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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

15848 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 855 of them this year alone and, so far, 53 this month (Sept. 18).

From This Moment On ...

September

Thu 21: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 21: La Malbec Orchestra @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Thu 21: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Ragtime piano. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.
Thu 21: Linsday Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ Harbour View, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free.
Thu 21: Ray Stubbs R & B All Stars @ The Schooner, Gateshead. 8:30pm. Free.
Thu 21: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 22: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 22: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 22: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 22: Brief Encounter @ Bardon Mill Village Hall, Northumberland. 7:00pm. Tickets: £10.00. adv from 07885 303166; £12.00. on the door. Chris & Veronica Perrin improvising to a screening of the 1929 'Jazz Age' silent film Piccadilly (Dir. Ewald André Dupont).
Fri 22: Paul Edis & Graeme Wilson + Three Tsuru Origami @ Jesmond United Reformed Church, Newcastle. 7:30pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Fri 22: Crooners @ Tyne Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm.
Fri 22: Abbie Finn's Finntet @ Traveller's Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. Opus 4 Jazz Club.

Sat 23: Tyne Valley Big Band @ Tanfield Railway, Gateshead. 2:00-4:00pm. Free. A '1940s Weekend' event.
Sat 23: Jason Isaacs @ Stack, Seaburn. 3:30-5:30pm. Free.
Sat 23: Andrew Porritt & Keith Barrett @ Cullercoats Watch House, Front St., Cullercoats NE30 4QB. 7:00pm.
Sat 23: Michael Woods @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig. Country blues.

Sun 24: Musicians Unlimited @ Park Inn, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 24: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.

Mon 25: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Mon 25: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 7:00pm.

Tue 26: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.

Wed 27: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 27: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 27: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Friday, December 16, 2016

The Gala Big Band @ Durham Town Hall - December 15

(Review/photos by Jerry - Apologies: I do not have a full list of the musicians )
The Town Hall, with its mullioned windows, giant portraits and armorial crests was host to a sizeable crowd (well over 60 – they had to wheel in extra chairs) listening to the ever-improving Gala Big Band. It’s not a Christmas concert but the brass instruments winked and shone like fairy-lights, the trumpet section sported their customary glittery bowlers and the MD took to the stage for the second set wearing a Christmas tee-shirt which his wife, had she been there, might have counseled him against. So, not a Christmas concert but, like the opening number, In the Mood.
An Edis’ original, inspired by Neal Hefti, entitled Hefty Boots featured piano and guitar solos and was followed by a tune of Hefti’s own, Flight of the Foo Birds. Both featured some energetic drumming from Alex Kennedy (new to me) and muted trumpets caught the ear on the latter. Trumpet and sax were to the fore on a swinging version of They Can’t Take That Away from Me then Edis, himself on his shiny new sax, fronted the next number, When Sunny Gets Blue. I googled this number, to check the spelling and learnt, in passing, that Jack Segal (who wrote or co-wrote the song) was something of a polymath: political science graduate, mastered in social research “and also studied creative writing” before starting his musical career at Paramount. Can’t help but envy such talented folk!
Next up was smiles all round with Sweet Georgia Brown then two closing numbers for the set which could not have been more contrasting: all ears for a beautiful solo piano arrangement of In the Bleak Midwinter then all feet a-tapping for Hancock’s Watermelon Man with some great crescendos and infectious rhythms throughout, aided by extra percussion from Alan Redhead.
The second half started, appropriately, with Strike up the Band then hit the rails with Take the A Train followed by Night Train – trumpets and trombone featured prominently on both. Things slowed and calmed thereafter with When a Child is Born - Ben Lawrence, on piano tonight, providing the intro, some gentle brushwork from the drummer, a fine trumpet solo and the smooth contribution of a flute among the saxophones (another first, I think?). In We Three Kings (a brassy, upbeat arrangeme
nt by the MD) the flute literally took centre stage in front of the band in a sustained contribution which was trilling and thrilling in equal measure. Apologies for not naming the flautist (who had also soloed on sax earlier) as well as numerous other band members – I just could not catch all the names.
It was full-circle back to Neal Hefti then with Splanky – impressively “good fun” with a sax solo (from Amber?) and a special mention from the MD for the drummer and percussionist who had driven it along.
The Power of Love was, by way of a brief reprise, both closing number and encore. An excellent evening – much more of this and even I, a confirmed Christmas denier and the personification of “Bah Humbug!”, might mellow a bit before December 25!
Jerry

2 comments :

Anonymous said...

The flautist was Robert(Rab) McBlane

JERRY said...

Thanks for that: just need about another 20 names now!

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