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Bebop Spoken There

Steve Fishwick: “I can’t get behind the attitude that new is always somehow better than old” - Jazz Journal, April 15, 2019,

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 ...

November

Tue 28: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Victoria & Albert Inn, Seaton Delaval NE25 0AT. 12:30pm. ‘Afternoon Jazz Tea Party’ £12.00. Tickets from: 0191 237 3697.
Tue 28: Full Score & Durham University Jazz Orchestra @ St Oswald’s Church, Durham. 7:00pm. £8.00., £7.00. conc., £6.00. DSM. ‘Singing with a Swing’. In support of the Angel Trust.
Tue 28: Pete Tanton’s Chet Set @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. £12.00., £10.00. Doors 7pm/Music 8pm.

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: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 30: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 30: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 7:30pm (7:00pm doors). Tickets: £25.00. inc. buffet. A Gatsby themed evening.
Thu 30: Jools Holland's R & B Orchestra @ Newcastle City Hall. 7:30pm.
Thu 30: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Ragtime piano. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.
Thu 30: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. Guest band night: Mark Toomey Quintet (Mark Toomey, sax; Paul Donnelly, guitar; Jeremy McMurray, keys; Peter Ayton, bass; Mark Robertson, drums). 9:00pm.

December
Fri 01: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 01: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 01: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 01: Paul Skerritt @ All Saints’ Church, Eastgate, Co. Durham. 7:00pm. Xmas Tree Fest.
Fri 01: Alligator Gumbo @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm.
Fri 01: Nu Sound Brass @ Billy Bootlegger’s, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free.
Fri 01: Struggle Buggy w. Jim Murray @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Blind Pig Blues Club. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sat 02: Paula Jackman's Jazz Masters @ St Augustine's Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm. £10.00.
Sat 02: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. Tutor: Steve Glendinning. £25.00. Enrol at: www.jazz.coop.
Sat 02: Abbie Finn Trio @ Claypath Deli, Durham. 7:00pm.
Sat 02: Tenement Jazz Band @ John Marley Centre, Newcastle. Swing Tyne Winter Social. £8.00. + bf. Advance purchase only, no admission at the door. BYOB. Lindy hop workshop from 11:00am. £39.00.
Sat 02: Zoë Gilby Quartet @ The Masham, Hartburn Village, Stockton. 7:00pm. Feat. Noel Dennis.
Sat 02: Classic Swing @ The Nuthatch, 9 - 11 Bedford St, Middlesbrough TS1 2LL. 7:00-9:00pm. Classic Swing in trio format.
Sat 02: Paul Skerritt w. Danny Miller Big Band @ Westovian Theatre, South Shields. 7:30pm.
Sat 02: Vermont Big Band @ Whitley Bay FC. 7:30pm. £10.00. (inc. hot buffet). Tickets available from WBFC’s Seahorse pub club house.
Sat 02: Milne-Glendinning Band @ Ponteland Social Club, Northumberland. 7:30pm. £18.00 (inc. stotties & soup supper). A fundraiser for Hexham Constituency Labour Party.
Sat 02: Tom Remon & Laurence Harrison @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sat 02: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. Xmas party night inc. buffet & special raffle. £3.00.
Sat 02: Groovetrain @ The Unionist Club, Laygate, South Shields. 9:00pm.

Sun 03: The Central Bar Quartet @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00pm. £10.00. The Central Bar Quartet plays Lou Donaldson’s Gravy Train. Featuring Jamie Toms.
Sun 03: Paul Skerritt @ Smith’s Arms, Carlton, Stockton-on-Tees. 7:00pm.
Sun 03: Johnny Hunter Quartet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Sun 03: Jam session @ The Schooner, Gateshead. 8:00pm. Free.

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’.

Monday, November 21, 2016

John Wilson Orchestra w. Kim Criswell & Matthew Ford @ Sage Gateshead - November 21.

 












(Review by Lance).


My timbers shivered as I awaited the Quaylink bus to paddle me to Sage Gateshead - it was that kind of day! It occurred to me that I wouldn't have endured this weather to see the films let alone the songs and soundtracks. However, meeting up with Liz, Margaret, Valerie and Jane soon warmed me up and, upon reflection, often the songs and soundtracks were better than the storylines anyway. Certainly, the near capacity audience at this matinee seemed to think so.
No way could it be described as a jazz gig although there were quite a few jazz names in the line-up.
Alfred Newman's Street Scene from How to Marry a Millionaire (1953) is one of the most evocative film scores and even without Monroe, Bacall & Grable I wasn't complaining. After all, I had Liz, Valerie, Jane and Margaret. And then Kim!
Ms. Criswell sang I'm the Greatest Star from Funny Girl and, if she isn't, then she should be. Love of my Life from The Pirate gave way to Matthew Ford telling us that Something's Gotta Give (Daddy Long Legs, 1955).
The program promised Laura but it turned out she was only a dream and, instead, we got a ballet sequence from Forever Darling - Confetti. I'd have preferred Laura
Ford returned for If Ever I Should Leave You (Camelot 1967) and it set, I'm sure, a few ladies hearts a fluttering.
Kim returned for So Long, Dearie from Hello Dolly. This was the showstopper! She had it and she flaunted it and the song contained the immortal line; "I should have said ' so long', so long ago."
The set finished with part of the soundtrack of The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938).
A 45-minute set and a short interval saw us back on our seats for the overture to My Fair Lady then a suite from A Place in the Sun. Two long orchestral pieces in a row had some of the audience losing the plot but they were back on course when Kim returned, wearing a gown that defied gravity, and took the room apart with two songs from Yentl - The Way He Makes me Feel and Papa Can You Hear me?
What could follow that we wondered, little realising we'd be saying the same after the next one - an instrumental to boot!
Tom and Jerry at MGM is an arrangement by John Wilson of various soundtracks by Scott Bradley of the greatest cartoon series ever. This was an absolute hoot, you could almost see the cat v mouse scenario being played out.
Matt Ford returned for Gigi and Days of Wine and Roses before Wilson announced the finale as a Suite from Gone With the Wind. Not the finale I was hoping for but at least it wasn't Star Wars.
Naturally, the finale wasn't really the finale - we had another orchestral piece before Matt and Kim returned for You're Just in Love from Call Me Madam
Earlier, as we sipped our chosen aperitif and ate our BLT, John Sibbald was sitting at the piano and playing the most delightful music - nonstop and far more tasteful than our BLT!
Nice to meet up with John again. We gigged together in the dim and distant past!
Lance.
John Wilson Orch w. Kim Criswell & Matthew Ford (vocals) and an 80 piece orchestra including: Jamie Kenny (bass); Colin Oxley (guitar); Matt Skelton (drums); Howard McGill (alto/clarinet/flute); Mark Crooks (tenor/clarinet); Mike Davis (baritone/alto clarinet/bass clarinet/oboe/flute); Michael Lovatt (trumpet); Gordon Campbell (trombone).

1 comment :

Liz said...

an excellent review as ever Lance. For me I would have liked more vocals, so many great numbers from the Oscar winning films of those days. Also, in a quite short concert I thought the Orchestral pieces were a bit long, especially the Robin Hood feature. But hey!a great show

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