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Bebop Spoken There

Spasmo Brown: “Jazz is an ice cream sandwich! It's the Fourth of July! It's a girl with a waterbed!”. (Syncopated Times, July, 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

17328 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 612 of them this year alone and, so far, 17 this month (Sept. 5).

From This Moment On ...

September

Tue 10: ???

Wed 11: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 11: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 11: The Tannery Jam Session @ The Tannery, Gilesgate, Hexham. 7:00-9:00pm. Free. A ‘second Wednesday in the month’ jam session.
Wed 11: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 12: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 12: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:30pm. £4.00. ‘A Great Day in Harlem’.
Thu 12: The Cuban Heels @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Pete Tanton & co.
Thu 12: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesborough. 8:30pm. Free. THC with guests Donna Hewitt, Bill Watson, Dave Archbold, Adrian Beadnell, Mark Hawkins.

Fri 13: Jeff Barnhart & Neville Dickie @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. Two pianos, two pianists! SOLD OUT!
Fri 13: Noel Dennis Quartet @ The Old Library, Auckland Castle, Bishop Auckland. 1:00pm. £8.00.
Fri 13: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 13: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 13: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 13: Dilutey Juice @ Old Coal Yard, Byker, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £11.00. adv..
Fri 13: Ray Stubbs R & B All-stars @ The Forum, Darlington. 7:30pm. Classic blues.

Sat 14: Jeff Barnhart’s Silent Film Fest @ St Augustine's Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm. Darlington New Orleans Jazz Club.
Sat 14: Customs House Big Band w. Ruth Lambert @ St Paul’s Centre, St Paul’s Gardens, Spennymoor DL16 7LR. 7:00pm (6:45pm doors). Tickets £10.00. from the venue or tel: 01388 813404. A ‘BYOB’ event.
Sat 14: Emma Wilson @ Claypath Deli, Durham. 7:00pm. £12.00. Acoustic blues.
Sat 14: Rat Pack - Swingin’ at the Sands @ Billingham Forum. 7:30pm.

Sun 15: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 15: Jude Murphy, Steve Chambers & Sid White @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 15: Tweed River Jazz Band @ Barrels Ale House, Berwick-upon-Tweed. 7:00pm. Free.
Sun 15: Panharmonia @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 16: Swing Manouche @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 1:00pm. £9.00.
Mon 16: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 16: John Hallam with the James Birkett Trio @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £10.00. A Blaydon Jazz Club 40th anniversary concert!

Saturday, September 28, 2013

The Customs House Big Band @ St. Cuthbert’s Parish Centre, Crook. Friday Sept. 27

Bill Watson, Michael Lamb, Ken DeVere, Gordon Marshall: (trumpets); Gareth Weaver, Chris Kurgi-Smith, Michael Fletcher, Peter Morgan: (trombones);  Jill Brett, Kim Webb, (alto);  Alan Marshall, Peter Hepplewhite (tenor); Chris Kaberry(baritone); Bill Brittain (piano); Alan Smith (bass guitar); Barry Black (drums); Roy Willis (guitar)..
(Review and photo by Jerry)
7.15, and almost dark; under the open-beamed roof, candles glimmer beside simple floral displays and bowls of nibbles on each red-clothed table. The bar is well stocked with bottled ales and the band is doing a quick sound-check - a hint of what is to come. We are at Crook – my favourite venue bar none!

At 7.30 sharp we were drummed into Love for Sale which featured alto, trumpet and tenor – the first of many excellent solos this evening – and a big, big finish. Indiana was introduced as a “little thing”, but there was really nothing “little” about the sound from this 17-piece band!
We were urged to dance, if we felt like it, and buy the soloists drinks! Next, aptly, was Straight No Chaser! For Sunny Side of the Street Peter Morgan suggested that we sing (Ruth Lambert was absent, ill) and we did, rather shyly at first, but feeling “rich as Rockefeller” nonetheless.
Next was “Not the Stan Kenton Band (but we would like to be)” - trombones to the fore, on But Beautiful: full-throttle crescendos, alto sax solo, hints of foghorn baritone and a high trumpet finish (Ooops! I’m sounding like a wine-buff!) No dancers yet but the Latin rhythms of Storm Zone were clearly getting to the guy who samba-ed to the bar ahead of me, and during The Way You Look Tonight, TWO couples were up and dancing!
Why Musicians Can’t Dance (THREE couples now could) was given the lie, by Peter Morgan, some of whose moves while conducting had me expecting a moonwalk at any moment! A nice guitar solo on this one, too.
April in Paris closed the set with audience-participation (“One more time” we chanted)! So now he had us singing, dancing and chanting: if there’s any snow to be sold to the Inuit, here’s your man for the job!
The interval passed with pizza slices and raffle then back to the music!
Specifically, the music of Gordon Goodwin: the brilliant, cartoon inspired Hunting Wabbits. Its manic staccato opening, all honking brass and clashing cymbals, had the dancers back in action straight away and the melodic middle section featured more fine solos including soprano sax and piano before the drums announced a return to madness. The dancers needed to steer well clear of Mr Morgan’s windmill arms as he wound the band up to a frenetic finale! Goodwin also provided the set-closer, Sing Sang Sung – an “interesting” (understatement!) take on Sing Sing Sing heard on Monday at The Cherry Tree. There the audience had been vocal, here they were rowdily festive, dancing, clapping and hollering (someone near me was doing a passable impersonation of a tawny owl)!
In between these gems – all good, but I need to be brief – we had: Stardust (and an explanation of the name “Hoagy”); Groovin’ High (which lived up to its name); Moonlight in Vermont; Sister Sadie (bop bop bop-baa) and C Jam Blues with at least 10 solos to illustrate “What jazz bands are all about” (Peter Morgan’s words, not mine). Great stuff: this is a band to follow, if not to the ends of the earth, at least to Crook or South Shields or anywhere else you can catch them! Did anyone buy a drink for the soloists, I wonder?

Thanks to all at St. Cuthbert’s for an excellent night: next  gig is Djangologie, keep an eye on the listings for that. We’ll be there. – Jerry.

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