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Bebop Spoken There

Abbie Finn: "Even though there's a lot of great work being done to promote women in jazz, I still come up against some attitudes! I pulled up at a recording session with my drums in the car and the studio owner said, 'I'm sorry, this space is reserved for the drummer!'" - (Jazzwise April 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

15229 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 248 of them this year alone and, so far, 61 this month (March 20).

From This Moment On ...

March

Fri 24: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 24: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 24: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 24: FILM: Mo' Better Blues @ Forum Cinema, Hexham. 7:00pm.
Fri 24: Ian Millar & Dominic Spencer @ Scarth Hall, Staindrop, Co. Durham. 8:00pm. £10.00.
Fri 24: Archipelago + Bulbils @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.

Sat 25: Vermont Big Band @ Walker Community Centre, Walker, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Fundraiser for Benfield Juniours Football Club. Hot food available, BYOB.
Sat 25: John Logan & Friends @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Rat Pack, Motown etc. 8:00pm. Free (donations).

Sun 26: Musicians Unlimited @ Park Inn, Hartlepool. 1:00pm.
Sun 26: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 26: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 3:00pm.
Sun 26: Outlines @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. JNE promotion (upstairs).

Mon 27: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.

Tue 28: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 28: Sanaz Lavasani Trio @ Black Swan, Newcastle Arts Centre. 8:00pm. £12.00 (£10.00. adv).

Wed 29: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 29: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 29: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 7:00pm.
Wed 29: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 30: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Gateshead Central Library. 2:30-4:30pm. £2.00. All welcome.
Thu 30: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. Back to 1:00pm stomp off. Free.
Thu 30: '58 Jazz Collective @ Hops & Cheese, Hartlepool. 7:30pm. Free.
Thu 30: Lindsay Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ Harbour View, Sunderland. 8:00pm.
Thu 30: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Friday, June 12, 2015

Lickety Split @ the Jazz Café. June 11

Eddie Bellis (trombone), Paul Gowland (tenor saxophone), Alan Marshall (alto saxophone), Kevin Eland (trumpet & flugelhorn), Bradley Johnston (guitar), Roy Willis (guitar), Paul Grainger (double bass) & Paul Wight (drums)
(Review by Russell)
Eddie Bellis’ eight piece band gigs infrequently, band members are forever juggling other gigs. The Jazz Café offered a date well in advance and on a sultry summer evening Bellis and co played two sets to an enthusiastic gathering. Doors and windows open, the bar too, drummer Paul Wight brushed a path for a classy Blues Walk. No matter how often a well known tune is heard, if it’s played lovingly, with commitment, then you’re at a good gig.
Lickety Split are all about good gigs. The material is key, as are the musicians. A number of changes in personnel over the years, the current line-up is, perhaps, as good as anyone, not least bandleader Bellis, could wish for. One dep on the night – Paul Grainger in for a touring Alan Rudd – and one couldn’t see the joins. Bassist Grainger read the parts (most of them familiar numbers), the most reliable of deputies. An arrangement of Monk’s Well You Needn’t, then 88 Basin Street at a no-hurry Freddie Greene (Roy Willis) lick took the honours with Bellis leading a round of solos; Paul Gowland on tenor and frontline partner Alan Marshall (alto) and the seated six-string phenomenon Bradley Johnston.
Maynard Ferguson, aka Kevin Eland, kept himself in check, teasing out a cluster of notes on Doxy, before handing on the baton to a bopping Johnston. Great playing all round. The band grabbed an interval beer, the audience likewise. Good to note one or two new faces, younger faces at that. How did they find about the gig? They’ll be back.
This being summertime, drummer Paul Wight opted for a ‘tailored’ pair of shorts. No one said anything. Wight decided to get his retaliation in first drawing attention to his fashion statement. Bellis said: I hadn’t noticed, but as you’ve mentioned it…
The band’s bop to West Coast sound offers endless possibilities; Bags Groove was one of them with altoist Marshall, then a muted Eland knocking out cracking solos. Johnston got the nod from Bellis to take a solo. Well, this was meat and drink to BJ, he was all over it (owing something to a certain JB)! Bellis usually gravitates to cool school Miles and this Jazz Café set did just that. The Birth of the Cool interspersed with other choice cuts saw out the session; What’s New? Joyspring (Paul Grainger enjoying himself), All Blues (Gowland went off on one, touching down with a text book landing), Move, Rouge and Four. They thought they were done. Not so fast…Encore! Encore!
Lickety Split is a cracking band. Easy going guys…not so easy to pin down to a gig date! So, any promoter keen to offer them a gig, don’t hesitate. Email Bebop Spoken Here and we’ll put you in touch with the band. Lickety Split can be heard again at Bonbar (known to all as the Old Assembly Rooms) in Newcastle on Sunday 30 August.       
Russell.

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