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Bebop Spoken There

Art Blakey: "You [Bobby Watson] don't want to play too long, because you don't know they're clapping because they're glad you finished!" - (JazzTimes, Nov. 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!"

Postage

15867 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 874 of them this year alone and, so far, 72 this month (Sept. 25).

From This Moment On ...

September

Wed 27: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 27: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 27: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 28: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 28: Alice Grace Quartet @ King's Hall, Newcastle University. 1:15pm. Free.
Thu 28: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Gateshead Central Library, Gateshead. 2:30pm. All welcome.
Thu 28: Faye MacCalman + Snape/Sankey @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Thu 28: Zoe Rahman @ Jesmond United Reformed Church, Jesmond, Newcastle. 7:30pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Thu 28: '58 Jazz Collective @ Hops & Cheese, Hartlepool. 7:30pm.
Thu 28: Speakeasy @ Queen's Hall, Hexham. 7:30pm. £15.00. A Southpaw Dance Company presentation. Dance, audio-visuals, Count Basie, Benny Goodman, swing dancers etc.
Thu 28: Mick Cantwell Band @ Harbour View, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Ace blues band.
Thu 28: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 29: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 29: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 29: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.

Sat 30: John Pope Quintet + Late Girl + Shapeshifters @ Bobik's, Jesmond, Newcastle.
Sat 30: Papa G's Troves @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.

OCTOBER

Sun 01: Smokin' Spitfires @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:45pm.
Sun 01: Dulcie May Moreno sings Portrait of Sheila @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00pm. £10.00. Moreno sings Sheila Jordan with Giles Strong, Mick Shoulder & John Bradford.
Sun 01: Middlesbrough Jazz & Blues Orchestra @ Saltburn Community Hall. 2:00pm.
Sun 01: The Easy Rollers @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. £13.70., £11.55.
Sun 01: Brand/Roberts/Champion/Sanders @ Blank Studios, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Sun 01: Papa G's Troves @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 02: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Mon 02: FILM: Wattstax; 50th Anniversary @ Forum Cinema, Hexham. 8:00pm.

Tue 03: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 03: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. House trio: Michael Young (piano); Paul Grainger (double bass); Paul Wight (drums).

Friday, May 11, 2012

Howard Alden Quintet @ Bois(terous)dale. May 10.

Howard Alden (7 string gtr); Karen Sharp (ten); Simon Woolf (bs); Sebastian de Krom (dms); Jeanne Gies (vcl).
(Review by Lance).
One may be forgiven for thinking that the presence of one of the world's great jazz guitarists - a living legend - would have the audience sitting in hushed silence in awe of greatness. Fat chance! This is Boisdale where the volume of noise from the crowd makes the mob at Hoochie Coochie seem like a meeting of Whisperers' Anonymous!
Nevertheless, for those prepared to listen, and this includes  a charming couple - Leanne and Drew - whose acquaintance I was delighted to make (our views on jazz, the venue and the gig ran parallel), there was some great jazz played.
Opening up with I Hear a Rhapsody Karen Sharp took the first solo. Her rich full sound proved you don't have to be a man to blow masculine tenor! Karen ably carried on the tradition begun by Kathy Stobart and Barbara Thompson. Enter Alden with a solo that really should have been appreciated by more than the select few paying attention. This was George Van Eps, George Barnes, Bucky Pizzarelli  and, most of all Howard Alden.
Embraceable You once again showed off the wonderful Sharp sound - I think I'm in love! Alden of course was brilliant but Simon Woolf's bowed bass solo was, I think, the most melodic bass solo I've ever heard!
A swinging I'll Remember April culminated in an exciting round of fours.
So far so good.
Enter Jeanne Gies. Jeanne, an American singer of great originality put her stamp on Little White Lies, My Foolish Heart and On the Street Where You Live bringing the set to a close.
It was during the break I met the aforementioned Leanne and Drew and eventually joined their table prior to which I'd been kept amply supplied with Bombadier Bitter by barman Ernest. Thank you kind sir.
The second set began with a duo take on I Wanna Be Around by Alden and Ms. Gies which was superbly effective. Gies stayed on stage until the end of the set. Now with all due respect to the lady - she is an interesting singer - it meant less of Howard Alden and I'd made the trip out to Canary Wharf specially to hear him.
Perhaps it was, as suggested by my table companions, because he'd sensed the general indifference and decided to go down the cabaret road. Who knows? So, like the well known egg of the Curate, this gig was very good in parts but, as an audience, they (the audience) could have done better!
Lance.

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