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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, December 15, 2014

Digital Review: Big Chief - Blues in Twos

Dick Heckstall-Smith (sop/ten); John Fry (ten/vcl); Mike Jacques (gtr); Adrian Paton (elec. pno); Tony Edwards (dms/vcls); Cliff Colins (vcl on Stormy Monday).
(Review by Lance).
Recorded in 1982 at the Pegasus pub in Stoke Newington these previously unreleased tracks are a timely reminder of one of the UK's best ever "Blues 'n Roll" bands. I don't think I ever visited the Pegasus - in fact. listening to this digi release, I know I didn't. I wouldn't forget blasts like this!
The atmosphere's there, maybe a distinctive aroma in the air, who knows? who cares? This is 1982 and Big Chief don't take no prisoners! Not with sax legend Dick Heckstall-Smith blowing like there's no tomorrow, John Fry adding his tenor and croaking the blues like he'd been born in Memphis and moved to Detroit via Chicago, and some more soulful blues by Cliff Collins on T-Bone's Stormy Monday.
This is like any blues club you've ever been to - only better.
And Big Chief is still going strong, 30 odd years on!
Lance.
Available from Dec. 15.
Link.
Album notes by John Fry.
Dick [Heckstall-Smith] was with Big Chief from its inception in 1976. The band played each week in Crouch End, North London. It was here that it took the name, Big Chief (taking its name from one of the songs in its repertoire and with more than a nod toward the Mardi Gras Indians of New Orleans).
At that time it was a five piece. We were the Monday night band at the Stapleton Hall Tavern, and though it may seem inconceivable in the current age of pub closure, we used to pack the place. We made a lot of friends in that time and stayed for about 18 months.
Eventually, we took a Saturday residency at the Pegasus in Green Lanes, Stoke Newington. Bass guitarist, Tony Desborough, was replaced by Tony Reeves who had, previously been with Dick in Jon Hiseman’s Colosseum. Shortly after Tony’s arrival, the band added Mike Jacques on guitar, formerly with Tony in Curved Air. This became the line up for the better part of six and a half wonderful years.
Big Chief was never Dick’s band. He was a team player and never wanted it any other way. Yet he never gave less than 100% of his energies. He once said that every band he’d played with had become a legend. And, although we didn’t attract much media attention, the word was out on the street; I remember one chap regularly came to hear the band all the way from Dublin.
With a couple of studio exceptions, Tony recorded these tracks at the Pegasus in 1982. Dick was particularly fond of his performance on the Bill Withers song, Use Me. Cliff Collins, a friend and occasional Saturday night guest, contributed the Bobby Bland blues, Stormy Monday.
Supported and encouraged by Stephen and George at Janus Sounds, these tracks, which have remained dormant for some thirty years, have been painstakingly restored and re-mixed by Tony Reeves, and will, we hope, add to the legacy and fond memory of the one we called “the Guv’nor”, the truly legendary Dick Heckstall-Smith.
John Fry. October 2014

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