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Bebop Spoken There

James Brandon Lewis: "Sometimes I'm not thinking about anything other than blowing the paint off the walls, and other times I'm narrating a story about my life." - (DownBeat 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

15516 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 536 of them this year alone and, so far, 25 this month (June 7).

From This Moment On ...

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: Jeffrey Hewer @ The Vault, Darlington Covered Market, Darlington. 6:00-8:00pm. Free.
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.
Sun 11: Jam No. 19 @ Fabio's Bar, Saddler Street, Durham. 8:00pm. Free. All welcome. A Durham University Jazz Society event.

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.).

Wed 14: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 14: NUJO Final Jazz Jam @ Bar Loco, Newcastle. 6:30pm. Free. Newcastle University Jazz Orchestra's final jam session of the academic year. All welcome.
Wed 14: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 14: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 7:00pm.
Wed 14: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 15: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 15: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Gateshead Central Library. 2:30-4:30pm. £2.00. All welcome.
Thu 15: Castillo Nuevo @ Revolución de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30-8:30pm.
Thu 15: Alexander Ord Trio @ Tynedale Beer & Cider Festival, Tynedale Rugby Club, Corbridge. Evening, time TBC.
Thu 15: Têtes de Pois + Nauta @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. Time TBC.
Thu 15: Indigo Jazz Voices @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:45pm. £5.00.

Fri 16: Sue Ferris Quintet @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 16: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 16: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 16: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 16: Stu Collingwood @ Baltic, Gateshead. 7:00pm. £15.75. A Let's Caper event featuring exhibitions, food, music etc.
Fri 16: Steve Beresford-Hannah Marshall-John Butcher @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 7:30pm. JNE promotion.
Fri 16: James Taylor Quartet @ Fire Station, Sunderland. 7:30pm.
Fri 16: Customs House Big Band @ Customs House, South Shields. 7:30pm.
Fri 16: Sue Ferris Quintet @ Traveller's Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm.
Fri 16: New Orleans Brass Band @ Billy Bootlegger's, Arch 2, Stepney Bank, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. NOBB directed by Jason Holcomb.

Wednesday, October 18, 2017

And the band played on… Jazz Café Jam Session – October 17

(Review by Russell)
The Jazz Café’s jam session is rapidly approaching legendary status. The Pink Lane venue across the road from Newcastle Central Station is the place to be at eight o’clock (earlier if you want to sit down as seats are at a premium) every first and third Tuesday in the month. The house band is an A-list affair and the many sitters-in invariably bring their A-game to the party.
This October 17 renewal attracted a dizzying list of participants. The house trio – James Harrison foregoing the Caff’s upright piano in favour of his own keyboard, Paul Grainger on double bass and drummer Russ Morgan – set off on the right track with Yardbird Suite. Harrison likes to keep things moving (ideal at a jam session) and Mambo Inn did just that featuring a Russ Morgan solo followed by Harrison’s accomplished intro to everyone’s favourite tune – Secret Love.

No time to waste, bring on Mr Nick Gould! The Edinburgh-based tenor saxophonist was making an all too infrequent visit to the Caff’s jam session. Full bodied, proper tenor playing , Out of Nowhere, You Don’t Know What Love Is with sensitive piano accompaniment, then, the tune with a million or so notes – One Note Samba – with Russ Morgan’s imperious hand-drumming. Let’s cancel the jam session, play it as a quartet gig. Sorry, it was just a thought! How could anyone entertain the idea? Stupid boy! Waiting in the wings, Mr Michael Lamb, trumpet, and Mr Alex Saxon, alto sax and flute. Fresh from Sunday’s triumphant Strictly Smokin’ Big Band concert with special guest Joe Stilgoe at Hoochie Coochie, Lamb opened with Softly, as in a Morning Sunrise. Joel Brown turned up, sat in, played Moondance…doesn’t the lad have any homework to do? Saxon’s flute was made for Van’s perennial. Strictly Smokin’ tenor saxophonist Jamie Toms turned up and sat in on Beautiful Love, a treat to hear him play such assured tenor. Lamb emerged from the bop school wood shed to play a tremendous solo, Russ Morgan grabbed another himself and the man at the back Mr Paul Grainger kept J Brown on the right track.

Excuse me! How much is admission? Admission? It’s free. You’re joking, this is amazing stuff! Get the beers in!

The magic roundabout stopped. JP, John Pope, jumped off, so too guitarist Matthew Downey. The pair sat in on Well, You Needn’t. They stayed on for a couple more including Dr Billy Taylor’s How I Wish I Knew How it Would Feel to be Free, Pope soloing and Downey adding a succinct solo of his own. All change! Where do they all come from? A new line up, including a Sage contingent, played Sunny with guitarist Jamie Mackay in a groove, Inês Gonçalves sang The Girl from Ipanema and a stupendous tenor solo from Tom Dixon on Bill Evans’ Interplay threatened to steal the show.

Who played what when became all the more difficult to document as the conveyor belt delivered a few more top notch names. Dan Garel – Hooray! Paul Gowland – Hooray! DG on alto, PG on alto, and Nick Gould, tenor, returned. Modal to bop they had a blast. Solos flashed across the room like tracer bullets, none flinched. The house lights went up. More! More! James Harrison set off again, Paul Grainger cookin’, Russ Morgan killing. Way past eleven, the (naughty) boys called it a day.
The Jazz Café’s jam session (every time, take your pick) is a serious contender for gig of the year.
Russell.

James Harrison (piano), Paul Grainger (double bass) & Russ Morgan (drums) + Nick Gould (tenor saxophone), Michael Lamb (trumpet), Alex Saxon (alto saxophone & flute), Joel Brown (piano), Jamie Toms (tenor saxophone), John Pope (double bass), Matthew Downey (guitar), Murray Wankling (piano), Jamie Mackay (guitar), ? (vocals), Inês Gonçalves (vocals), Tom Dixon (tenor saxophone), Dan Garel (alto saxophone) & Paul Gowland (alto saxophone)

3 comments :

Patti said...

And after the last jam sesh review, we thought it couldn't get any better - how silly we were! My, oh what a night!

Nick Gould said...

An excellent night last night, well worth the trip down although I could have done without the extra 40 mile diversion on the way back. Good to see the place busy familiar and new faces.

Patti said...

It was great to hear Nick's booting tenor, alongside the alto saxes ....... and the Jazz Cafe jazzy guys and gals will want him to brave the A1 traffic conditions again sometime soon.

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