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Bebop Spoken There

Béla Fleck: “ And that's the great thing about live performances, you take people on a journey. It doesn't have to be like something else they've heard. It's not supposed to be". DownBeat, April, 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

16287 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 169 of them this year alone and, so far, 41 this month (Mar 18).

From This Moment On ...

March

Thu 28: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 28: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Gateshead Central Library, Gateshead. 2:30pm.
Thu 28: Richard Herdman Quartet @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 28: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm. Guests: Josh Bentham (alto sax); Alan Marshall (tenor sax); Neil Brodie (trumpet); Adrian Beadnell (bass); Graham Thompson (keys); Steve Hunter (drums).

Fri 29: FILM: Soul @ The Forum Cinema, Hexham. 12:30pm. Jazz-themed film animation.
Fri 29: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 29: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 29: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 29: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 6:00pm. Free. POSTPONED!
Fri 29: Thundercat @ Newcastle City Hall.
Fri 29: John Logan @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sat 30: Papa G’s Troves @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sat 30: Pete Tanton’s Cuba Libre @ Whitley Bay Library, York Road, Whitley Bay. 8:00pm.

Sun 31: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay Metro Station. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 31: Ruth Lambert Trio @ Juke Shed, Union Quay, North Shields NE30 1HJ. 3:00pm. Free. Lambert, Alan Law & Paul Grainger.
Sun 31: Sid Jacobs & Tom Remon @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. USA/London jazz guitar duo.
Sun 31: Bellavana @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

April
Mon 01: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 02: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Dean Stockdale, Paul Grainger, Abbie Finn.

Wed 03: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 03: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 03: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Saturday, April 02, 2016

Pasadena Roof Orchestra @ The Customs House, South Shields - April 1

Duncan Galloway (vcl); Malcolm Baxter, David Ford (tpt); Adrian Fry (tmb); Robert Fowler; Andy Hooley, Oliver Wilby (reeds); Richard Busiakiewicz (pno);  David Berry (bs); Keith Stephen (gtr/bjo); Dominic Sales (dms).
(Review by Lance).
An evening of sheer fun-filled delight appreciated by a packed Customs House. That it was music popular before some were born or, more likely, after most were born didn't matter - it was timeless.
Tried and tested - lollipops - said one aficionado. Maybe, but it was done so professionally that I, for one, was prepared to close my eyes and imagine I was sipping cocktails and dancing with Jessie Matthews, at the Monseigneur Restaurant, to Lew Stone and his Orchestra or listening to Duke Ellington whilst swigging bathtub gin with Dutch Schultz at the Cotton Club.
Such was the impact the band had on me.
I'd only previously heard the PRO live on one occasion and that was perhaps 10/12 years ago at Keswick. The personnel may have changed over the years but the commitment to entertaining their audience without compromise remains.
Galloway (left) is the perfect frontman; singer, dancer, comic* he's Al Bowlly, Fred Astaire, Rudy Vallee and Tommy Trinder rolled into one.
Lots of features for the instrumentalists: Malcolm Baxter (Ain't Misbehavin'); Adrian Fry (I Gotta Right to Sing the Blues); Robert Fowler (Stealin' Apples); Oliver Wilby (Body and Soul); The pianist, did Galloway say Richard Evans? (no it was Busiakiewicz - see comment) gave us Honeysuckle Rose and Dominic Sales was featured on Drummin' Man.
I spoke to Dominic (at the right of the group photo)during the interval at the nearby Steamboat speakeasy little realising he was the same Dominic who operates the Jellymould Jazz record label. Jellymould moves in a more contemporary area than the PRO yet Sales is a drummer au fait with any genre as proved by his chorus on skulls during Drummin' Man.
The band within a band came down front for Dinah and, lo and behold, who should be on banjo but our own local hero Keith Stephen! Keith's solo near brought the house down. You can catch Keith again with the north-east's own '20s/'30s specialists, the New Century Ragtime Orchestra, at Caedmon Hall, Gateshead on May 20.
Yes, a good time was had by all and I left thinking that the out chorus on Fletcher Henderson's King Porter Stomp is still as exciting now as it was on the 1932 recording.
Photos.
Lance.
*(Galloway gag)
Two men facing a firing squad are asked if they have a last request.
The first man says, "I'd like to hear a record by the Pasadena Roof Orchestra."
The second man says, "Can I be shot first?"

2 comments :

Unknown said...

Hi Lance, Richard Busiakiewicz, my Polish pronounciation probably made it sound like Evans ;-) Thanks for the lovely review! best regards Duncan Galloway

Lance said...

Thanks Duncan - now corrected!

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