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Bebop Spoken There

Billy Boy Arnold: “As long as you don't think old you're good.” - DownBeat, December, 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!"

Simon Spillett: A lovely review from the dean of jazz bloggers, Lance Liddle...

Postage

16034 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 1041 of them this year alone and, so far, 73 this month (Nov. 27).

From This Moment On ...

December

Mon 04: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Mon 04: Northern Monkey Brass Band @ People’s Kitchen, Bath Lane, Newcastle. From 5:30pm. On-street gig supporting the work of the People’s Kitchen charity. Wrap up warm! Donate!
Mon 04: Michael Young Trio w Lindsay Hannon @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 7:00pm. Free.
Mon 04: James Birkett Trio @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £8.00.
Mon 04: Durham University Jazz Orchestra + Durham University Big Band @ Durham Castle DH1 3RW. 8:30pm. £6.00.; £5.00. concs; £4.00. DSM. ‘Jazzy Christmas’.

Tue 05: Customs House Big Band @ All Saints Church, Cleadon. 7:00pm. Concert in the church hall. BYOB.
Tue 05: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Michael Young, Paul Grainger, Sid White. The best free show in town!

Wed 06: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 06: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 8:00pm. Free. Note later start time, concert performance (open to the public).
Wed 06: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 07: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free CANCELLED!
Thu 07: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ Spanish City, Whitley Bay, Newcastle. 12 noon - 4:00pm. £26.00 (inc 3-course meal in in St Mary's Lighthouse Suite). SOLD OUT!
Thu 07: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Gateshead Central Library, Gateshead. 2:30pm. All welcome.
Thu 07: Thursday Night Prayer Meeting @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.Donations. Feat. Mark Sanders. CANCELLED!
Thu 07: Indigo Jazz Voices @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:45pm. £5.00. Downstairs.
Thu 07: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 08: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 08: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 08: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 08: Hayley's Little Big Band @ Woodland Village Hall, Bishop Auckland. 7:00pm. £12.00.
Fri 08: Sleep Suppressor + Redwell @ Head of Steam, Neville St., Newcastle. 8:00pm. £10.00. (£8.00. adv); £5.00. student.
Fri 08: Hot Club du Nord @ St Cuthbert's Church, Shadforth, Co. Durham.
Fri 08: Têtes de Pois + Nauta @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £12.00., £8.00.

Sat 09: Castillo Nuevo Trio @ Revoluçion de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30pm. Free.
Sat 09: Abbie Finn Trio @ Claypath Deli, Durham. 7:00pm.
Sat 09: Hayley's Little Big Band @ Middleton & Todridge Village Hall, Morpeth. 7:30pm. £12.00., £6.00.
Sat 09: Paul Skerritt @ Slaley Hall, Hexham NE47 0BX. 7:30pm. From £42.00.

Sun 10: Musicians Unlimited’s Xmas Party with Zoe Gilby Quartet @ Park Inn, Hartlepool. MU 1:00-3:00pm; Zoë Gilby Quartet 4:00-6:00pm. Tickets: £7.50.
Sun 10: Am Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00-4:00pm. Free.
Sun 10: Funk Soul Sista @ Stack, Seaburn. 5:00-7:00pm. Free.
Sun 10: Beth Clarke @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 10: Hayley's Little Big Band @ Whittingham Memorial Institute, Alnwick. 7:30pm. £12.00., £10.00.
Sun 10: Tele-Port @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Line-up inc. Zhenya Strigalev.

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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