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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

Thu 07: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free CANCELLED!
Thu 07: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ Spanish City, Whitley Bay, Newcastle. 12 noon - 4:00pm. £26.00 (inc 3-course meal in in St Mary's Lighthouse Suite). SOLD OUT!
Thu 07: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Gateshead Central Library, Gateshead. 2:30pm. All welcome.
Thu 07: Thursday Night Prayer Meeting @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.Donations. Feat. Mark Sanders. CANCELLED!
Thu 07: Indigo Jazz Voices @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:45pm. £5.00. Downstairs. CANCELLED!
Thu 07: Tees Hot Club: Just Friends @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. Guest band night w. Richie Emmerson, Ian Bosworth, Dave Archbold, Ron Smith, Mark Hawkins. 9:00pm.

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.

Tuesday, May 12, 2015

Strictly Smokin’ Big Band @ The Keys, Darlington. May 10

(Review by Russell)
Darlington Jazz Club goes from strength to strength. Following the success of the 2015 Darlington Jazz Festival staged at a multitude of town centre locations, club organisers have an additional venue to play with. The Keys on Skinnergate is a bar/restaurant/club affair. The stripped-back-to-the-brick, pastel shades of the ground floor bar are in stark contrast to the ‘funky industrial’ theme of the first floor nightclub. The exposed heating ducts, the steel perimeter around the centrally sited, up-lit dance floor – it all felt a little too self-conscious. Scene set, the Strictly Smokin’ Big Band set up on the dance floor.
Tyneside’s seriously smokin’ outfit adopted an unusual configuration; reeds and rhythm sections at ninety degrees to the brass players, the expanse of the dance floor open to the vocalists. The audience sat (and stood) on all four sides.
‘Welcome to Studio 54!’ quipped MC Guy Swinton. Grace Jones and Steve Strange were conspicuous by their absence but the band didn’t hang around waiting for them to show. Buddy Rich, Kenny Wheeler, Horace Silver, Tom Garling, Howlin’ Wolf, Van Morrison – an eclectic set list to say the least! The room didn’t help the sound and the vocalists – two top singers – weren't heard to best effect. The radiant Lindsay Hannon stood in the spotlight (quite literally), every bit Veronica Lake and a little bit Jean Harlow (in a studio publicity pic), to sing a few songs including I’m Beginning to See the Light and Route 66. Male counterpart F’reez, more soul boy than interpreter of the Gasbook, charmed the rosé-drinking ladies with Moondance and Come Fly with Me.
The boys in the band were as good as one has come to expect – special mention for the rhythm section (always impressive) and on this occasion, the smokin’ trumpet section.
The saxophones had their moments (baritone Laurie Rangecroft soloed!) and the band’s new party piece – Sax Alley – worked as an encore with tenors Keith Robinson, Paul Gowland and Jamie Toms tearing it up.
The Keys is different. Darlington Jazz Club will work hard to make it work. Early days, time will tell. The next club night is on Sunday 24 May at the Quakerhouse, Mechanics’ Yard, featuring one of Andy Bennett’s final gigs before upping sticks and heading down south. Bennett, a superb alto/soprano saxophonist and clarinetist (he held the chair in the Voice of the North Jazz Orchestra) will have some of the finest musicians around to say farewell. Put it the diary now – 5:30pm, Sunday 24th May.                         
Strictly Smokin’ Big Band: Michael Lamb MD, Pete Tanton, Gordon Marshall, Dick Stacey (trumpets), John Flood, Tom Dowling, Mark Ferris, Kieran Parnaby (trombones), Laurie Rangecroft (baritone saxophone), Paul Gowland (tenor saxophone), Jamie Toms (tenor saxophone), Niall Armstrong (alto saxophone), Keith Robinson (alto & tenor saxophones), Graham Don (piano), Pawel Jedrzejewski (guitar), Michael Whent (bass), Guy Swinton (drums), Lindsay Hannon (vocals) & F’reez (vocals).
Russell.

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