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Bebop Spoken There

Steve Fishwick: “I can’t get behind the attitude that new is always somehow better than old” - Jazz Journal, April 15, 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!"

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

Postage

16034 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 1041 of them this year alone and, so far, 73 this month (Nov. 27).

From This Moment On ...

November

Thu 30: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 30: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 7:30pm (7:00pm doors). Tickets: £25.00. inc. buffet. A Gatsby themed evening.
Thu 30: '58 Jazz Collective @ Hops and Cheese, 9-11 Tower St., Hartlepool, TS24 7HH. 7:30pm.
Thu 30: Jools Holland's R & B Orchestra @ Newcastle City Hall. 7:30pm.
Thu 30: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Ragtime piano. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.
Thu 30: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. Guest band night: Mark Toomey Quintet (Mark Toomey, sax; Paul Donnelly, guitar; Jeremy McMurray, keys; Peter Ayton, bass; Mark Robertson, drums). 9:00pm.

December
Fri 01: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 01: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 01: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 01: Paul Skerritt @ All Saints’ Church, Eastgate, Co. Durham. 7:00pm. Xmas Tree Fest.
Fri 01: Alligator Gumbo @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 01: Nu Sound Brass @ Billy Bootlegger’s, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free.
Fri 01: Struggle Buggy w. Jim Murray @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Blind Pig Blues Club. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sat 02: Paula Jackman's Jazz Masters @ St Augustine's Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm. £10.00.
Sat 02: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. Tutor: Steve Glendinning. £25.00. Enrol at: www.jazz.coop.
Sat 02: Abbie Finn Trio @ Claypath Deli, Durham. 7:00pm.
Sat 02: Tenement Jazz Band @ John Marley Centre, Newcastle. Swing Tyne Winter Social. £8.00. + bf. Advance purchase only, no admission at the door. BYOB. Lindy hop workshop from 11:00am. £39.00.
Sat 02: Zoë Gilby Quartet @ The Masham, Hartburn Village, Stockton. 7:00pm. Feat. Noel Dennis.
Sat 02: Classic Swing @ The Nuthatch, 9 - 11 Bedford St, Middlesbrough TS1 2LL. 7:00-9:00pm. Classic Swing in trio format.
Sat 02: Paul Skerritt w. Danny Miller Big Band @ Westovian Theatre, South Shields. 7:30pm.
Sat 02: Vermont Big Band @ Whitley Bay FC. 7:30pm. £10.00. (inc. hot buffet). Tickets available from WBFC’s Seahorse pub club house.
Sat 02: Milne-Glendinning Band @ Ponteland Social Club, Northumberland. 7:30pm. £18.00 (inc. stotties & soup supper). A fundraiser for Hexham Constituency Labour Party.
Sat 02: Durham Dynamics & Basement Jazz @ Kingsgate Bar & Café, Durham Students’ Union. 7:30pm. £5.00. (£4.50. concs.). ‘Fab & Festive’. A cappella & jazz. Abba, Mariah Carey & more.
Sat 02: Tom Remon & Laurence Harrison @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sat 02: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. Xmas party night inc. buffet & special raffle. £3.00.
Sat 02: Groovetrain @ The Unionist Club, Laygate, South Shields. 9:00pm.

Sun 03: The Central Bar Quartet @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00pm. £10.00. The Central Bar Quartet plays Lou Donaldson’s Gravy Train. Featuring Jamie Toms.
Sun 03: Paul Skerritt @ Smith’s Arms, Carlton, Stockton-on-Tees. 7:00pm.
Sun 03: Johnny Hunter Quartet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Sun 03: Jam session @ The Schooner, Gateshead. 8:00pm. Free.

