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Bebop Spoken There

Kelly Sill: "Just because everyone is playing through the changes in the same time doesn't mean they're actually playing together" - (JazzTimes March/April 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!"

Postage

15260 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 279 of them this year alone and, so far, 92 this month (March 29).

From This Moment On ...

April
Sat 01: The Big Easy @ St Augustine's Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm.
Sat 01: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. Tutor: Steve Glendinning - In a Minor Key. £25.00. Enrol at: www.jazz.coop.
Sat 01: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington Covered Market, Darlington DL1 5PN. 6:00pm. New venue, live jazz!
Sat 01: Jambone @ Sage Gateshead. 7:00pm. Free (book online). A YMP! event in the Northern Rock Foundation Hall.
Sat 01: Jude Murphy & Dan Stanley @ Prohibtion Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.
Sat 01: Boys of Brass @ Stack, Seaburn. 7:00-9:00pm.
Sat 01: Hot Club du Nord @ Pleased to Meet You, Bridge St., Morpeth. 8:00pm. £79.00. A charity fundraising event.
Sat 01: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00. RESCHEDULED to next week (Sat 08).

Sun 02: Smokin' Spitfires @ The Cluny. 12:45pm.
Sun 02: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 3:00pm.

Mon 03: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.

Tue 04: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 04: Jam session @ Black Swan, Newcastle Arts Centre. 7:30pm. House trio: Bradley Johnston (guitar); Paul Grainger (double bass); Abbie Finn (drums).

Wed 05: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 05: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 05: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 7:00pm.
Wed 05: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 06: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 06: Thursday Night Prayer Meeting @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Donations. Feat. John Pope, Marie Shreer, John Garner.
Thu 06: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibtion Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Ragtime piano. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.
Thu 06: Darlington Big Band @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm. Note earlier start time.

Fri 07: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 07: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 07: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 07: Gaz Hughes Trio @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm.
Fri 07: Mark Toomey Quartet @ Traveller's Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. £8.00.
Fri 07: Finntet + Zoë Gilby & Andy Champion @ Bobik's, Punch Bowl, Newcastle. 8:00pm. JNE.
Fri 07: TBA @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig. Blind Pig Blues Club.

Sunday, June 22, 2014

CD Review: Northern Monkey Brass Band – High on Life

Graham Hardy (trumpet), Alastair Lord (trumpet), Jamie Toms (tenor saxophone), David Gray (trombone),  Mark Ferris (trombone), Phil Rosier (tuba), Nik Alevroyiannis (snare drum) & Brendan Murphy (bass drum)
(Review by Russell).
High on Life is the recording debut of the majestic Northern Monkey Brass Band. Trumpeter Graham Hardy has assembled some of the finest brass players and percussionists to play a music that never fails to move body and soul. The best of American street bands – from the Dirty Dozen Brass Band to the Youngblood Brass Band – the inspiration, Hardy has taken a people’s music of the early twentieth century and given it a twenty first century twist.   
High on Life comprises six tracks. Hardy wrote four of them and arranged two others. Funky Pie - Part 2 opens the CD with a bang. Theme stated, all-action ‘bone man David Gray leads the attack, the band’s sole reeds man Jamie Toms interjects, Gray re-asserts his authority, a determined Toms comes back for more, Hardy makes a startling entrance, all marshalled by Phil Rosier’s funkin’ tuba. Rosier starts the ball rolling on the title track High on Life, Toms is quick on the uptake, Nik Alevroyiannis snaps the snare and Toms’ rollercoaster tenor is only brought to a halt by insistent snare work. Toms cannot resist a final flourish… is that a quote from kids’ favourite The Magic Roundabout?
Heroic monkeys in orbit are the stuff of space legend. On John Williams’ Imperial Cantina the Northern Monkeys embark upon an Interstellar Space journey. ‘I haven’t seen Star Wars’ you say. Don’t worry, sit back and enjoy the trip! The familiar refrain lifts off in a retro dance band space capsule powered by expert ensemble work. Fun, fun, fun.
Hardy plays fearlessly on his own composition The Melon Felony. Rosier rolls out the bass line, percussionists Alevroyiannis and Brendan Murphy keep it firmly in the pocket as Hardy and Alastair Lord fire a two-trumpet volley skywards. Hardy’s solo is good reason to acquire the CD (play the track on repeat). Kitsch hip populist material never did anyone any harm, so a Northern Monkey take on Beyoncé’s hit Single Ladies works a treat. It’s what you do with it that counts; a playground squabble, massive tuba, lyrical tenor.
The final track – Horndoggin’ – is a Horn Dogs’ pup adopted by the Northern Monkeys. The rhythm section sets the tempo, horns play with the melody, tenor and trumpet trade, take it home boys! The CD is available at www.northernmonkeybrassband.com and from the band at gigs. Play it loud! The band’s CD launch gig is at Hoochie Coochie, Newcastle on Sunday 6 July (5:00 pm). A lunchtime date at Brass: Durham International Festival (Friday 18 July) is in the diary, as is St Cuthbert’s Centre, Crook on Friday 1 August (7:30 pm). High on Life is dedicated to the memory of John Wheeler.  
Russell.

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