a mission to not only take the music to the widest possible audience but to write new rags, some of them commissioned pieces, thus adding to the form's existing, extensive library of familar and not so familiar tunes. In addition to their undoubted brilliance, Messrs Robinson and Reed-Torres engaged with the Bix Fest audience in an easy-going manner which made them a pleasure to listen to. 

Closing Bix Fest 2019 was the Shake 'Em Up Jazz Band. The all-female six-piece band from New Orleans is a hit wherever it goes and this Racine audience loved 'em - that's Marla, Chloe, Haruka, Molly, Julie and Defne. A trumpet-clarinet-trombone frontline with 'real deal' vocals supported by a superb rhythm section of guitar, bass and washboard, the Shake 'Em Ups are 24-carat festival headliner quality. Chloe Feoranzo's vocals on Empty Bed Blues will live long in the memory. Bix Fest 2019 will also be a treasured, life-long memory. 
Russell.

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