Total Pageviews

Bebop Spoken There

Kelly Sill: "Just because everyone is playing through the changes in the same time doesn't mean they're actually playing together" - (JazzTimes March/April 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

15260 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 279 of them this year alone and, so far, 92 this month (March 29).

From This Moment On ...

April
Sat 01: The Big Easy @ St Augustine's Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm.
Sat 01: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. Tutor: Steve Glendinning - In a Minor Key. £25.00. Enrol at: www.jazz.coop.
Sat 01: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington Covered Market, Darlington DL1 5PN. 6:00pm. New venue, live jazz!
Sat 01: Jambone @ Sage Gateshead. 7:00pm. Free (book online). A YMP! event in the Northern Rock Foundation Hall.
Sat 01: Jude Murphy & Dan Stanley @ Prohibtion Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.
Sat 01: Boys of Brass @ Stack, Seaburn. 7:00-9:00pm.
Sat 01: Hot Club du Nord @ Pleased to Meet You, Bridge St., Morpeth. 8:00pm. £79.00. A charity fundraising event.
Sat 01: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00. RESCHEDULED to next week (Sat 08).

Sun 02: Smokin' Spitfires @ The Cluny. 12:45pm.
Sun 02: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 3:00pm.

Mon 03: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.

Tue 04: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 04: Jam session @ Black Swan, Newcastle Arts Centre. 7:30pm. House trio: Bradley Johnston (guitar); Paul Grainger (double bass); Abbie Finn (drums).

Wed 05: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 05: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 05: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 7:00pm.
Wed 05: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 06: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 06: Thursday Night Prayer Meeting @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Donations. Feat. John Pope, Marie Shreer, John Garner.
Thu 06: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibtion Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Ragtime piano. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.
Thu 06: Darlington Big Band @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm. Note earlier start time.

Fri 07: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 07: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 07: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 07: Gaz Hughes Trio @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm.
Fri 07: Mark Toomey Quartet @ Traveller's Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. £8.00.
Fri 07: Finntet + Zoë Gilby & Andy Champion @ Bobik's, Punch Bowl, Newcastle. 8:00pm. JNE.
Fri 07: TBA @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig. Blind Pig Blues Club.

Tuesday, March 14, 2017

Lack of Afro @ Hoochie Coochie – March 10.

(Review/photos courtesy of 137 Imaging - Victoria Ling*)
It was a funked up Friday inside the now proclaimed ‘church of soul’ by which I mean, Newcastle’s Hoochie Coochie as Lack of Afro - the full band - took to the stage.  Opening with Roderigo and the crowd being a little on the shy side, it was vocalist Elliott Cole that urged them closer so they were right by the stage and that is where they stayed for the rest of the night. Adam Gibbons, Lack of Afro himself, was up front going from bass to bongos to tambourine.  With these two frontmen, it was so hard to keep up with the energy that you actually just lost yourself amongst it. Then add a keyboardist, a drummer, a saxophonist and a trumpeter to this vibe and turn the volume up to another 10! Seriously, I am not sure what more you can ask for and this was just the start.
It was the penultimate night of Lack of Afro’s Hey Baby tour; the album was released towards the end of last year.  That album also features female singers such as Joss Stone and Juliette Ashby but neither were in town this night and Elliott Cole added his touch to Take You Home and All My Love respectively, which in turn brought the Hoochie Coochie house down.  Cole is mesmerizing. Not only taking to the guitar and giving us his fine soulful vocal talents but he more or less ad-libbed his way through the set when not talking or singing.  It’s been a while that a vocalist has taken me this way. I mentioned the word church earlier. Witnessing Cole’s performance was a state of euphoria.
Every member on that stage was grooving. There was not one audience member that sat down. Everybody was feeding off each other. It even made way for a few little additions of Stevie Wonder and the Jackson 5 in song.  If you had your eyes closed they actually could have been there. Other highlights included the band introductions and added solos.  Many a times this happens and the audience rightly reciprocates but with a Lack of Afro band the audience truly meant it and with added vigor.  If we could not thank Mr. Gibbons enough for giving us the Lack of Afro sound, he then goes above and beyond showcasing more of his multi-instrumentalist skills and jumps onto the saxophone and then a bit of double drumming with Harry Chestnut, who in turn takes up his place on the bass as Gibbons thrashes out those drums.  The crowd ‘loses it!’  It was definitely one of those gigs where the night could go on forever.  Unfortunately, it didn’t but we were treated to a great encore
Victoria L.
*See more photos of gig on Victoria Ling's Facebook page.

No comments :

Blog Archive