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Bebop Spoken There

Quincy Jones: ''What's great about coming from a little town is that you're a big fish in a little pond and it gives you the confidence when you get to New York to be able to really compete''. (Jazzwise, December 2024/January 2025).

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...

Josh Weir: I love the writing on bebop spoken here... I think the work you are doing is amazing.

Postage

17562 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 836 of them this year alone and, so far, 74 this month (Nov. 22).

From This Moment On ...

December

Sun 01: Smokin’ Spitfires @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:15pm (12 noon doors). £7.50. Note earlier start.
Sun 01: Sax Choir @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 01: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 01: Ruth Lambert Trio @ The Juke Shed, Union Quay, North Shields. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 01: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 01: Lindsay Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ Laurels, Whitley Road, Whitley Bay. 4:00pm. £10.00. SOLD OUT!
Sun 01: Martin Fletcher Band @ Tyne Bar, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. Blues.
Sun 01: Mark Williams Trio @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Album launch gig.
Sun 01: Christmas After Hours @ Fabio’s, Saddler St., Durham. 8:00pm. Free. A Durham University Jazz Society event. Six piece band.

Mon 02: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 02: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Wheatsheaf, Benton Sq., Whitley Road, Palmersville NE12 9SU. Tel: 0191 266 8137.1:00pm. Free.

Tue 03: Customs House Big Band @ The Masonic Hall, North St., Ferryhill DL17 8HX. 7:00pm. Free.
Tue 03: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Dean Stockdale, Paul Grainger, John Hirst.
Tue 03: Bold Big Band @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Wed 04: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 04: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 2:30-4:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Wed 04: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 8:00pm. Concert. Free. .
Wed 04: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 04: Kat Eaton @ Hoochie Coochie, Newcastle. 8:15pm. Soulful vocals, excellent band.

Thu 05: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 05: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. ‘George - named musicians, vocalists & composers (Chisholm, Duke, Lewis, Shearing, Benson, Melly, Gershwin et al)’.
Thu 05: Jools Holland’s R & B Orchestra @ Newcastle City Hall. 7:30pm.
Thu 05: Indigo Jazz Voices @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:45pm. Free.
Thu 05: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesborough. Guest band special with the Middlesbrough Jazz and Blues Orchestra 8pm. Free.

Fri 06: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 06: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 06: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 06: Sue Ferris Quintet @ The Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. Opus 4 Jazz Club.

Sat 07: New Century Ragtime Orchestra @ St Augustine's Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm. Darlington New Orleans Jazz Club.
Sat 07: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. £25.00. Tutor: Steve Glendinning. Enrol at: learning@jazz.coop.
Sat 07: Hot Club du Nord @ St. Cuthbert’s Church, Shadforth DH6 1LB. Tel: 01429 823400. 7:30pm. £15.00. (inc. refreshments).
Sat 07: NUJO Jazz Jam @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm. £3.00.
Sat 07: Bellavana @ Revoluçion de Cuba, Newcastle. 7:45-9:45pm. Free.
Sat 07: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00.

Reviewers wanted

Whilst BSH attempts to cover as many gigs, festivals and albums as possible, to make the site even more comprehensive we need more 'boots on the ground' to cover the albums seeking review - a large percentage of which never get heard - report on gigs or just to air your views on anything jazz related. Interested? then please get in touch. Contact details are on the blog. Look forward to hearing from you. Lance

Saturday, December 03, 2016

Jambone @ St James’ & St Basil’s Church. Dec 2

(Review by Russell)
Jambone, Sage Gateshead’s youth jazz ensemble performed in concert in a church setting on Friday evening. St James’ and St Basil’s in Fenham, Newcastle welcomed an audience of family, friends and supporters of the band on a rain-swept night. Wine and nibbles and, perhaps surprisingly, an above-freezing venue augured well.
Jambone’s Musical Director, Dr Paul Edis played an introductory solo composition at his well-travelled keyboard. The church piano stood idly by – perhaps it wasn’t up to scratch. Montage (comp P. Edis) focused the collective mind of the congregation. The Jamboners were champing at the bit and a couple of them stepped forward to join Edis to play on the evergreen On Green Dolphin Street

Edis introduced the Ben Lawrence Trio. The pianist, B. Lawrence, the same B Lawrence, trumpet, of the hothouse Early Bird workshop band, played three tunes in the company of Alex Shipsey, bass and Dylan Thompson, drums. A bop anthem for starters – Anthropology – gave the trio the opportunity to show what they could do. The echoing acoustics, not the best, Thompson sensibly chose to use brushes for much of the evening. The waltz-time Someday My Price Will Come is a challenging tune for the more experienced musician and it is to the credit of the young trio that they gave a good account of themselves. Lawrence’s intro to the third and final number – Beatrice – caught the ear, and it was Edis who subsequently informed the audience that we had been listening to Robert Glasper’s 7/8 arrangement. Well done, lads!

Following a short interval the full band assembled on stage. In recent times Jambone has experienced administrative difficulties but under Edis’ guidance, the ensemble is now able to boast a full complement in all sections. Indeed, the band’s rhythm section featured not one but two drummers as Gene Krupa and Buddy Rich sat at the back ready to engage in   friendly battle. The Coast (comp P.Edis) introduced the band’s two flautists – Ms Megan Robinson and Ms Imogen Davies-Pugh – with further solo contributions from another of the Early Birds, pianist Philip Grobe, and the impressive guitarist, Matthew Downey.

Edis wanted to play something Christmassy…if you must (bah humbug!). Well, what do you know? Something akin to Thomas Tallis’ Forty Part Motet revealed colourful, and, at times, wonderful, near-dissonant, voicings. 3/4 but not 3/4 did what it said on the tin. Enjoyment is key, and band members were clearly enjoying themselves, exemplified by the always smiling Alex Shipsey, bass. The penultimate number of the evening featured altoist Alex Thompson. Standing out front, Alex played When All is Said and Done. One astute listener remarked: He’s got a great tone.

To close the concert, TS Monk (a religious calling for some!) with Edis’ arrangement of the great man’s Bright Mississippi. Jambone is going from strength to strength. Soloists pepper the sections – the aforementioned flautists, Nick Caughey (returning from a first term at university to play the gig), trumpet-player Lucien Guest alongside the versatile Lawrence and another Early Bird talent, James Metcalf. Oh, yes…Krupa and Rich, aka Rory Gardener and Dylan Thompson! The band gigs regularly. Hear them at HQ (Sage Gateshead, December 10) with further prestigious gigs in the book in 2017.


Jambone: saxophone: Nicholas Caughey, Ryan De Silva, Henry Schmid, Ella Talbot; flute: Megan Robinson, Imogen Davies-Pugh; trumpet: James Metcalf, Ben Lawrence, Lucien Guest; trombone: Darcy Whyatt, Kate Garnett; piano: Phillip Grobe; guitar: Matthew Downey; bass: Alex Shipsey; drums & percussion: Rory Gardener, Dylan Thompson                                    

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