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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

15229 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 248 of them this year alone and, so far, 61 this month (March 20).

From This Moment On ...

March

Wed 22: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 22: Darlington Big Band @ Traveller's Rest, Cockerton. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public). Note change of venue - CANCELLED CEILING COLLAPSED!
Wed 22: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 7:00pm.
Wed 22: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 23: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 4:00-6:00pm. Free.
Thu 23: NUJO Jazz Jam @ Bar Loco, Newcasatle. From 6:30pm 'til late. Free. Newcastle University Jazz Orchestra jam session. All welcome (students & non-students).
Thu 23: Kerrin Tatman + John Garner & John Pope @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Thu 23: Sunna Gunnlaugs & Julia Hülsmann @ Sage Gateshead. 8:00pm. A two-piano gig. A Sage Gateshead-JNE promotion.
Thu 23: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Ragtime piano.
Thu 23: Sleep Suppressor @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £10.00., £8.00. adv. Upstairs.
Thu 23: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 24: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 24: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 24: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 24: FILM: Mo' Better Blues @ Forum Cinema, Hexham. 7:00pm.
Fri 24: Ian Millar & Dominic Spencer @ Scarth Hall, Staindrop, Co. Durham. 8:00pm. £10.00.
Fri 24: Archipelago + Bulbils @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.

Sat 25: Vermont Big Band @ Walker Community Centre, Walker, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Fundraiser for Benfield Juniours Football Club. Hot food available, BYOB.
Sat 25: John Logan & Friends @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Rat Pack, Motown etc. 8:00pm. Free (donations).

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.
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).

Friday, November 11, 2016

Mike Durham’s Classic Jazz Party @ The Village Hotel. Nov 6, evening

(Review by Russell/Photo courtesy of Patti Durham & Emrah Erken.)
The last lap. Three full days of jazz, non-stop from noon ’til late, later for those up for an early hours jam session, this year’s Classic Jazz Party drew to a close on Sunday evening with four concerts and yet another late night jam session.

Keith Nichols’ Ragtime Orchestra resplendent in evening wear played ragtime from the masters of the idiom – Scott Joplin to Jelly Roll Morton. Creole Bells – a ‘cakewalk’ said Nichols – circa 1900, Joseph Lamb’s Ethiopia and two pieces by Irving Berlin. The band revelled in the music put together by the authoritative Nichols, none more than the pianist on this session, Morten Gunnar Larsen. The Norwegian played two solo pieces including James P Johnson’s Daintiness Rag. Ragtime – and stride piano – can have a mesmerising effect and at the end of his two-tune recital Larsen rang his hands, smiling broadly as the audience applauded long and loud. Nichols invited tuba player Richard Pite to step out of the shadows to tackle Ragtime Tuba Player. As Pite (and tuba) made his way to the front of the stage he quipped: I’ve been looking forward to this! Mock terror soon dissipated as Pite demonstrated astounding facility on the instrument! Jelly Roll Morton’s The Perfect Rag encapsulated a wonderful hour with Keith Nichols’ Ragtime Orchestra.

Autumn 1924. Louis Armstrong joined Fletcher Henderson in New York. Claus Jacobi’s   Smack and Louis travelled with Louis from Chicago to his year-long stay with Fletcher Henderson in the Big Apple. Jacobi played bass saxophone on Carolina Stomp (trans. K. Nichols), Bent Persson’s muted solo on The Meanest Kind of Blues impressed with Jean-François Bonnel and Lars Frank offering first class support on clarinets. The trumpeter’s efforts on Sugarfoot Stomp met with the band’s approving chorus: Oh! Play That Thing! Rico Tomasso sang Everybody Loves My Baby, preceding a festival highlight: American cornet/trumpet star Andy Schumm standing tall as he played Shanghai Shuffle.

Bent’s Hot Jazz Trio plus Two heard more from the Swedish trumpet ace: Basin Street Blues, a swift Steamboat Stomp raised the roof and guitarist Jacob Ullberger featured on Bechet’s When the Sun Sets Down South.

The final concert of the 2016 Classic Jazz Party retained the winning formula of getting Keith Nichols and Josh Duffee together and asking them to come up with something a bit special. Duffee hails from one of the most evocative locations in the history of the music:  Davenport, Iowa. Nichols comes from Wanstead Flats…someone has to. No matter, they are masters of the music. Drummer Duffee knows his Jean Goldkette as well as most and that’s what we got. Red Nichols featured in the programme with the Jack Teagarden take on China Boy, there was some Chick Webb and a hot Don Redman arrangement for the Goldkette band of The Stampede. Trumpeters Rico Tomasso and Andy Schumm played a blinder on I’ll Be a Friend with Pleasure. First Tomasso, then Schumm with Bix’s actual solo! Maestro Nichols sang Hot Feet and for an encore the orchestra went to Copenhagen and back.

Sunday evening, eleven o’clock. All done…for some. Duke Heitger led a jam session in the hotel’s in-house Victory pub until the cows came home.
Mike Durham’s Classic Jazz Party was a huge success: three days (and nights) without a major hitch, full houses and lots of great jazz. And, the fantastic news is that next year’s festival has been confirmed. Those all important dates for your diary (next year’s festival will be one week earlier than usual) are…Friday 27-Sunday 29 October 2017.       

Russell.
Photo shows Patti Durham and Jonathon Holmes 'winding down' after a hectic weekend.

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