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Bebop Spoken There

Steve Fishwick: “I can’t get behind the attitude that new is always somehow better than old” - Jazz Journal, April 15, 2019,

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...

Postage

16034 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 1041 of them this year alone and, so far, 73 this month (Nov. 27).

From This Moment On ...

November

Thu 30: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 30: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 7:30pm (7:00pm doors). Tickets: £25.00. inc. buffet. A Gatsby themed evening.
Thu 30: '58 Jazz Collective @ Hops and Cheese, 9-11 Tower St., Hartlepool, TS24 7HH. 7:30pm.
Thu 30: Jools Holland's R & B Orchestra @ Newcastle City Hall. 7:30pm.
Thu 30: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Ragtime piano. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.
Thu 30: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. Guest band night: Mark Toomey Quintet (Mark Toomey, sax; Paul Donnelly, guitar; Jeremy McMurray, keys; Peter Ayton, bass; Mark Robertson, drums). 9:00pm.

December
Fri 01: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 01: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 01: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 01: Paul Skerritt @ All Saints’ Church, Eastgate, Co. Durham. 7:00pm. Xmas Tree Fest.
Fri 01: Alligator Gumbo @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 01: Nu Sound Brass @ Billy Bootlegger’s, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free.
Fri 01: Struggle Buggy w. Jim Murray @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Blind Pig Blues Club. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sat 02: Paula Jackman's Jazz Masters @ St Augustine's Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm. £10.00.
Sat 02: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. Tutor: Steve Glendinning. £25.00. Enrol at: www.jazz.coop.
Sat 02: Abbie Finn Trio @ Claypath Deli, Durham. 7:00pm.
Sat 02: Tenement Jazz Band @ John Marley Centre, Newcastle. Swing Tyne Winter Social. £8.00. + bf. Advance purchase only, no admission at the door. BYOB. Lindy hop workshop from 11:00am. £39.00.
Sat 02: Zoë Gilby Quartet @ The Masham, Hartburn Village, Stockton. 7:00pm. Feat. Noel Dennis.
Sat 02: Classic Swing @ The Nuthatch, 9 - 11 Bedford St, Middlesbrough TS1 2LL. 7:00-9:00pm. Classic Swing in trio format.
Sat 02: Paul Skerritt w. Danny Miller Big Band @ Westovian Theatre, South Shields. 7:30pm.
Sat 02: Vermont Big Band @ Whitley Bay FC. 7:30pm. £10.00. (inc. hot buffet). Tickets available from WBFC’s Seahorse pub club house.
Sat 02: Milne-Glendinning Band @ Ponteland Social Club, Northumberland. 7:30pm. £18.00 (inc. stotties & soup supper). A fundraiser for Hexham Constituency Labour Party.
Sat 02: Durham Dynamics & Basement Jazz @ Kingsgate Bar & Café, Durham Students’ Union. 7:30pm. £5.00. (£4.50. concs.). ‘Fab & Festive’. A cappella & jazz. Abba, Mariah Carey & more.
Sat 02: Tom Remon & Laurence Harrison @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sat 02: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. Xmas party night inc. buffet & special raffle. £3.00.
Sat 02: Groovetrain @ The Unionist Club, Laygate, South Shields. 9:00pm.

Sun 03: The Central Bar Quartet @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00pm. £10.00. The Central Bar Quartet plays Lou Donaldson’s Gravy Train. Featuring Jamie Toms.
Sun 03: Paul Skerritt @ Smith’s Arms, Carlton, Stockton-on-Tees. 7:00pm.
Sun 03: Johnny Hunter Quartet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Sun 03: Jam session @ The Schooner, Gateshead. 8:00pm. Free.

Mon 04: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Mon 04: Northern Monkey Brass Band @ People’s Kitchen, Bath Lane, Newcastle. From 5:30pm. On-street gig supporting the work of the People’s Kitchen charity. Wrap up warm! Donate!
Mon 04: Michael Young Trio w Lindsay Hannon @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 7:00pm. Free.
Mon 04: James Birkett Trio @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £8.00.
Mon 04: Durham University Jazz Orchestra + Durham University Big Band @ Durham Castle DH1 3RW. 8:30pm. £6.00.; £5.00. concs; £4.00. DSM. ‘Jazzy Christmas’.

