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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.

Wednesday, March 09, 2016

The Safe Sextet @ The Jazz Café - March 8


Don Forbes (tpt); Paul Gowland (alt/ten); John Rowland (ten); Alan Law (pno); Paul Grainger (bs); Paul Wight (dms).
(Review by Lance).
A tribute to north-east legends the Emcee 5, with a nod towards Stan Tracey's Under Milkwood, made this a most satisfying session. Particularly for someone such as myself who remembers hearing the Emcee 5 at the Down Beat club in Carliol Square back in the mists of time.
Don Forbes transcribed the numbers from disc and from memory. He did a grand job of recapturing the feel of the originals. The Emcee 5 compositions, mainly by Mike Carr and Gary Cox, had an identifiable sound and, although there were now six, that sound was still there.
Three Mike Carr pieces: The Bridge; Down Beat After Dark and The One That Got Away set the pace. Tight ensembles and excellent solos passed around the seated players (only Grainger, on bass, remained standing although Rowland did stand up for his solos). It didn't matter.
Unlike so many sessions these days, every number didn't end up with the seemingly endless, and often meaningless, rounds of fours.
Pen Pals and I Lost my Step in Nantucket (knockout Alan Law) brought Under Milkwood into the equation and they did Stan Tracey proud. Dobson's Choice, named after local author and jazz fan, Scott Dobson (Larn Yersel Geordie), brought the first set to a close.
The second innings began with a Stan Tracey bouncer - No Good Boyo (I think) and a balladic piece that had both tenors tugging at the heartstrings.
More Emcee 5 with Bell's Blues, a piece from the latter days of the group that, now, featured Gary Cox on tenor, Mike Carr on organ, Jacky Denton on drums and John McLaughlin on guitar. Tonight it was trumpet and two tenors out front and the 3/4 Scottish flavoured opus swung like Sauchiehall St on New Year's Eve.
Groovin' at the Down Beat featured Paul Wight, Stephenson's Rocket had some keyboard capers from Alan Law and John O' Groats brought the set to a close except it didn't. A jam on There Will Never be Another You almost did until the word got around that it was my birthday the next day and the inevitable Happy Birthday to You followed. Thanks, guys, you made an old man feel even older!
Still it had been a good session. Don Forbes' transcriptions accurate and his trumpet playing very much in the Ian Carr mode. Gowland and Rowland, effective, albeit with contrasting styles. Laws, Grainger and Wight - solid.
The only downside was the poor attendance - they deserved a full house.
Lance.

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