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Bebop Spoken There

Spasmo Brown: “Jazz is an ice cream sandwich! It's the Fourth of July! It's a girl with a waterbed!”. (Syncopated Times, July, 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

17346 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 630 of them this year alone and, so far, 35 this month (Sept. 11).

From This Moment On ...

September

Fri 13: Jeff Barnhart & Neville Dickie @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. Two pianos, two pianists! SOLD OUT!
Fri 13: Noel Dennis Quartet @ The Old Library, Auckland Castle, Bishop Auckland. 1:00pm. £8.00.
Fri 13: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 13: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 13: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 13: Dilutey Juice @ Old Coal Yard, Byker, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £11.00. adv..
Fri 13: Ray Stubbs R & B All-stars @ The Forum, Darlington. 7:30pm. Classic blues.

Sat 14: Jeff Barnhart’s Silent Film Fest @ St Augustine's Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm. Darlington New Orleans Jazz Club.
Sat 14: Customs House Big Band w. Ruth Lambert @ St Paul’s Centre, St Paul’s Gardens, Spennymoor DL16 7LR. 7:00pm (6:45pm doors). Tickets £10.00. from the venue or tel: 01388 813404. A ‘BYOB’ event.
Sat 14: Emma Wilson @ Claypath Deli, Durham. 7:00pm. £12.00. Acoustic blues.
Sat 14: Rat Pack - Swingin’ at the Sands @ Billingham Forum. 7:30pm.

Sun 15: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 15: Jude Murphy, Steve Chambers & Sid White @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 15: Tweed River Jazz Band @ Barrels Ale House, Berwick-upon-Tweed. 7:00pm. Free.
Sun 15: Panharmonia @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 16: Swing Manouche @ Yamaha Music School, Blyth. 1:00pm. £9.00.
Mon 16: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 16: John Hallam with the James Birkett Trio @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £10.00. A Blaydon Jazz Club 40th anniversary concert!

Tue 17: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ The Victoria & Albert Inn, Seaton Delaval. 12:30pm. £13.00. Tel: 0191 237 3697. ‘Indian Summer Afternoon Tea’.
Tue 17: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Joe Steels (guitar); Paul Grainger (double bass); Abbie Finn (drums).

Wed 18: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 18: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 18: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 18: Hot Club of Heaton @ Elder Beer, Heaton, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘third Wednesday in the month’ session.

Thu 19: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 19: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Ragtime piano. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 19: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesborough. 8:30pm. Free. THC with guests Kevin Eland, Dan Johnson, Jeremy McMurray, Ron Smith.

Sunday, December 20, 2015

Strictly Smokin’ Big Band @ The Black Swan – Dec 19

(Review by Russell/Photos courtesy of Ken Drew)
Take two: a second consecutive night at the Black Swan for the most popular big band around. A second consecutive full house…quite an achievement! The basement venue afforded the band the luxury of setting up without having to squeeze brass, reeds and a rhythm section into the usual small jazz venue with the dimensions of a telephone box. All seats were taken half an hour before the start, latecomers stood to one side. Drinks orders were of the ‘precariously-balanced tray snaking its way through the throng’ kind. The management of Newcastle Arts Centre couldn’t be other than delighted. A success every which way and MD Michael Lamb had yet to strike up the band!
Right on time the band hit the stage. We Three Kings proffered gifts; several big-hitters announced their arrival – Gowland, Jedrzejewski, Toms, Summers. Ding Dong Merrily on High (spot the seasonal theme) showcased the brass boys on a samba feel. The band boasts not one but two singers. They stepped forward as climate-change deniers – Baby, It’s Cold Outside. A week before Christmas and it was shirt-sleeve weather but Lindsay Hannon and F’reez did their best to convince us otherwise! The luminescent Ms Hannon stayed on to dream of a White Christmas and warn of That Ole Devil Called Love.
The three part Film Noir suite departed from the festive fayre to conclude the first set in full-on jazz mode. Engrossing stuff with Keith ‘Strictly Smokin’’ Robinson on alto.
The interval: an earlier global warming torrent had pushed out over the North Sea as one or two gig goers and musicians took the evening air. The thought occurred that down the lane Ms Ruth Lambert was holding court alongside pianist Alan Law at the Jazz Café. A review by Kath J to follow.
As with the first, the second set began right on time. Altoist Robinson had all but stolen the show first set, Steve Summers (soprano) set about staking a claim to the second set on Greta’s Groove, with more from Pav, guitar and Graham Don (piano). F’reez – not heard to best effect due to being way down in the mix – upped-it on Higher Ground. Had space permitted dancers would have been on the floor. The luminescent Ms Hannon returned to sing That Ole’ Black Magic, I’ve Got You Under My Skin and, inevitably, Santa Baby. A Strictly Smokin’ gig is always an occasion. Soloists pepper the sections – Kieran Parnaby (trombone), bassist Michael Whent stepped up, the assured Pete Tanton (trumpet/flugel), to name but three. This Black Swan two-nighter has become a highlight in the calendar. A three-nighter in 2016 could be on the cards, or, perhaps a Saturday matinee show could work, aimed at a younger (musician?) audience. If MD Michael Lamb puts his mind to it you never know.
The Strictly Smokin’ Big Band is an unalloyed success story: band management, on-time presentation, Guy Swinton’s excellent MC skills (and a fine drummer, to boot), the boys in the rhythm section, all and sundry make it the band it is. Your next opportunity to hear the Strictly Smokin’ is at a post-Christmas dance (yes, dance) gig at Hoochie Coochie on Tuesday 29 December. 100% recommended.
Russell.
Michael Lamb (trumpet & MD), Pete Tanton, Gordon Marshall, Dick Stacey (trumpets & flugelhorns); Kieran Parnaby, John Flood, Mark Ferris, David Barnes (trombones); Paul Gowland, Jamie Toms, Steve Summers, Keith Robinson, Laurie Rangecroft (reeds); Graham Don (piano), Pawel Jedrzejewski (guitar), Michael Whent (bass), Guy Swinton (drums), Lindsay Hannon (vocals) & F’reez (vocals)

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