Mon 04: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Mon 04: Northern Monkey Brass Band @ People’s Kitchen, Bath Lane, Newcastle. From 5:30pm. On-street gig supporting the work of the People’s Kitchen charity. Wrap up warm! Donate!
Mon 04: Michael Young Trio w Lindsay Hannon @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 7:00pm. Free.
Mon 04: James Birkett Trio @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £8.00.
Mon 04: Durham University Jazz Orchestra + Durham University Big Band @ Durham Castle DH1 3RW. 8:30pm. £6.00.; £5.00. concs; £4.00. DSM. ‘Jazzy Christmas’.

Tue 05: Customs House Big Band @ All Saints Church, Cleadon. 7:00pm. Concert in the church hall. BYOB.
Tue 05: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Michael Young, Paul Grainger, Sid White. The best free show in town!

Wed 06: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 06: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 8:00pm. Free. Note later start time, concert performance (open to the public).
Wed 06: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Sunday, May 17, 2015

Ruth Lambert Trio @ St. Cuthbert's Centre, Crook - May 15.











Ruth Lambert, vocals. Giles Strong, guitar and Mick Shoulder, bass.
(Review/photos by Jerry)
 Ruth, Mick and Giles have a CD out and, having heard most of the tracks from it here tonight, I bought one! The sleeve-notes include this quote (not sure from whom): “It’s all about the intimacy of the trio. Three voices, each one as important as the other.” That sums up the distinctive atmosphere and experience here tonight. Thanking the band at the end, the MC likened it to chamber music in its clarity and apparent simplicity and he knows more about music than I do! I stress “apparent” simplicity as there is much complexity in the writing and arrangements and much subtlety of technique in performance to achieve that end. A treat of a gig!
The GASbook was well represented with You and the Night and the Music and Old Devil Moon in the first few numbers. Later came Carmichael’s wistful Skylark  (bass and vocals only)followed  by I’m in the Mood for Love. We also had Devil May Care and Arlen’s perky I’ve got the World on a String.
During the interval the band had discussed possible rhythmic augmentation – conga drums or an egg, maybe? In the event neither of those were deployed but on Tizol’s Caravan Giles tapped out the rhythm on the body of his guitar just as Mick had done on the bass on Love for Sale. Later we had Cole Porter’s You’d Be so Nice to Come Home To, Time After Time (with Mick sort-of-singing on his solo – always a good sign!) and, as an encore (vociferously requested), Secret Love.
Ruth admitted that the GASbook has always been her “comfort zone” but  tonight (and this is mirrored on the CD) she was stepping boldly and brilliantly out of it! Mick’s arrangement of Softly, as in a Morning Sunrise, for example, was “tricky to sing”, but how well she sung it! Then there was a blues – Love me Like a Man – dedicated to B.B. King with whom Bonnie Raitt often collaborated. I loved this version!
Ruth’s love of a song that tells a story brought us something more recent (well, 1969!) – Al Wilson’s The Snake - a happy song about a tender lady rescuing a poorly snake from death in return for which “he gave her a vicious bite”! When they told me this was “a seminal Northern Soul song”, I didn't believe them! Their version was mesmerising and if you ever want hissing sibilants, Ruth’s the girl!
There were originals, too, which showed that Carmichael & Cahn did not have a monopoly on good tunes and thoughtful lyrics! I have heard Ruth sing A Love That Never Dies countless times but never knew till now that she penned it. I assumed it was someone like Jobim (which I assume Ruth will take as a compliment)! She and Mick co-wrote Lullaby, a slow, moody piece teetering on the line between comfortable and spooky! Giles Strong’s Everything Was Beautiful lived up to its name and had lyrics which, in my opinion, the old masters would be proud of, suggesting positives which might emerge from the otherwise sad break-up of a relationship. Mick Shoulder’s How Could I? was introduced with the speculation that one day people might refer to the Great North-Eastern Songbook! Why not? say I  - the first chapter has already been written!
With Mick Shoulder on bass and Giles Strong on guitar Ruth will be in good voice” was how Bebop…flagged up this gig. Spot on! Three more concerts are coming up here between now and November – do NOT miss them!
Jerry.

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