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Bebop Spoken There

Abbie Finn: "Even though there's a lot of great work being done to promote women in jazz, I still come up against some attitudes! I pulled up at a recording session with my drums in the car and the studio owner said, 'I'm sorry, this space is reserved for the drummer!'" - (Jazzwise April 2023).

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!"

Postage

15245 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 264 of them this year alone and, so far, 77 this month (March 25).

From This Moment On ...

March

Mon 27: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.

Tue 28: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 28: Sanaz Lavasani Trio @ Black Swan, Newcastle Arts Centre. 8:00pm. £12.00 (£10.00. adv).

Wed 29: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 29: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 29: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 7:00pm.
Wed 29: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 30: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Gateshead Central Library. 2:30-4:30pm. £2.00. All welcome.
Thu 30: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. Back to 1:00pm stomp off. Free.
Thu 30: '58 Jazz Collective @ Hops & Cheese, Hartlepool. 7:30pm. Free.
Thu 30: Lindsay Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ Harbour View, Sunderland. 8:00pm.
Thu 30: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 31: Lewis Watson Quartet @ Bishop Auckland Town Hall. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 31: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 31: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 31: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm. CANCELLED! Back next week (April 7).
Fri 31: Jasmine Myra + Waclaw Zimpel @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Fri 31: The Revolutionaires @ The Shack, Boldon Colliery. 7:30pm. £10.00. The Revolutionaires' big band (horn section) line-up.
Fri 31: Andrew McCormack @ Maltings, Berwick. 8:00pm. £20.00.

April
Sat 01: The Big Easy @ St Augustine's Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm.
Sat 01: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. Tutor: Steve Glendinning - In a Minor Key. £25.00. Enrol at: www.jazz.coop.
Sat 01: Hot Club du Nord @ Pleased to Meet You, Bridge St., Morpeth. 8:00pm. £79.00. A charity fundraising event.
Sat 01: Boys of Brass @ Stack, Seaburn. 7:00-9:00pm.
Sat 01: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00. RESCHEDULED to next week (Sat 08).

Sun 02: Smokin' Spitfires @ The Cluny. 12:45pm.
Sun 02: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 3:00pm.

Mon 03: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.

Friday, November 25, 2011

Frank Brooker @ Blaydon Jazz Club. November 24th

Frank Brooker (tenor saxophone & clarinet), James Birkett (guitar), Jeremy McMurray (piano), Mick Shoulder (double bass) & Tim Johnston (drums) + Bradley Johnston & James Birkett (guitars)
November 24th could mean only one thing - Christmas party time! Yes, a bit early for the tinsel 'n' all that but after the Arctic conditions this time last year Blaydon Jazz Club decided to play safe and get in there early. Temperatures were positively balmy and a good number of Blaydon regulars turned out. A sumptious buffet was assured thanks to the efforts of many to bring an offering to the table. 
Yorkshire's Frank Brooker made the journey north to have a bite to eat and play some jazz. Straight ahead, mainstream, swinging jazz, call it what you like it was first rate from start to finish. Just Friends, Meditation, In a Mellotone and Benny Carter's Only Trust Your Heart were just some of the first set tunes Brooker invited his friend James Birkett to revisit in relaxed fashion. 
House pianist Jeremy McMurray, a first class soloist in his own right, together with bassist Mick Shoulder and Tim Johnston (drums) ensured the evening would swing tastefully either side of the interval culinary feast. Brooker took a vocal on Sometimes I'm Happy as Birkett excelled with an extended solo topped off by some tasty chords. As the band ran through Oleo pianist McMurray couldn't resist alluding to Santa's Big Day with snatches of Jingle Bells and White Christmas - Yo, Ho, Ho!. 
A musical interval dessert was lapped up by all present - James Birkett reunited with fellow guitarist Bradley Johnston to waltz through John Lewis' Skating in Central Park and then, metaphorically speaking, dashed off to Chick Corea's Spain to nonchalantly dash off Spain. Now, we've come to expect this of Birkett (a virtuoso musician) yet it was something else to hear Johnson, in his teenage years, get to grips with the tune and stamp his own spirited sound on the piece. 
Foodies sated, raffle done, the second set began with Brooker picking up his clarinet to play Kurt Weill's Speak Low and Ellington's I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart (the latter featured a tremendous bluesy solo from Birkett). Switching once more to tenor, Brooker and the boys really did play the blues on Wardell Gray's Twisted. Mick Shoulder featured on this one and it was pretty much  a case of solos all round. Gershwin's Our Love is Here to Stay had everyone Relaxin' at Blaydon (if not Camarillo) and then it was time for a road journey or two. As Brooker and the boys breezed along Route 66, I took my leave to race along the A695. 
Blaydon Jazz Club goes into hibernation until March of next year. Make a date in that new 2012 diary - Thursday 8th March - and get along to hear the roaring big band sounds of the Customs House Big Band with the incomparable Ruth Lambert.
Russell.    

1 comment :

Bradley Johnston (on Facebook). said...

What a night!

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