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Bebop Spoken There

Billy Boy Arnold: “As long as you don't think old you're good.” - DownBeat, December, 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!"

Simon Spillett: A lovely review from the dean of jazz bloggers, Lance Liddle...

Postage

16051 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 1058 of them this year alone and, so far, 12 this month (Dec. 6).

From This Moment On ...

December

Fri 08: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 08: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 08: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 08: Giles Strong Quartet @ The Old Library, Auckland Castle. 1:00pm. £7.00.
Fri 08: Hayley's Little Big Band @ Woodland Village Hall, Bishop Auckland. 7:00pm. £12.00.
Fri 08: Sleep Suppressor + Redwell @ Head of Steam, Neville St., Newcastle. 8:00pm. £10.00. (£8.00. adv); £5.00. student.
Fri 08: Hot Club du Nord @ St Cuthbert's Church, Shadforth, Co. Durham.
Fri 08: Têtes de Pois + Nauta @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £12.00., £8.00.

Sat 09: Prudhoe Community Band @ Central Station, Newcastle. 10:00am - 12 noon. Charity fundraiser.
Sat 09: Durham Alumni Big Band @ Number One Bar, Skinnergate, Darlington. 1:00pm.
Sat 09: Castillo Nuevo Trio @ Revoluçion de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30pm. Free.
Sat 09: Hayley's Little Big Band @ Middleton & Todridge Village Hall, Morpeth. 7:30pm. £12.00., £6.00.
Sat 09: Paul Skerritt @ Slaley Hall, Hexham NE47 0BX. 7:30pm. From £42.00.

Sun 10: Musicians Unlimited’s Xmas Party with Zoë Gilby Quartet @ Park Inn, Hartlepool. MU 1:00-3:00pm; Zoë Gilby Quartet 4:00-6:00pm. Tickets: £7.50.
Sun 10: Alan Law, Paul Grainger & Abbie Finn @ Darlington Market, Market Square, Darlington. 1:00pm. Free. A ‘Christmas Market’ outdoor gig. Wrap up warm!
Sun 10: Am Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00-4:00pm. Free.
Sun 10: Funk Soul Sista @ Stack, Seaburn. 5:00-7:00pm. Free.
Sun 10: Beth Clarke @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 10: Hayley's Little Big Band @ Whittingham Memorial Institute, Alnwick. 7:30pm. £12.00., £10.00.
Sun 10: Tele-Port @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Line-up inc. Zhenya Strigalev.

Mon 11: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 11: Interim Final Recitals @ Newcastle University. Details TBC.

Tue 12: Stu Collingwood Organ Trio @ Forum Music Centre, Darlington. 7:00pm. £10.00.

Wed 13: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 13: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 13: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 13: Bold Big Band @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. 7:30pm.
Wed 13: Giles Strong Quartet @ Alphabetti Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 14: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 14: Hot Fingers @ The Lubetkin Theatre, Peterlee. 7:00pm. £10.00.
Thu 14: After Hours Student Jazz Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free.
Thu 14: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. . Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 14: Niffi Osiyemi Trio @ Harbour View, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free.
Thu 14: Mo Scott ‘Little Mo’s Festive Appearance’ @ The Schooner, Gateshead. 8:00pm. Free.
Thu 14: Tees Hot Club w. Kevin Eland, Josh Bentham, Garry Hadfield, Adrian Beadnell @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Monday, June 17, 2013

Toby Boalch Sextet @ The Bridge Hotel. June 16

Toby Boalch (keyboards), Chris Maddock (alto saxophone), John Fleming (tenor saxophone), Richard Foote (trombone), Nick Jurd (double bass) & Jonathan Silk (drums)
(Review by Russell).
Splinter at the Bridge is a ‘must get to’ gig. Every Sunday night in the upstairs room of the Bridge Hotel perched high above the Tyne there is a guarantee of excellence. This week’s guests - the Toby Boalch Sextet - were no exception. Hailing from Birmingham, the musicians must have been disappointed to see so few faces take their seats. Other bands have played to a similarly sparse turn-out in recent weeks. Tyneside’s jazz audience is large in number yet reluctant to make the effort to get to gigs.
The Sage Gateshead can certainly pull them in – a guarantee of excellence perhaps - whereas the smaller venues struggle to survive. Earlier this month Toyshop presented the music of Clifford Brown. It was an excellent gig with few people in attendance. This week’s gig drew the hardy few. The absent hordes missed a corker. Six young guns, graduates of Birmingham Conservatoire, played their socks off.
Led by Toby Boalch, the band played the music of the affable pianist. Stated influences on band members include Bob Brookmeyer and Booker Little. One thing is for certain, those legendary figures would have approved of the music heard at the Bridge. Bass and drums were right on the money (bassist Nick Jurd works regularly with Soweto Kinch, no less and Jonathan Silk, yet another wonderful drummer) and the frontline boasted three fine soloists taking it in turn to emerge from a shimmering canvas of vivid colours sketched in unison.
State of Play got things under way, making it clear these guys could play. Boalch led by example, followed by John Fleming, tenor. A blues - King’s Road Blues - introduced altoist Chris Maddock and Richard Foote (trombone); assured alto, terrific trombone. A ballad showcased the work of Chris Maddock and a marvellous first set drew to a close with Contradiction featuring powerful solos from Fleming and Foote.
Dusk. Trains skirted round Castle Keep, northbound, southbound. The beers tip-top. The Bridge is the best room in town to hear jazz - visiting musicians like it too. Altoist Chris Maddock maintained the high level of performance as the second set began with Mighty Mike. A highlight of the evening - Checkered Past - coalesced around a bass/drums/trombone section (Ray Anderson came to mind) with fizzing kit work from Silk, rooted bass playing from Jurd and some serious improvisation from Richard Foote (trombone). Glimmer cooled it before Boalch thanked those present for being ‘such an attentive, listening audience.’ The sextet swung it out with November Song. An excellent set from an excellent sextet, the Toby Boalch Sextet.             
Russell.                    





1 comment :

Robert Laing said...

I couldn't have put it better

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