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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

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.

Thu 08: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free. CANCELLED! BACK ON JUNE 15.
Thu 08: Easington Colliery Brass Band @ The Lubetkin Theatre, Peterlee. 7:00pm. £10.00.
Thu 08: Faye MacCalman + Blue Dust Archive @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Thu 08: Dilutey Juice + Ceramic @ The Ampitheatre, Sea Road, South Shields. 7:00pm. Free. A South Tyneside Festival event.
Thu 08: Lara Jones w. Vigilance State @ Lubber Fiend, Blandford Square, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Thu 08: Michael Littlefield @ the Harbour View, Roker, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Country blues.
Thu 08: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 09: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 09: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 09: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 09: Castillo Nuevo @ Revolución de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30-8:30pm.
Fri 09: Emma Rawicz @ Sage Gateshead. 8:00pm.

Monday, March 21, 2016

Strictly Smokin’ Big Band @ Blaydon Jazz Club. March 20

(Review by Russell/photos courtesy of Roly Veitch.)
Almost exactly a year to the day since the Strictly Smokin’ Big Band’s first visit to the Black Bull, Michael Lamb’s powerhouse outfit returned to play another gig at Blaydon Jazz Club. The established line-up, with just the one dep in (Dave Kerridge up from the Tees Delta on tenor), roared through an ambitious, wide-ranging concert programme.  
On the first day of spring (the meteorologists will tell you it was) F’reez opened with On a Clear Day. MC Guy Swinton admitted to shamelessly nicking the arrangement from a friend of the band, Mr Anthony Strong! Our man F’reez sang it in his Nu soul-jazz style. Standard material, the band sounded good. There was little indication of things to come.
Bandleader Michael Lamb has filed hundreds of numbers in the pad. Classic charts take their place, of course, but trumpeter Lamb looks to America’s contemporary composers and arrangers for inspiration. Tim Davies, working out of Hollywood, and Denver-based Adam Bartczak two such figures. Davies’ Blacknail made things clear; this was to be an exhilarating ride in the confines of the Black Bull’s compact lounge. Fantastic playing – ensemble and soloists. Direct, powerful, an ear-ringing experience! The reed section, assembled on the floor out front, pulled no punches. Excoriating solos - all given a chance to blow the roof off during the evening – altos, sopranos, tenors, baritone anchor Laurie Rangecroft, the doubling-up soloists on various reeds including clarinet and flute.
Lullaby of Bigfoot, dedicated to former band pianist Mark Jolliffe, heard a bona fide USA trumpet player – Pete Tanton – ‘kick ass’ as he, or his fellow Americans, might say. Wow! The audience got it, the applause suggested nothing else. Everyone gets Kenny Wheeler and a typically elegant composition – For PA – with Lamb conducting matters out front, saw a temporary lowering of the decibel count. F’reez returned once more to take us to Stevie Wonder’s Higher Ground (arr A Strong). Adam Bartczak’s Minor’s Holiday sent tremors up the Tyne valley thanks to Lamb’s killer solo and aftershocks were registered due to an equally brutal effort from altoist Keith Robinson. Guitarist Pawel ‘Pav’ Jedrzejewski, seated more or less in the audience, had his say too.
Lindsay Hannon, engrossed in a dime novel, stepped up to tell us about That Ole’ Devil Called Love sensitively backed by Guy Swinton’s big band drummer brush work. Film Noir – 1 (we didn’t get to hear parts 2 and 3) closed an exhilarating first set; Swinton set up a N’Awlins shuffle, Steve Summers strolled along on clarinet and trumpeter Tanton followed him.
Bob Mintzer’s TV Blues is a work in progress. The iPad-aided Hannon got her Blonde Bombshell head around the lyrics – something like I’m gonna give up my life and watch tv – and then we visited the Scandinavian big band scene with Not Just a Date; Laurie Rangecroft stood up and tamed his baritone beast, reedman Robinson switching to flute. Blakey alumnus Bobby Watson is a favourite of many a band. The Strictly Smokin’ boys like him. They played his Like It Was Before with Summers blowing soprano as if it was to be his last solo before departing this Earth! It Had to Be You – it had to be F’reez and before we knew it the Blaydon Jazz Club regulars were demanding an encore. Bartczak’s Greta’s Groove hit a groove. The band could have played ’til midnight and the audience would have demanded more. The Strictly Smokin’ Big Band has come a long way since Michael Lamb first hit on the idea of forming a big band. In an interview with this blog Lamb said: You can’t nail the Mintzer without knowing the Miller!  
Russell.                           
Strictly Smokin’ Big Band: MD Michael Lamb, Pete Tanton, Gordon Marshall, Dick Stacey (trumpets); Kieran Parnaby, Mark Ferris, Robert ‘Pez’ Perry, Dr John Flood (trombones); Laurie Rangecroft (baritone saxophone); Paul Gowland (tenor & soprano saxophones), Dave Kerridge  (tenor saxophone), Steve Summers (alto & soprano saxophones, clarinet, flute, Aztec breathing machine ), Keith Robinson (alto saxophone, flute); Graham Don (piano), Pawel Jedrzejewski (guitar), Michael Whent (bass), Guy Swinton (drums), Lindsay Hannon (vocals) & F’reez (vocals)

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