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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 ...

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.

Sat 10: Miners' Picnic @ Woodhorn, Ashington. Music inc. Northern Monkey Brass Band (3:00-3:50pm); New York Brass Band (4:00-4:55pm).
Sat 10: Front Porch Three @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. Americana, blues, jazz etc.
Sat 10: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.

Sun 11: WORKSHOP: Tim Richards' Jazz Piano Workshop @ JG Windows, Newcastle. Time TBC. Further details tel. 0191 232 1356.
Sun 11: Jeremy McMurray's Pocket Jazz Orchestra @ Ropner Park, Stockton TS18 4EF. 2:00-4:00pm. Free.
Sun 11: Am Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:30pm. Free.
Sun 11: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 3:00pm.
Sun 11: Groovetrain @ Innisfree Sports & Social Club, Longbenton NE12 8TY. Doors 6:30pm. £15.00 (£7.00. under 16).
Sun 11: Jeffrey Hewer Collective @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 12: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.

Tue 13: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 13: Infusion Trio @ Forum Music Centre, Darlington. 7:30pm.
Tue 13: Alice Grace & Pawel Jedrzejewski @ Black Swan, Newcastle Arts Centre. 8:00pm. £12.00 (£10.00. adv.).

Friday, April 29, 2016

The Gala Big Band, @ The Gala Theatre, Durham - April 28

(Review by Jerry)
At the end of a dismal day, weather-wise, this rapidly improving big band (even bigger when augmented with a percussionist) gave a packed Gala audience a musical treat to cheer and warm. It was great fun!
The opener was one of the band’s favourites – Flight of the Foo Birds – and was followed by Miller’s Little Brown Jug featuring an excellent tenor sax solo. My apologies for being unable to name individuals – even the MD, Paul Edis, struggled with that in a name-check towards the end of the evening. My excuse (and his) was that it is a VERY big band.
Next up was a vocalist, Johnny Roxburgh (?) who likes Sinatra and who performs his songs with some panache. Here, it was I’ve Got You Under My Skin and in the second set we had Come Fly with Me: excellent stuff from this young Sage student.
Perdido followed, performed by a “small band” consisting of the rhythm section plus about 9 of the horns – a format repeated on two numbers in the second set: All Blues and Blue Monk.
This “small” format got even smaller as George, the pianist, on his last gig with the band (he will be much missed) did a dreamy duet of A Nightingale Sang in Berkley Square with Paul Edis on clarinet. Next, to wake us all up again, it was carnival time in Durham with the Edis’ original Mighty Samba – apparently inspired by a Nissan Micra! This is a great tune, made all the more Latino-rhythmic by the additional percussion available tonight
Georgia Brown got good applause, as always and then the first set stormed to a close with Techtonic, a high-octane Edis’ original featuring four baritone saxes and “rock” guitar in the talented hands of Francis Tulip
In the second set, All of Me featured Dave Skipsey on trumpet and Tuxedo Junction was greeted with whoops and cheers.
The MD admitted that his inclusion of Summertime in the set-list was ironic in a week which saw hail stop play at Durham’s Riverside Ground! The irony was then compounded in the second vocal offering of the evening with its repeated line about “weather-wise it’s such a lovely day…” Well, a lovely evening, anyway.
Despite one of them being entitled Mercy, Mercy, Mercy, the last two numbers were undiluted joy. First was The Timothys – familiar to all who have the Mr. Hipster CD, but here played with driving electric bass, an infectious guitar riff, and an absolute blast of sound from the many horns. Edis (wearing his MD hat) praised the band for their progress in such a short time, reminding us that this is a “hard tune”. The band absolutely aced it!
Jerry.

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