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Bebop Spoken There

Quincy Jones: ''What's great about coming from a little town is that you're a big fish in a little pond and it gives you the confidence when you get to New York to be able to really compete''. (Jazzwise, December 2024/January 2025).

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

17586 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 860 of them this year alone and, so far, 5 this month (Dec. 2).

From This Moment On ...

December

Tue 03: Customs House Big Band @ The Masonic Hall, North St., Ferryhill DL17 8HX. 7:00pm. Free.
Tue 03: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Dean Stockdale, Paul Grainger, John Hirst.
Tue 03: Bold Big Band @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Wed 04: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 04: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 2:30-4:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Wed 04: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 8:00pm. Concert. Free. .
Wed 04: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 04: Kat Eaton @ Hoochie Coochie, Newcastle. 8:15pm. Soulful vocals, excellent band.

Thu 05: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 05: Jazz Appreciation North East @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. ‘George - named musicians, vocalists & composers (Chisholm, Duke, Lewis, Shearing, Benson, Melly, Gershwin et al)’.
Thu 05: Jools Holland’s R & B Orchestra @ Newcastle City Hall. 7:30pm.
Thu 05: Indigo Jazz Voices @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:45pm. Free.
Thu 05: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesborough. Guest band special with the Middlesbrough Jazz and Blues Orchestra 8pm. Free.

Fri 06: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 06: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 06: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 06: Sue Ferris Quintet @ The Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. Opus 4 Jazz Club.

Sat 07: New Century Ragtime Orchestra @ St Augustine's Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm. Darlington New Orleans Jazz Club.
Sat 07: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. £25.00. Tutor: Steve Glendinning. Enrol at: learning@jazz.coop.
Sat 07: Hot Club du Nord @ St. Cuthbert’s Church, Shadforth DH6 1LB. Tel: 01429 823400. 7:30pm. £15.00. (inc. refreshments).
Sat 07: NUJO Jazz Jam @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm. £3.00.
Sat 07: Bellavana @ Revoluçion de Cuba, Newcastle. 7:45-9:45pm. Free.
Sat 07: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00.

Sun 08: The New ’58 Jazz Collective @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free. A ‘second Sunday in the month’ residency.
Sun 08: Learning & Participation Showcase @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. Free. Multi-genre event followed by a jam session. All welcome.
Sun 08: Zoë Gilby Quintet @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00pm. £10.00.
Sun 08: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 08: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 08: Jason Isaacs @ Hoochie Coochie, Newcastle. 5:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Sun 08: Paul Skerritt @ The Black Candle, South Shields. 6:30pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 08: Redwell @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 08: Durham University Big Band + Durham University Jazz Orchestra: Jazzy Christmas @ Sir Thomas Allen Assembly Rooms Theatre, North Bailey, Durham DH1 3ET. 7:30-9:30pm. £7.00., £6.00. concs., £5.00. Durham Student Music member. Durham University Jazz Ensembles’ annual charity event.
Sun 08: Jools Holland’s R & B Orchestra @ The Globe, Stockton. 7:30pm.
Sun 08: Mick Beck, Dominic Lash, Paul Hession @ the Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm (doors 7:30pm) JNE. £10.

Mon 09: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 09: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Wheatsheaf, Benton Sq., Whitley Road, Palmersville NE12 9SU. Tel: 0191 266 8137. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 09: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 6:30-8:30pm. Free.
Mon 09: James Birkett Trio @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £10.00.

Tue 10: ???

Reviewers wanted

Whilst BSH attempts to cover as many gigs, festivals and albums as possible, to make the site even more comprehensive we need more 'boots on the ground' to cover the albums seeking review - a large percentage of which never get heard - report on gigs or just to air your views on anything jazz related. Interested? then please get in touch. Contact details are on the blog. Look forward to hearing from you. Lance

Sunday, July 02, 2017

Matthew’s Farewell Jazz Party @ The Jazz Café

(Preview by Russell)
Matthew MacKellar first came to the attention of the jazz world sitting-in at Dave Weisser’s Take it to the Bridge weekly jazz workshop. Matthew, at the time perhaps all of fourteen, said little, a mere nod of the head to indicate he was comfortable with the next tune drawn from Weisser’s extensive pad. Wednesday evenings in the upstairs function room of the Chillingham pub house became the essential night out. Drummers Eric Stutt and Paul Wight were fulsome in their praise of Matthew.
In establishing a Saturday morning workshop band at Newcastle’s Lit and Phil, pianist, bandleader and educator Paul Edis offered Matthew the drum chair. The Early Bird Band (a Saturday morning workshop starting at the early hour of 9:30ish gave the band its name!) worked on established jazz tunes, and before long a paying public began turning up at eleven o’clock eager to hear a half-hour set by the young musicians. One Tuesday evening Matthew turned up at the Jazz Café’s top flight jam session looking to sit in. The session takes no prisoners and Matthew more than held his own. Regulars asked: Who’s he? Soon those same regulars would say: I hope Matthew turns up tonight! The house rhythm section was impressed and on more than one occasion Matthew has played the session as a member of the house band.
 In recent times Matthew has sat in with tenor saxophonist Vasilis Xenopoulos, played several sets at the Jazz Co-op’s International Jazz Day celebrations and worked with Sue Ferris at the Durham Jazz Festival. Now Matthew has good reason to celebrate. He has received an offer to study at the world-famous Berklee College of Music. In a few weeks, he will head off to Boston, Massachusetts, USA for what is sure to be a once in a lifetime experience. Matthew invites you to join him and his jazz friends for an evening of non-stop music at the Jazz Café on Thursday 13 July. Upstairs and downstairs, there will be jazz, jazz, jazz! A cast of thousands will be in attendance, this is an event you cannot afford to miss. Admission on the night is £6.00. Proceeds to the Early Birds’ youth jazz development project.

Matthew’s development as a musician is, in part, due to expert tuition. His drum tutors Dave Lourie and Geoff Hutchinson should take a bow, so too guitar tutor John Wilson. These are the behind the scenes characters who don’t seek the spotlight but are deserving of recognition.

The timetable of events on the evening, with, perhaps a little tweaking here and there, is as follows:

19:00 Doors
19:10 – 19:30 Ben Lawrence Trio (downstairs)
19:35 – 20:00 Early Bird Band (upstairs)
20:05 – 20:30 John Wilson Trio (Wilson, Deon Krishnan, Matthew MacKellar, downstairs)
20:35 – 21:00 Francis Tulip Quartet (upstairs)
21:05 Announcements & raffle draw
21:20 – 21:45 Paul Edis Trio (Edis, Deon Krishnan, John Pope TBC, Russ Morgan TBC, downstairs)
21:50 – 22:15 Dave Weisser Combo (upstairs)
22:20 – close Jam session (downstairs)

So, put the date in the diary – Thursday 13 July. Seven o’clock start. Unmissable.

2 comments :

Sylvia Truscott (on F/b) said...

I remember Ray coming home from the Chilli and telling me about this amazing young drummer who sat in...I think you were younger than 14!!....so sorry I can't be at your party......bad timing....story of my life!!...have a ball...xxxxx

George MacKellar said...

Many thanks for your good wishes Sylvia. Ray was one of the individuals who gave Matthew great encouragement over the years; Matthew and I were both very fond of him. Best wishes George xx

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