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Bebop Spoken There

Ambrose Akinmusire: “ I am certainly always aware of what the masses are doing. And when I see too many people going one way, I'm going another way - even when I don't know what's over that way". DownBeat, March, 2024.

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

16287 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 169 of them this year alone and, so far, 41 this month (Mar 18).

From This Moment On ...

March

Tue 19: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Michael Young, Paul Grainger, Tim Johnston.

Wed 20: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 20: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 20: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 21: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 21: Castillo Neuvo Trio + Conor Emery & His ‘Bones Band @ The Grove, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 7:30pm (7:00pm doors). £10.00. (£7.00. student).
Thu 21: Remi Banklyn + Chris Corcoran Trio @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £12.50. Chicago blues. An International Guitar Foundation promotion.
Thu 21: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Ragtime piano.
Thu 21: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm.

Fri 22: Vasilis Xenopoulos & Paul Edis @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm. £8.00. SOLD OUT!
Fri 22: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 22: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 22: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 22: Nauta + Remy CB + Last Orders @ Hoochie Coochie, Newcastle. 8:30pm (7:30pm doors). Free.
Fri 22: Vasilis Xenopoulos-Paul Edis Quartet @ Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. £15.00. Opus 4 Jazz Club.
Fri 22: Redwell @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sat 23: Jambone @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead. 6:30pm. Free (ticketed). End of term performance in the Northern Rock Foundation Hall.
Sat 23: Milne-Glendinning Band @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 23: Red Kites Jazz @ Rowlands Gill Community Centre NE39 1JB. 7:00pm. Tickets: £12.00. (gibsidecommunityfarm@gmail.com). A ‘Build a Barn’ fundraiser. BYOB, tea/coffee available.
Sat 23: New Century Ragtime Orchestra @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £20.00. + bf (book in person at venue - no booking fee!). Featuring pianist Martin Litton.
Sat 23: Pete Tanton’s Cuba Libre @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sun 24: Musicians Unlimited @ Park Inn, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 24: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:30pm. Free.
Sun 24: Luis Verde @ Queen’s Hall, Hexham. 3:00pm. Verde (alto sax); Joe Steels (guitar); John Pope (double bass); John Hirst (drums). Alto sax brilliance!
Sun 24: Elsie Franklin @ The Globe, Newcastle. 3:00pm. £10.00. Country blues. An International Guitar Foundation promotion.
Sun 24: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay Metro Station. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 24: Las Vegas Live with the Rat Pack @ The Forum, Billingham.
Sun 24: Ian Millar & Dominic Spencer @ Otterburn Memorial Hall. 7:30pm. £12.00.
Sun 24: Lindsay Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Note start time - 7:00pm.
Sun 24: Bold Big Band @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 25: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 25: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 6:30pm. Free.

Sunday, June 11, 2017

The Gala Big Band @ St. Cuthbert’s Parish Centre, Crook. June 9.

(Review by Jerry E [Apologies again: I do not have a full list of the musicians for tonight] )
After The Early Bird Band, Crook welcomed back the Gala Big Band (or a slightly slimmed version of it – slim enough to photograph without going panoramic!) for a familiar and thoroughly enjoyable set consisting of 9 tunes with a solo piano “interlude” by the MD towards the end of the evening.
The Power of Love opened proceedings with the full-blast band lifting the rafters of the old school-room which now houses the Parish Centre. For health and safety reasons it’s just as well this was the “slimmed” band! The Coast, an Edis original in bossa nova style (jointly inspired by Jobim and Tynemouth) lowered the volume but not the tone!
Embraceable You, more dance-band than bossa but equally melodic, featured Steve Williams (one of the few names I did catch) on saxophone. Googling that title proved pleasantly distracting – listening to Billie Holiday on YouTube and, from another web page, trying to visualise an early Broadway performance: music by George, lyrics by Ira, choreography by Fred Astaire and singing and dancing by Ginger Rogers in her prime. Was that a Golden Age?
Next was Catch as Catch Can which I have described elsewhere as frenetic though frenzied or frantic might equally apply such is its pace and complexity. Suffice to say the band wrestled it into submission!
When All Is Said and Done calmed the mood and showed why members of Jambone (the youth band fronted by Edis) decided, by way of an acronym, that this should be dubbed “way sad”.
The band’s drummer, Alex Kennedy (caught that name too!) then provided vocals on Moondance while the band played his own arrangement of the music. There being a percussionist available tonight, Crook missed out on the rarely witnessed sight of Edis on the drums but I think even he might concede that it sounded better that way!
The band then took a breather while Edis performed the 1920’s popular song later “owned” by Satchmo, When You’re Smiling. Presumably his own arrangement – it was certainly not as I have heard the song before and was typical of his dissection/exploration on his CD’s of familiar tunes such as Country Gardens, Skye Boat Song, Greensleves and Bring Me Sunshine. Here, in contrast to the band’s opening number, you could hear a pin drop.
Out came the spangly bowlers in the trumpet section for Moonlight Serenade then it was Ellington’s moody Come Sunday featuring another of the saxes (sorry, missed that one!) and then testing the rafters again with One O’Clock Jump. All thoroughly enjoyable stuff.
After the applause, Roger, one of the centre’s organisers, thanked and praised Paul Edis for his work bringing jazz to venues such as Crook, Ushaw, The Gala, The Lit & Phil, so that people can enjoy live music. I wholeheartedly endorse all that and would add my own two penn’orth: his achievement bringing people the opportunity to play jazz (like this community band, like Early Bird, Jazz Attack and Jambone) is so important to the future enjoyment of those audiences and to the flourishing of jazz in the region.
Jerry

1 comment :

Steve T said...

Both bands sounding great.

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