Tue 05: Customs House Big Band @ All Saints Church, Cleadon. 7:00pm. Concert in the church hall. BYOB.
Tue 05: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Michael Young, Paul Grainger, Sid White. The best free show in town!

Wed 06: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 06: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 8:00pm. Free. Note later start time, concert performance (open to the public).
Wed 06: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Sunday, August 02, 2009

Stockton Jazz Festival Part two - 4:00 pm till closing time.

The mid - afternoon departure of Bebop Spoken Here's Main Man meant someone had to pick up the quill and act as scribe.
Quill dipped, poised and next on the bandstand...Spelk (thanks Lance!). Where to begin? ''Fantastic'' just about sums up this trio. A bit more? Well, three virtuosi playing the most glorious stuff! Improvised yet structured, loud, very loud, embracing straightahead jazz, jazz funk, anarcho - punk, death metal and more. Drummer Adrian Tilbrook generates immense power, Rickenbacker bassist Andy Champion lays down killer riffs and guitar wizard Chris Sharkey produces a bewildering array of sounds via a king - size pedal board. The Georgian Theatre audience loved them. These boys are busy with other projects, Spelk is a rare happening, so, next time, be there. Nick Pride and the Pimptones provided a marked contrast to Spelk - musically and sartorially. Nick Pride is an accomplished jazz guitarist having worked as accompaniest to many of the region's finest singers. The Pimptones have a love of soul music and with their jazz chops they deliver a set of largely uptempo tunes with band leader Pride taking several vocals amidst well - crafted solos from all; Alex Leathard (trombone & vocals), Graham Hardy (trumpet & flugelhorn), John Wheeler (tenor), Ian Paterson (electric bass & vocals) and Oz Cassidy (drums). For the band's penultimate number, the sharp-suited Pride invited the very elegant Zoe Gilby to return to the stand for one number. Two thirds of Spelk (Champion & Tilbrook) returned to the stage as one quarter of John Warren's Splinter Group ( for the innumerate reader = 8 musicians). ''Splinter Group'' was the first one from the pad with a superb solo from guitarist Mark Williams and it set the standard. The band, with Graham Hardy as MD, is a joy to listen to, from other John Warren compositions such as ''Lopsided'' to a tune penned by pianist Paul Edis - ''For Bill'' (trumpeter Noel Dennis suggesting it was a homage to Bill Oddie!). All had opportunities to solo including trombonist Chris Hibbard and Graeme Wilson on tenor. David Carnegie's Extreme Measures returned to the Fringe Festival for a second year and did the impossible - perform an even better set than they did last year! The quintet made one enforced change - with Jamie McCredie absent, Mark Williams stepped into the breach. The guitarist had a busy afternoon (Zoe Gilby Quintet, Splinter Group) yet was on the money from the off. A contemporary jazz outfit exploring modal shifts, this is a band of the highest calibre. Drummer Carnegie is a master musician. A ready smile, one of contentment, is reciprocated from electric bassist Stuart Davies, the same from pianist Ben Gilbert. The frontline fireworks cascaded over the venue; Gary Turner's slow - burning, then scorching tenor saxophone matched by the fizzing fretwork of Williams. Most of the tunes heard here in Stockton were being given a first airing, some of which will be available on the band's second CD due to be recorded later this year. Upon its release do one thing - buy it! So, to the finale. The Funk Regulators are Teesside's pride and joy. Young Turks blazing a trail of super - charged big soul band classics. All fourteen of them (I think there were 14, the stage was crowded, the place was jumpin') were stars on the night - each and every one of them. A larger than life teenage two - tone rude boy screaming soul numbers with his chanteuse vocalist partner backed by a tight, cookin' band of talented musicians. Tower of Power covers (including ''What Is Hip?), Stevie Wonder's ''I Wish'' and Cream's ''Sunshine of Your Love'' (yes, it worked!) were just some of the tunes rattled - off with aplomb. It was solos all round (screamers from alto and tenor), each one met with thunderous applause from a packed house. Check 'em out www.thefunkregulators.co.uk A great a day out at the Georgian. Thanks go to MC Noel Dennis, Adrian Tilbrook (of Jazz Action) and the staff at the Georgian Theatre. I can't wait for next year. Adrian Tilbrook's photos are currently out in cyberspace but have been spotted passing over Ryhope so they shouldn't be too long. They're here! (at the end of the album.) Russell

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