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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

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); Steve White (drums).

Wed 04: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 04: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 04: Paul Skerritt @ Vespa Italian Bar & Steakhouse, Primrose Hill, Jarrow. From 7:00pm. To book a table - 0191 483 3355.
Wed 04: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Saturday, February 08, 2014

Natalie Williams @ Hoochie Coochie + CD Review: Natalie Williams - Where You Are

Natalie Williams (vcl); Phil Peskett (keys); Al Cherry (gtr); Robin Mullarkey (bs. gtr/uke bs); Troy Miller (dms).
(Review by Lance)
Last time I heard Ms. Williams was on a Thursday afternoon in London's Cadogan Hall where Natalie laid a couple of hours of delightful GASbook upon us.
Friday night at Hoochie Coochie is more than mere miles away from a Thursday afternoon at Cadogan! It's a different planet! Maybe somewhere around Jupiter way.
Instead of suave sophistication, we got a raunchy, no holds barred, performance that merged soul, jazz, funk and rock into a sizzling inferno of sound.
The lady has the most incredible vocal chops with a range that reaches stratospheric heights without loss of intonation or emotion.
Amazingly, many of the numbers sung at the gig were (perhaps not so amazingly) from her latest CD and several had strong family connections. The title track, for example, related to words of wisdom she got as a child from her grandmother and Immortal is adapted by the singer from a lyric written by her father, award nominated poet John Hartley Williams.
As well as her original compositions written in conjunction with (mainly) Tom Cawley and Peskett there are pieces by Paul Simon and John Lennon.
At the gig, a histrionic version of Love For Sale surely had Cole Porter turning in his grave - maybe this was indeed written by a "Coal Porter"! By contrast, on the disc but not on the night, is the most exquisite version of A Garden in the Rain you'll ever hear this side of the Savoy Hotel circa 1930. If Carroll Gibbons was turning in his grave it was in appreciation of such a perfect rendition.
The Hoochie girls danced from the start and by the finish, my inhibitions loosened by bottles of London Pride saw me too shaking an arthritic leg.
With a band like this the dead would be dancing! Troy Miller socked it to them with an impressive solo as well as gooseing the rest along. Peskett and Cherry were always on the money and there was some malarkey from Mullarkey with a bass ukulele!
If you were at the gig you'll want the CD. If you've got the CD you'll wish you were at the gig!
Lance.

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