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Bebop Spoken There

David Hadju: "It was kind of a lightning bolt [seeing a photo of a hi-fi store that's now occupied by a phone store]. Everyone had hi-fi systems, now everyone has a phone" - (DownBeat May 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

15478 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 499 of them this year alone and, so far, 120 this month (May 27).

From This Moment On ...

May 2023

Sun 28: Bradley Creswick's Western Swingfonia @ Whitley Bay Carnival. Free. Plaza Arena stage. 12 noon.
Sun 28: MSK @ Whitley Bay Carnival. 12:15pm. Free. Marquee stage. MSK - Steve Glendinning, Katy Trigger, Martin Douglas.
Sun 28: Musicians Unlimited @ The Park Inn, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 28: Back Chat Brass @ Whitley Bay Carnival. 1:30pm. Free. Marquee stage.
Sun 28: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 28: Tim Kliphuis Trio @ St Mary's Church, Wooler NE71 6BZ. 3:00pm. £15.00 standard; £5.00 student/unwaged; free under 18. Afternoon Cocktail, a Wooler Summer Arts' concert promotion. Kliphuis (violin); Nigel Clark (guitar); Roy Percy (double bass).
Sun 28: Back Chat Brass @ Whitley Bay Carnival. 3:00pm. Free. Plaza Arena stage.
Sun 28: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 3:00pm.
Sun 28: King Bees @ The Delaval Arms, Old Hartley NE26 4RL. 5:00pm. Free. Chicago blues at its best!
Sun 28: Matt Anderson Quartet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Anderson (saxophones); Jamil Sheriff (piano); Andy Champion (double bass); Dave Walsh (drums).

Mon 29: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.

Tue 30: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 30: Big Chris Barber Band @ Whitley Bay Playhouse. 7:30pm.

Wed 31: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 31: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 31: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 7:00pm.
Wed 31: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

June
Thu 01: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 01: Thursday Night Prayer Meeting @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Donations.
Thu 01: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Ragtime piano. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.
Thu 01: Jake Leg Jug Band @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Thu 01: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 02: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 02: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 02: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 02: Joseph Carville Trio @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm.
Fri 02: Claire Martin & Her Trio @ The Witham, Barnard Castle. 7:30pm. £25.00., £20.00. Feat. Jim Mullen, Alex Garnett & Jeremy Brown.
Fri 02: Guy Davis + Michael Littlefield & Scott Taylor @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. Doors 7:30pm. Blues double bill.
Fri 02: Anders Ingram @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Blind Pig Blues Club. Country blues. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.

Sat 03: Newcastle Record Fair @ Northumbria University, Newcastle NE8 8SB. 10:00am-3:00pm. Admission: £2.00.
Sat 03: Pedigree Jazz Band @ St Augustine's Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm.
Sat 03: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. Tutor: Sue Ferris. £25.00. Enrol at: www.jazz.coop.
Sat 03: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 6:00pm. Free.
Sat 03: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00.
Sat 03: Papa G's Troves @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.

Tuesday, November 08, 2016

Mike Durham’s Classic Jazz Party @ The Village Hotel. Nov 4, evening

(Review by Russell/photo courtesy of Patti Durham & Emrah Erken)
After dinner, Hot Strings guitarists Martin Wheatley and Spats Langham entertained the audience with their typically understated, largely unamplified, duo set. Diners returned to the concert hall, claimed their allocated table for the evening, and readied themselves for Keith Nichols’ command: Stomp off, Let’s go! The American big guns sat alongside the European reeds section; Bix’s man, Andy Schumm and Duke Heitger, trumpets, with Jim Fryer, trombone, making his debut at the Village Hotel, added lustre to the occasion. The reeds – the versatile Robert Fowler, the excellent Richard Exall and the impressive young Norwegian Lars Frank – demonstrated that the music of 20s Chicago has long-since been assimilated by musicians this side of the Atlantic. A busy Spats Langham returned to the engine room to knock out the rhythm (guitar and banjo) with sousaphone master Mr Phil Rutherford and the amazing Nick Ball, percussion. Nichols, in good humour, cracked his usual quota of one-liners in between directing from the Kawai piano, finding time to take a swipe at Earl Hines, no less! It was, of course, self-deprecating, jocular fun, cursing the piano great for leaving a difficult legacy to uphold. It should be noted Mr Keith Nichols acquitted himself admirably. Later vocalist Mellow Baku (pictured) joined the orchestra. More of Ms Baku later.
Annette Hanshaw sang for half an hour in the company of piano accompanist Mr Martin Litton. Our vocalist was, of course, Ms Janice Day. A small combo setting of Emma Fisk, Martin Wheatley, bassist Malcolm Sked and urbane reedsman Jean-Francois Bonnel gave Hanshaw/Day the opportunity to shine, singing You’re the Cream in My Coffee (of which Day informed the full house that Marlene Deitrich sang the number screen testing for The Blue Angel), Button Up Tour Overcoat and Am I Blue?

The New Orleans Wanderers arrived on North Tyneside without Louis Armstrong. Bent Persson, cornet, took the part of Louis’ dep George Mitchell (contractual arrangements in 1926 excluded Armstrong from a studio recording date) in what was, effectively, the Hot Five. The participation of Thomas Winteler, reeds, underscored the historical accuracy of the Chicago session of ninety years ago. Bent Persson’s set drew on the arranger’s talents of Claus Jacobi and Graham Hughes' passable take on Kid Ory in playing a great set with tunes including Gatemouth and a hot Too Tough.

Friday’s closing set presented The Music of Alex Hill. Pianist, composer and arranger, in 2016 Hill is an almost forgotten figure. Leonard Feather described Alex Hill thus: One of the better and less recognized arrangers of the early swing era. Menno Daams’ one hour review of Hill’s all-too-short career (Hill was dead at thirty) featured Rico Tomasso and Duke Heitger, trumpets, Frenchmen Jean-François Bonnel and Henri Lemaire, the larger than life Richard Pite, drums and the most impressive David Boeddinghaus (piano). I’m Crazy About My Baby set the bar high, yet greater heights were achieved tune after tune.      
A superb end to events in the concert hall. A jam session followed into the small hours in the adjoining Victory pub. 
Russell.                

2 comments :

Anonymous said...

Another fab day and evening - jazz heaven!
The photo credit should read Emrah Erken, by the way.

Lance said...

Apologies - now corrected.

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