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Bebop Spoken There

Art Blakey: "You [Bobby Watson] don't want to play too long, because you don't know they're clapping because they're glad you finished!" - (JazzTimes, Nov. 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!"

Postage

15867 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 874 of them this year alone and, so far, 72 this month (Sept. 25).

From This Moment On ...

September

Thu 28: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 28: Alice Grace Quartet @ King's Hall, Newcastle University. 1:15pm. Free.
Thu 28: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Gateshead Central Library, Gateshead. 2:30pm. All welcome.
Thu 28: Faye MacCalman + Snape/Sankey @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Thu 28: Zoe Rahman @ Jesmond United Reformed Church, Jesmond, Newcastle. 7:30pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Thu 28: '58 Jazz Collective @ Hops & Cheese, Hartlepool. 7:30pm.
Thu 28: Speakeasy @ Queen's Hall, Hexham. 7:30pm. £15.00. A Southpaw Dance Company presentation. Dance, audio-visuals, Count Basie, Benny Goodman, swing dancers etc.
Thu 28: Mick Cantwell Band @ Harbour View, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Ace blues band.
Thu 28: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 29: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 29: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 29: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.

Sat 30: John Pope Quintet + Late Girl + Shapeshifters @ Bobik's, Jesmond, Newcastle.
Sat 30: Papa G's Troves @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.

OCTOBER

Sun 01: Smokin' Spitfires @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:45pm.
Sun 01: Dulcie May Moreno sings Portrait of Sheila @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00pm. £10.00. Moreno sings Sheila Jordan with Giles Strong, Mick Shoulder & John Bradford.
Sun 01: Middlesbrough Jazz & Blues Orchestra @ Saltburn Community Hall. 2:00pm.
Sun 01: The Easy Rollers @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. £13.70., £11.55.
Sun 01: Brand/Roberts/Champion/Sanders @ Blank Studios, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Sun 01: Papa G's Troves @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 02: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Mon 02: FILM: Wattstax; 50th Anniversary @ Forum Cinema, Hexham. 8:00pm.

Tue 03: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 03: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. House trio: Michael Young (piano); Paul Grainger (double bass); Paul Wight (drums).

Wed 04: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 04: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 04: Paul Skerritt @ Vespa Italian Bar & Steakhouse, Primrose Hill, Jarrow. From 7:00pm. To book a table - 0191 483 3355.
Wed 04: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Monday, December 19, 2016

'Let it Snow' - Claire Martin w. Northern Sinfonia @ Sage Gateshead - December 18

Claire Martin (vocal) w. Royal Northern Sinfonia inc. Ryan Quigley (trumpet); Matt Skelton (drums) conducted by Timothy Henty.
(Review by Lance/photo from archive).
I wondered, is this going to be another round of seasonal supermarket songs? I looked at the programme, Winter Wonderland, just as I thought, but, 'alf a mo', Lady is a Tramp. What's Christmassy about that?
Claire explained. The evening was about Christmas but, as next year would have been Ella's centenary, they'd decided to jump the gun and include a lot of Ms. Fitzgerald's songbook classics.
Conductor Henty arranged the Christmas Overture which included a snatch of Manhattan. They used to refer to Sir Malcolm Sargent as 'Flash Harry'. Meet the new and flashier Harry. Henty conducts the orchestra with the fervor of Mourinho on the touchline appealing a penalty decision. It works, I doubt if even John Wilson or Rafael Benitez could have got more from the slimmed down, augmented Sinfonia. 
Augmented in the form of, among others, 5 saxes and Ryan Quigley on trumpet - few opportunities for Ryan - maybe a chorus and a half. That's a bit like subbing Ronaldo in the first 20 minutes.
Back to Claire Martin, the songs may be old chestnuts but, she manages to make them seem like new.
Always singing the verse to the standards and, somehow, making White Christmas sound like it's a new number. Even the fun ones, such as Here Comes Santa Claus and I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus seemed to have more to them than perhaps the composer intended. I mean, was mommy really kissing daddy disguised as Santa Claus or was it the postman disguised as Santa Claus? At this time of year, mommy probably sees a lot more of the postman than she does of daddy!
Christmas songs, Ella songs, there wasn't a dull moment. However, if I had to pick out just two numbers that rung the bell it would be Frank Loesser's What Are You Doing New Year's Eve? and the tearjerking 1922 Irving Berlin song - How About me? Amazingly I'd never heard this song before tonight and now I'll be singing it in my sleep!
And of course the encore - Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. We all knew the words and sung along, with her.
So much more. Claire Martin tops the vocal charts for me and, trust me that, this weekend, that's been a tight contest.
This weekend - tonight!
----- 
Prior to the concert a short set by Hand to Mouth (a.k.a. Bradley Johnston and Lindsay Hannon).
Lindsay was at the top of her game - preparing the groundwork for what was to follow and she did the business. Sage acoustics did her proud as did ace guitarist Johnston. If Claire hadn't been able to make it then no need to phone around...
The duo entertained the gradually building crowd with Dindi; Solitude; That Old  Feeling; Get Out of Town; One Note Samba; Gee Baby Ain't I Good to You; Autumn in New York and, as an overture as to what was to follow - Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow.  
----- 
After the concert, I headed over towards the number 27 bus stop. This involves passing the Prohibition Bar where those well-known bootleggers Big Muddy were serving up bathtub jazz.
I only had time to catch Dave Weisser singing Georgia on my Mind and Show me the Way to go Home (which we all know is based on the chords of The Preacher) but it rounded off the evening perfectly.
Lance.
:PPS: It didn't snow but, somehow, I wished that it had (liar!)

2 comments :

Liz said...

"How about me"...I loved this song in my younger days and love it still. Achingly sad.

Anonymous said...

It was the first time I'd heard it too ..... I've just checked out a few different versions on YT - Ella's is beautiful. It's a heartbreaker .....

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