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Bebop Spoken There

Branford Marsalis: "As ignorance often forces us to do, you make a generalisation about a musician based on one specific record or one moment in time." - (Jazzwise June 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

15491 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 512 of them this year alone and, so far, 133 this month (May 31).

From This Moment On ...

June
Thu 01: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 01: Thursday Night Prayer Meeting @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Donations.
Thu 01: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Ragtime piano. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.
Thu 01: Jake Leg Jug Band @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Thu 01: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 02: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 02: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 02: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 02: Joseph Carville Trio @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm.
Fri 02: Claire Martin & Her Trio @ The Witham, Barnard Castle. 7:30pm. £25.00., £20.00. Feat. Jim Mullen, Alex Garnett & Jeremy Brown.
Fri 02: Guy Davis + Michael Littlefield & Scott Taylor @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. Doors 7:30pm. Blues double bill.
Fri 02: Anders Ingram @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Blind Pig Blues Club. Country blues. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.

Sat 03: Newcastle Record Fair @ Northumbria University, Newcastle NE8 8SB. 10:00am-3:00pm. Admission: £2.00.
Sat 03: Pedigree Jazz Band @ St Augustine's Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm.
Sat 03: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. Tutor: Sue Ferris. £25.00. Enrol at: www.jazz.coop.
Sat 03: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 6:00pm. Free.
Sat 03: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00.
Sat 03: Papa G's Troves @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.

Sun 04: Smokin' Spitfires @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:45pm.
Sun 04: Central Bar Quintet @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00-4:00pm. £5.00. The Central Bar Quintet plays Sonny Rollins' Saxophone Colossus. Featuring Lewis Watson.
Sun 04: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 3:00pm.
Sun 04: Struggle Buggy + Michael Littlefield @ Tyne Bar, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. Acoustic blues.
Sun 04: Swinging at the Cotton Club: Harry Strutters' Hot Rhythm Orchestra @ The Fire Station, Sunderland. 7:30pm.
Sun 04: Richard Jones Trio @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Sun 04: Jam No. 18 @ Fabio's Bar, Saddler Street, Durham. 8:00pm. Free. All welcome. A Durham University Jazz Society event.

Mon 05: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.

Tue 06: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 06: Jam session @ Black Swan, Newcastle Arts Centre. 7:30pm. House trio: Stu Collingwood (piano); Paul Grainger (double bass); Sid White (drums).

Wed 07: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 07: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 07: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 7:00pm.
Wed 07: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, 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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