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Bebop Spoken There

Dee Dee Bridgewater: “ Our world is becoming a very ugly place with guns running rampant in this country... and New Orleans is called the murder capital of the world right now ". Jazzwise, May 2024.

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...

Josh Weir: I love the writing on bebop spoken here... I think the work you are doing is amazing.

Postage

16382 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 262 of them this year alone and, so far, 59 this month (April 20).

From This Moment On ...

April

Tue 23: Vieux Carre Hot 4 @ Victoria & Albert Inn, Seaton Delaval. 12:30-3:30pm. £12.00. ‘St George’s Day Afternoon Tea’. Gig with ‘Lashings of Victoria Sponge Cake, along with sandwiches & scones’.
Tue 23: Jalen Ngonda @ Newcastle University Students’ Union. POSTPONED!

Wed 24: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 24: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 24: Sinatra: Raw @ Darlington Hippodrome. 7:30pm. Richard Shelton.
Wed 24: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 24: Death Trap @ Theatre Royal, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Rambert Dance Co. Two pieces inc. Goat (inspired by the music of Nina Simone) with on-stage musicians.

Thu 25: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 25: Jim Jams @ King’s Hall, Newcastle University. 1:15pm. Jim Jams’ funk collective.
Thu 25: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Gateshead Central Library, Gateshead. 2:30pm.
Thu 25: Death Trap @ Theatre Royal, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Rambert Dance Co. Two pieces inc. Goat (inspired by the music of Nina Simone) with on-stage musicians.
Thu 25: Jeremy McMurray & the Pocket Jazz Orchestra @ Arc, Stockton. 8:00pm.
Thu 25: Kate O’Neill, Alan Law & Paul Grainger @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 25: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm. Guests: Richie Emmerson (tenor sax); Neil Brodie (trumpet); Adrian Beadnell (bass); Garry Hadfield (keys).

Fri 26: Graham Hardy Quartet @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. £8.00.
Fri 26: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 26: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 26: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 26: East Coast Swing Band @ Morpeth Rugby Club. 7:30pm. £9.00. (£8.00 concs).
Fri 26: Paul Skerritt with the Danny Miller Big Band @ Glasshouse, Gateshead. 8:00pm.
Fri 26: Abbie Finn’s Finntet @ Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. Opus 4 Jazz Club.

Sat 27: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 6:00pm. Free.
Sat 27: Papa G’s Troves @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 28: Musicians Unlimited @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 28: More Jam Festival Special @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. A ’10 Years a Co-op’ festival event.
Sun 28: Swing Dance workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00-4:00pm. Free (registration required). A ’10 Years a Co-op’ festival event.
Sun 28: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay Metro Station. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 28: Scott Bradlee's Postmodern Jukebox: The '10' Tour @ Glasshouse International Centre for Music, Gateshead. 7:30pm. £41.30 t0 £76.50.
Sun 28: Alligator Gumbo @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ’10 Years a Co-op’ festival event.
Sun 28: Jerron Paxton @ The Cluny, Newcastle. Blues, jazz etc.

Mon 29: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 29: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 6:30-8:30pm. Free. ‘Opus de Funk’ (a tribute to Horace Silver).

Monday, June 01, 2015

CD Review: Beats and Pieces Big Band - All In

(Review by Russell)
Alright! exclaims Ben Cottrell. The Beats and Pieces Big Band explodes into action from the downbeat. Seven tracks, massive energy, no messing around. The first cut rocky (it is all lower case as far as the song titles go) hits the listener straight between the eyes (ears) – you will listen! A glorious noise; full on, hip, knowingly retro kitsch, these Manchester-schooled musicians know how to entertain.
Director Ben Cottrell is a dance floor demon, never still, conducting (encouraging a band of thirteen friends), clapping, dancing, stamping. And what a band! Quincy Jones’ 1980s pop world success, Radiohead, Loose Tubes’ irreverence, conventional big band sections - all deconstructed and lovingly reassembled as Beats and Pieces’ signature sound.
 A raft of soloists step up; Nick Walters (trumpet) on pop, Patrick Hurley’s Fender Rhodes (rain) and on hendo the brilliant takes-no-prisoners Sam Healey (soprano saxophone). The other side of Beats and Pieces (there is more than one dimension to the band) is in evidence on the final track. fairytale is a straight reading (if there is such  a thing) and a feature for the sensitive trumpet playing of Graham South.
The one cover on All In is David Bowie’s Let’s Dance, a ‘jazz’ cover (not one for Bowie diehards?) intent on disguise. Languid, loose, tight – in performance audiences are asked to ‘name that tune’. The band can turn its hand to anything such is the musicianship. The lynchpin is drummer Finlay Panter (a big band drummer for the twenty first century), the sections respond to Cottrell’s promptings and the soloists are top drawer.
All In is the band’s second album on Efpi. It is good as the first (Big Ideas from 2012). A third CD would be nice and a ‘live’ recording would capture something of the band’s all- consuming, visceral performance. All In by Beats and Pieces Big Band (Efpi FP022) is released on Monday 8 June. Two gigs follow in July at the Soup Kitchen, Manchester on Tuesday 7th and at Ronnie Scott’s, London on July 8th.
Beats and Pieces Big Band: Ben Cottrell (director), Anthony Brown, Sam Healey, Ben Watte (saxophones), Owen Bryce, Graham South, Nick Walters (trumpets), Ed Horsey, Simon Lodge, Rich McVeigh (trombones), Anton Hunter (guitar), Patrick Hurley (piano & Fender Rhodes), Harrison Wood (bass) & Finlay Panter (drums)
Highly recommended.     
Russell.  
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