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Bebop Spoken There

Branford Marsalis: "As ignorance often forces us to do, you make a generalisation about a musician based on one specific record or one moment in time." - (Jazzwise June 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

15491 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 512 of them this year alone and, so far, 133 this month (May 31).

From This Moment On ...

Wed 07: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 07: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 07: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 7:00pm.
Wed 07: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 08: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free. CANCELLED! BACK ON JUNE 15.
Thu 08: Easington Colliery Brass Band @ The Lubetkin Theatre, Peterlee. 7:00pm. £10.00.
Thu 08: Faye MacCalman + Blue Dust Archive @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Thu 08: Dilutey Juice + Ceramic @ The Ampitheatre, Sea Road, South Shields. 7:00pm. Free. A South Tyneside Festival event.
Thu 08: Lara Jones w. Vigilance State @ Lubber Fiend, Blandford Square, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Thu 08: Michael Littlefield @ the Harbour View, Roker, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Country blues.
Thu 08: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 09: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 09: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 09: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 09: Castillo Nuevo @ Revolución de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30-8:30pm.
Fri 09: Emma Rawicz @ Sage Gateshead. 8:00pm.

Sat 10: Miners' Picnic @ Woodhorn, Ashington. Music inc. Northern Monkey Brass Band (3:00-3:50pm); New York Brass Band (4:00-4:55pm).
Sat 10: Front Porch Three @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. Americana, blues, jazz etc.
Sat 10: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.

Sun 11: WORKSHOP: Tim Richards' Jazz Piano Workshop @ JG Windows, Newcastle. Time TBC. Further details tel. 0191 232 1356.
Sun 11: Jeremy McMurray's Pocket Jazz Orchestra @ Ropner Park, Stockton TS18 4EF. 2:00-4:00pm. Free.
Sun 11: Am Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:30pm. Free.
Sun 11: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 3:00pm.
Sun 11: Groovetrain @ Innisfree Sports & Social Club, Longbenton NE12 8TY. Doors 6:30pm. £15.00 (£7.00. under 16).
Sun 11: Jeffrey Hewer Collective @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 12: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.

Tue 13: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 13: Infusion Trio @ Forum Music Centre, Darlington. 7:30pm.
Tue 13: Alice Grace & Pawel Jedrzejewski @ Black Swan, Newcastle Arts Centre. 8:00pm. £12.00 (£10.00. adv.).

Thursday, February 09, 2017

Southport Jazz Festival: Ben Cox Band - February 5

Ben Cox (vocal), Matt Davies (sax), Jamie Safir (piano), Flo Moore (acoustic and electric bass, backing vocals), Will Glaser (drums).
(Review by Steve T/Photos courtesy of Neil Hughes, © Robert Burns)
On paper, this was the one that appealed to me the least and so it proved. Sorry guys and gal but I prefer instrumental Jazz and get my fix of singers mostly from soul.
But what a lovely way to spend a Sunday morning. I thought I'd missed the start but arrived just in time for the introductions and flitted about during Pennies from Heaven, sorting out water for my assortment of pills – the penalty of a misspent youth - trying to find out whether the hotel had forgotten my wake-up call or if I'd slept through it and what to do for breakfast.
Asda pineapple with Lead the Way, an original and not half bad, chatting about all things with Count (Tony) Eales and a lady from the Wigan Jazz Festival, my wife’s hometown though she doesn't eat pies or gamble, but knows the rules for both types of rugby.  
You Turned the Tables on Me, through the prism of Ella Fitzgerald and Joe Pass with cappuccino followed by a much improved Everybody Wants to Rule the World by Tears for Fears, the first time I've heard Flo Moore play electric bass, and doing backing vocals too.
Flo is never less than impressive, ditto the rest of the band, and Cox is a safe pair of hands with an impressive range who handles an audience with ease. If he's more Bublé (dare I offer Olly Murs?) than Sinatra, it was perfect programming for this particular slot and the audience, at just about capacity, relished it.
A Foggy Day in London Town and A Nightingale in Berkeley Square were right up his street. Way of Life features Liane Carol on the record but she sat it out here.
Part two began with Ben and impressive pianist Jamie Safir with the old Motown stalwart How Sweet it Is. A short search for the rest of the band and the walk of shame as the audience jovially delivered a slow hand-clap. 
Round and Round, written for his niece, was a very impressive original followed by one of the Steely Dan hits (I think); something about Back Jack. I Get a Kick was back squarely in his comfort zone before Funny How Time Slips Away, by lots of people but you must check it by Rueben Howell, lush Country Soul and blue-eyed too, at an educated guess.
As I guarded a camera for someone, Liane Carroll finally turned up like a one-woman choir for a rousing finale, her earthy realness proving infectious and spreading through the band, exchanging scatting with Ben, some blue piano, a smoking sax solo, solid drumming and Flo Moore - 'nuff said.
Clearly a highlight of the festival for many.
Steve T.
Photos.

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