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Bebop Spoken There

Art Blakey: "You [Bobby Watson] don't want to play too long, because you don't know they're clapping because they're glad you finished!" - (JazzTimes, Nov. 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!"

Postage

15867 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 874 of them this year alone and, so far, 72 this month (Sept. 25).

From This Moment On ...

September

Tue 26: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.

Wed 27: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 27: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 27: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 28: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 28: Alice Grace Quartet @ King's Hall, Newcastle University. 1:15pm. Free.
Thu 28: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Gateshead Central Library, Gateshead. 2:30pm. All welcome.
Thu 28: Faye MacCalman + Snape/Sankey @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Thu 28: Zoe Rahman @ Jesmond United Reformed Church, Jesmond, Newcastle. 7:30pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Thu 28: '58 Jazz Collective @ Hops & Cheese, Hartlepool. 7:30pm.
Thu 28: Speakeasy @ Queen's Hall, Hexham. 7:30pm. £15.00. A Southpaw Dance Company presentation. Dance, audio-visuals, Count Basie, Benny Goodman, swing dancers etc.
Thu 28: Mick Cantwell Band @ Harbour View, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Ace blues band.
Thu 28: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 29: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 29: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 29: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.

Sat 30: John Pope Quintet + Late Girl + Shapeshifters @ Bobik's, Jesmond, Newcastle.
Sat 30: Papa G's Troves @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.

OCTOBER

Sun 01: Smokin' Spitfires @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:45pm.
Sun 01: Dulcie May Moreno sings Portrait of Sheila @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00pm. £10.00. Moreno sings Sheila Jordan with Giles Strong, Mick Shoulder & John Bradford.
Sun 01: Middlesbrough Jazz & Blues Orchestra @ Saltburn Community Hall. 2:00pm.
Sun 01: The Easy Rollers @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. £13.70., £11.55.
Sun 01: Brand/Roberts/Champion/Sanders @ Blank Studios, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Sun 01: Papa G's Troves @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 02: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Mon 02: FILM: Wattstax; 50th Anniversary @ Forum Cinema, Hexham. 8:00pm.

Friday, November 06, 2015

Mike Durham's Classic Jazz Party - Village Hotel. the afternoon set Friday Nov. 6

(Review by Lance).
Frankly, I can't think of any Jazz Festival/Party - call it what you may - like this one. Party, I think, is the operative word because that's what it is, an annual get together of musicians and fans from all over the world to play or listen to jazz which lives up to it's title - Mike Durham's Classic Jazz Party.
Conceived by the late Mike Durham, and continued in his name by Patti Durham, Allen Walton and their team of helpers, the weekend comprises themed concerts from noon till night with after hours jam sessions into the early hours, it is little wonder that many book into the Village Hotel for the whole 3 days.
The festival actually began for those staying at the hotel on Thursday with an hour's set in the Victory Pub by the Union Rhythm Kings.
I wasn't resident so I missed this and today's opening sets which began with a Tribute to Mike, followed by a Memphis Five set and our own fave Emma Fisk's Hot Club de France. Emma on fiddle with Spats Langham, Martin Wheatley (gtrs) and Henri Lemaire (bs)..
I did arrive in time to catch the remnants of Litton's Jelly Roll set. Martin Litton emulated the Jelly Roll Morton Red Hot Peppers and, on Wolverine Blues, Josh Duffee (pictured above) gave a masterclass on the use of skulls, woodblocks and other bits of paraphernalia that the early drummers loved and used so effectively.
Rico and Bunny Berigan  -  an absolute gem! Rico (Enrico Tomasso (right) - with Matthias Seuffert) had the Berigan style off to a B. I've always regarded Berigan (Rico too) as a player who combined the bravura of Armstrong with the lyricism of Bix which, at the time, was surely a heady cocktail indeed! I particularly enjoyed their re-creation of the legendary Jam Session at Victor session by Berigan, Tommy Dorsey, Fats, Dick McDonough and George Wettling. Today it was Rico, Robert Fowler (on clarinet), Alistair Allen, Keith Nichols, Malcolm Sked (bs) and Richard Pite. Honeysuckle Rose and Blues. Rico said he grew up with those 2 sides. You and me too Rico!
The Avant-Garde, Nichols, Mole was, I suppose, avant-garde(ish) for it's time and did give me a chance to, at last hear Emma. That it was fairly straight playing on My Gal Sal didn't matter - in the going for broke ending she held her head high! Andy Schumm and Alistair Allen did Red Nichols and Miff Mole proud
An entertaining set featuring Spats Langham - Spats and his Hot Combination - added some jocularity to the proceedings even though Spats declared that Blue Evening would be the saddest song they'd hear all weekend - possibly ever!  It was melancholic despite there not being a wet eye in the house!
The afternoon session drew to a close with Frisco Jazz - Lu Watters. This was a particular delight for me. For years the 'pundits' have slighted or ignored Watters' Yerba Buena Jazz Band  - the Penguin Guide to Jazz and the Virgin Encyclopedia of Jazz ignore them yet, compared to the British 'Traddies' that came later, this was far superior. The gang assembled here by Keith Nichols put the record straight.
Lance.
For further details of today's concerts, personnel and those to follow click here.

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