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Bebop Spoken There

Kurt Elling: ''There's something to learn from every musician you play with''. (DownBeat, December 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

17630 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 904 of them this year alone and, so far, 49 this month (Dec. 20).

From This Moment On ...

December

Mon 23: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 23: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Wheatsheaf, Benton Sq., Whitley Road, Palmersville NE12 9SU. Tel: 0191 266 8137. 1:00pm. Free. CANCELLED!
Mon 23: Edison Herbert Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 4:00pm. Free.
Mon 23: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 4:00-6:00pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Mon 23: Milne-Glendinning Band @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.

Tue 24: Lindsay Hannon & Mark Williams @ Ernest, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 11:00am-1:00pm. Free.
Tue 24: Paul Skerritt @ Mambo Wine & Dine, South Shields. 1:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.

Wed 25: Wot? No jazz!

Thu 26: The Boneshakers @ Tyne Bar, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. The 17th annual Boneshakers’ Shindig.

Fri 27: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 27: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free. Business as usual!.
Fri 27: Jason Isaacs @ Seaburn STACK, Seaburn. 3:30-5:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Fri 27: Michael Woods @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Country blues guitar & vocals.

Sat 28: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 11:30am. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 28: Fri 20: Castillo Nuevo @ Revoluçion de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30pm. Free.
Sat 28: Jude Murphy, Rich Herdman & Giles Strong @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sat 28: Ray Stubbs R & B All-Stars @ Billy Bootlegger’s, Stepney Bank, Newcastle. 9:00pm. Free.

Sun 29: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 29: Alexia Gardner Quintet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Reviewers wanted

Whilst BSH attempts to cover as many gigs, festivals and albums as possible, to make the site even more comprehensive we need more 'boots on the ground' to cover the albums seeking review - a large percentage of which never get heard - report on gigs or just to air your views on anything jazz related. Interested? then please get in touch. Contact details are on the blog. Look forward to hearing from you. Lance

Sunday, July 15, 2012

Of Mice and Jazzmen. July 14, 2012

(Review by Russell - Photo by Oliver Soden).
Plan A. Monument Metro station mid-morning. Take the leisurely route through South Tyneside, explore South Shields market, catch the Shields’ ferry to the north side, jump on a train to Tynemouth and stroll along to the jazz stage to hear the first of two days of  classic-era jazz. 
Plan B. Take the leisurely route then minutes into the journey hear the train driver announce that due to a truck hitting a road bridge further on up the line the train would terminate at Hebburn. Take the bus or walk? Walk. Half a mile along the road it rained. Connect with another train down the line at Jarrow. Arrive South Shields. King Street

The unmistakable sound of a bagpiper. No, make that four bagpipers. What’s the definition of a gentlemen? Answers to Bebop Spoken Here. The market place, the sound of four gentlemen distant. A stall holder cranked-up the ghetto-blaster to assail one and all with country and western ‘classics’. The far side of the market rendered the stetsoned one all but silent. One or two interesting books but the purchase of the day was a good condition vinyl copy of The Hawk in Holland Coleman Hawkins and the Ramblers Dance Orchestra. Called into the Customs House to check-out the current exhibition – Jane Lee McCracken The Woodcutter’s Cottage. Amazing what can be created using nothing but a biro. Ferry to North Shields. Looked in on a charity shop on the off chance that there would be a rare Joe Harriott LP going for 50p. No Harriott but plenty of Jim Reeves. The Mob (aka a group of young ‘uns) threw in a stink bomb. The staff were not amused. 
Amused caught the Metro, better late than never, to Tynemouth. Once a year the genteel coastal town supports the long weekend Mouth of the Tyne Festival. Front Street comes alive with face painters, acrobats, fire eaters, stilt walkers, street theatre, on-street barbies, drinkers and drunkards and this year the best thing seen/enacted in many a year…folk sporting Roaring Twenties garb - plus twos, spats – looking nonplussed covered in ‘deposits’ from seagulls overhead. Brilliant! 
The Gibraltar Rock stage (the cliff top pub not the time-warped redundant outcrop of ‘Empire’) soaked-up the sun. Sun? Why wasn’t it raining? Three bands shared the billing, each performing two sets. Broadway Melody strolled through their opening spot. Mia Webb, working with the band for the first time, sang Autumn Leaves (!) and sent out an invitation to dance Cheek to Cheek (if only!). The comedic Iain McAulay (trombone & vocals) and Derek Fleck (clarinet & saxophone) made Ms Webb feel right at home. Pianist Brian Chester impressed (every jazz stage should have an acoustic piano) and the back room boys (boys?) Ollie Rillands (drums) and John Carstairs Hallam (double bass) kept things swinging. Second helpings included Sentimental Journey, Royal Garden Blues (excellent trumpet from the excellent Mick Hill) and one of the tunes of the afternoon had Webb opining Mean to Me (surely no one could be so to the wonderful Ms Webb?). 
The West Jesmond Rhythm Kings, led by trumpeter Mike Durham, were drafted in from across Tyneside. Well, in truth most of them simply moved around the stage. Pianist Brian Chester stretched his legs to play trombone on the session as Iain McAulay switched to double bass and the phlegmatic Derek Fleck didn’t stray too far from his pipe and slippers fireside chair. Roly Veitch – a bona fide banjo rhythm king – knocked out the chords with aplomb. Durham was on the look-out for some Cake Walking Babies from Home. Perhaps he didn’t find them but he did unearth a spirited Bad Penny Blues
Dedicated purveyors of Crescent City jazz the Rae Brothers New Orleans Jazz Band closed the first day with a typical set – classic instrumentation, authentic vocals and first-rate ensemble work. The Raes – Mac (trumpet, clarinet & vocals) and Dave (banjo & vocals) have assembled a top-drawer band. Clarinetist Liz Bacon is an assured front line player and drummer Paul Bacon could justifiably lay claim to being a graduate of the School of New Orleans Music (honorary Crescent City citizenship must surely be in the offing). The lugubrious John Robinson (string bass) played as he always does – with reassuring efficiency. The youthful Ian Wynne played some rollicking piano. Hearing him play Professor Longhair’s Crawfish Fiesta confirms him as another five star student of the music. Earlier in the day Mia Webb singing Mean to Me was a highlight and the Rae Brothers provided another – Over in the Glory Land. A glorious finale to a not so glorious summer’s day. The rain returned. A day for mice and jazzmen.
Russell                                                        






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