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Bebop Spoken There

Abbie Finn: "Even though there's a lot of great work being done to promote women in jazz, I still come up against some attitudes! I pulled up at a recording session with my drums in the car and the studio owner said, 'I'm sorry, this space is reserved for the drummer!'" - (Jazzwise April 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

15245 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 264 of them this year alone and, so far, 77 this month (March 25).

From This Moment On ...

March

Sun 26: Musicians Unlimited @ Park Inn, Hartlepool. 1:00pm.
Sun 26: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 26: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 3:00pm.
Mar 26: Pop Jazz @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. 'Jazzified' tunes by the likes of Sylvester, Bowie, the Monkees etc., feat. Alan Law, David Gray, Richard Herdman & Jude Murphy.
Sun 26: Outlines @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. JNE promotion (upstairs).

Mon 27: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.

Tue 28: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 28: Sanaz Lavasani Trio @ Black Swan, Newcastle Arts Centre. 8:00pm. £12.00 (£10.00. adv).

Wed 29: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 29: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 29: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 7:00pm.
Wed 29: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 30: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Gateshead Central Library. 2:30-4:30pm. £2.00. All welcome.
Thu 30: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. Back to 1:00pm stomp off. Free.
Thu 30: '58 Jazz Collective @ Hops & Cheese, Hartlepool. 7:30pm. Free.
Thu 30: Lindsay Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ Harbour View, Sunderland. 8:00pm.
Thu 30: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 31: Lewis Watson Quartet @ Bishop Auckland Town Hall. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 31: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 31: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 31: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm. CANCELLED! Back next week (April 7).
Fri 31: Jasmine Myra + Waclaw Zimpel @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Fri 31: The Revolutionaires @ The Shack, Boldon Colliery. 7:30pm. £10.00. The Revolutionaires' big band (horn section) line-up.
Fri 31: Andrew McCormack @ Maltings, Berwick. 8:00pm. £20.00.

April
Sat 01: The Big Easy @ St Augustine's Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm.
Sat 01: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. Tutor: Steve Glendinning - In a Minor Key. £25.00. Enrol at: www.jazz.coop.
Sat 01: Hot Club du Nord @ Pleased to Meet You, Bridge St., Morpeth. 8:00pm. £79.00. A charity fundraising event.
Sat 01: Boys of Brass @ Stack, Seaburn. 7:00-9:00pm.
Sat 01: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00. RESCHEDULED to next week (Sat 08).

Saturday, July 16, 2016

Gerry Richardson Quartet @ Gala Theatre, Durham - July 15

Gerry Richardson (organ/vocal); Rod Sinclair (guitar); Paul Smith (drums); Garry Linsley (alto).
(Review by Steve T/Photo courtesy of Paul Edis).
For the first time in ages, empty seats at the Gala, down to about seventy. Nothing whatsoever to do with the band but on-going traffic chaos in Durham and the holiday season with nothing on in August.
I turned up at the end of the second piece Everybody's Cryin' Mercy   having missed Mel Tormé’s Comin’ Home Baby, a big hit on the acid/Jazz dance scene championed by DJ Giles Peterson in the eighties and nineties.
Steve Kuhn’s Chicken Feathers to settle into and a bit of a panic when he seemed to omit Soul Shadows from the programme in favour of All About McGriff. His tribute to Jimmy McGriff - widely considered second only to Jimmy Smith on Hammond, though I prefer Larry Young at least to either - it actually reminded me of our own Alan Price, who both Richardson and Smith have worked with.
Relief when he introduced Soul Shadows as a history of jazz song by Crusader Joe Sample and long-term songwriting partner Will Jennings (Randy Crawford, BB King).
No mean feat to replicate the wonderfully distinctive, warm, soulful voice of Bill Withers but - excepting DJ Rogers - this was as good as you're gonna get, with a slight ellipsis in the chorus and Linley’s alto substituting for the (underrated, soulful, post-Trane) tenor of Wilton Felder superbly.
It was during Duke’s Just Squeeze Me I remembered we didn't have a bass, Richardson doing a grand job maintaining both parts keeping the bass simple without ever missing during comping and soloing.
African Sunset followed, another Richardson original, and all concerned, but particularly Sinclair, displayed real feel for West African music.
With time running out he jettisoned another original and Gil Scott Heron’s Lady Day and John Coltrane from the programme going straight to Jimmy Smith’s Back at the Chicken Shack. When I saw his Big Idea nine-piece a while back I felt they were a great dance band and once again it felt like people should be heading for a dancefloor. Perhaps if they play again I'll take Mrs T and kids and fulfil our obligation to humiliate the latter with our moves.
Soloing was great throughout from all concerned but Sinclair, occupying the blues end of North East Jazz guitarists, saved his most gut-bucket solo ‘til the last piece and the leader raised a rousing, roaring solo to bring it all to a close.
Another great set at the Gala on a Friday afternoon and a suitably enthusiastic and appreciative audience. 
Steve T. 

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