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Bebop Spoken There

Spasmo Brown: “Jazz is an ice cream sandwich! It's the Fourth of July! It's a girl with a waterbed!”. (Syncopated Times, July, 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

17444 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 718 of them this year alone and, so far, 100 this month (Oct. 10).

From This Moment On ...

October

Sun 13: Am Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 13: Emma Wilson @ Tyne Bar, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. Blues.
Sun 13: Catfish Keith @ The Cluny. 7:00pm. Country blues.
Sun 13: Lindsay Hannon + Eleanor Adams @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig. Note, this is a change to the previously advertised gig.
Sun 13: Dulcie May Moreno Quartet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Sun 13: Jazz Jam @ Fabio’s, Saddler St., Durham. 8:00pm. Free. A DUJS event. All welcome.

Mon 14: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 14: Black is the Color of My Voice @ Hippodrome, Darlington. 7:30pm. Apphia Campbell’s one-woman show inspired by Nina Simone, performed by Nicholle Cherrie.

Tue 15: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Alan Law (piano), Paul Grainger (double bass), Bailey Rudd (drums).

Wed 16: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 16: Cath Stephens’ improvisation workshop @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 4:30-6:00pm. Collaborative group focusing on vocal improvisations.
Wed 16: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 16: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 17: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 17: Olivia Cuttill Quintet @ King’s Hall, Newcastle University. 1:15pm. Free.
Thu 17: Moonlight Serenade Orchestra UK: Glenn Miller & Big Band Spectacular @ Phoenix Theatre, Blyth. 7:30pm.
Thu 17: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. Ragtime piano. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 17: Niffi Osiyemi Trio @ The Harbour View, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free.
Thu 17: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesborough. Guests Jeremy McMurray (keys); Richie Emmerson (tenor sax); Mark Toomey (alto sax); Adrian Beadnell (bass). 8:30pm. Free.

Fri 18: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 18: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 18: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 18: Hot Club du Nord @ St Cuthbert’s, Crook. 7:30pm.
Fri 18: Chet Set @ Seventeen Nineteen, Hendon, Sunderland. 7:30pm. Pete Tanton & co.
Fri 18: Michael Woods @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. Doors 7:30pm (upstairs). A Hoodoo Blues dance & social event. £10.00. class & social (£10.00., £7.50., £5.00. social only). Michael Woods (country blues guitar) on stage 9:00pm.
Fri 18: East Coast Swing Band @ Hexham Abbey. 7:30pm. £9.00.
Fri 18: Ben Crosland Quartet @ Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. Opus 4 Jazz Club.
Fri 18: Durham University Jazz Society’s ‘High Standards’ @ Music Dept. Music Room, Divinity House, Palace Green, Durham University DH1 3RS. 8:009-30pm. Tel: 0191 334 1419. £7.00., £5.00.
Fri 18: Ray Stubbs R&B All Stars @ Blues Underground, Nelson St., Newcastle. 9:00pm. Free.

Sat 19: Sat 19: Paula Jackman’s Jazz Masters @ St Augustine’s Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm. Darlington New Orleans Jazz Club.
Jeff Hewer Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 19: Howlin’ Mat @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Country blues guitar & vocals. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

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

Friday, September 01, 2017

Tom Sharp Jazz Orchestra @ Ushaw Jazz Festival 2017 - August 27

(Review by Russell/Photos courtesy of John Cogan)
In 2016 the Leeds-based Tom Sharp Jazz Orchestra walked off with the National Glass Centre-commissioned trophy as winners of the Great North Big Band Jazz Festival. The adjudicators at the Sunderland University Students’ Union venue were in no doubt that the quality of the band’s performance was deserving of the coveted title. Eighteen months later Tom Sharp’s tremendous big band closed the 2017 Ushaw Jazz Festival.
Eighteen-strong, the orchestra assembled on the Exhibition Hall stage, stretching from right to left, rhythm section at one end, the five-strong saxophone section at the other. Bandleader Tom Sharp, cutting a debonair figure right out of a ’30s jazz orchestra, appeared business-like, ready to go to work. Sharp’s musicians are the crème de la crème of the burgeoning Leeds jazz scene. The sections boast familiar faces; local County Durham heroes Tom Hill and Will Howard, Ben Lowman (alto) erstwhile sideman to Matt Roberts, and Danny Barley, making a second visit in three days to Ushaw having proved a more than able trombone dep for Chris Hibbard with the Paul Edis Sextet.

A fast moving show featured an array of soloists (not a weak link in sight) working through a varied and entertaining pad. Illustrious arrangers, composers and musicians were in there; Bob Florence, Bill Holman, Rob McConnell, Lennie Niehaus, Gordon Goodwin, Harry James, Basie, to name just a few. Twist of the Wrist for starters, Basie’s Kid from Red Bank with barrelhouse piano from Chris Bland. Gordon Goodwin’s arrangement of Beauty and the Beast heard from Rose Perry, tenor, and Alex Fisher on baritone. Lennie Niehaus’ arrangement for Stan Kenton of I’ve Never Been in Love Before showcased the ’bones – Tom I’Anson, Chris Burge, Danny Barley and bass bone man Pat Martin.

Bandleader Tom Sharp stood out front for a bravura trumpet performance of Harry James’ theme tune Ciribiribin. Wow! Lots of technical stuff going on there! Time for our first singer of the evening.  Ms Helena Debono first convinced the hall that Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend before going on to claim My Heart Belongs to Daddy. More from Ms Debono later. Jack Chandler (alto) doubled up on baritone to feature on Bob Florence’s Pumpkinette followed by Bill Holman’s arrangement for Stan Kenton of Malaga which heard from bassist Sam Jackson.            

Second set there was no let up with a tumultuous West Side Story featuring drummer Josh Smart. Impressive, exhausting stuff! Time to introduce James Hudson. Tall, suave, a debut performance, Chaplin’s Smile by way of introduction. Fine and dandy until all hell broke loose as Sharp’s full-on fast and furious solo upped the tempo. Hudson departed singing Cheek to Cheek. We would hear more of JH later. Guitarist Will Powell stepped up, metaphorically, on McConnell’s arrangement of Horace Silver’s Strollin’ deservedly winning applause. Just Friends featured a slew of soloists; Tom I’Anson, trombone, Chris Bland, Perry on tenor and Lowman on alto, and to close it out, Tom Hill did what Tom Hill does, the trumpeter well and truly nailed it. Debono and Hudson returned to sing I Won’t Dance. Both vocalists were making their first appearance with the orchestra. You wouldn’t have known it. The Tom Sharp Jazz Orchestra made a big impression at the Ushaw Jazz Festival and Tom Kubis’ Alexander’s Big Time Band just about summed up this amazing big time band. 
Russell.                    
Tom Sharp Jazz Orchestra:
Trumpets: Tom Sharp (MD), Joe Roughton, Dan Coulthurst, Stuart Wilson, Tom Hill,
Saxophones: Ben Lowman (alto), Jack Chandler (alto & baritone), Rose Perry (tenor), Will Howard (tenor), Alex Fisher (baritone)
Trombones: Tom I’Anson, Chris Burge, Danny Barley, Pat Martin
Will Powell (guitar), Chris Bland (piano), Sam Jackson (bass), Josh Smart (drums)

Vocals: Helena Debono & James Hudson

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