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Bebop Spoken There

Kurt Elling: ''There's something to learn from every musician you play with''. (DownBeat, December 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

17630 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 904 of them this year alone and, so far, 49 this month (Dec. 20).

From This Moment On ...

December

Fri 20: Edison Herbert Trio @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 20: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 20: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 20: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 20: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 1:00-3:00pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Fri 20: Baghdaddies @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 20: Smokin’ Spitfires @ Platform 1, East Bedlington Community Centre. 7:00pm.
Fri 20: Pete Tanton’s Christmas @ 1719, Hendon, Sunderland. 7:30pm. CANCELLED!
Fri 20: Alligator Gumbo @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 20: Abbie Finn’s Finntet @ The Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. Opus 4 Jazz Club.
Fri 20: Brass Fiesta @ Revoluçion de Cuba, Newcastle. 10:30pm. Free.

Sat 21: Lindsay Hannon Quartet @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00pm. £15.00. ‘Swinging with Christmas Songs’.
Sat 21: Jason Isaacs @ Seaburn STACK, Seaburn. 3:30-5:30pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Sat 21: Jackson’s Wharf Xmas Party @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 7:00pm. Free. Featuring the New ’58 Jazz Collective.
Sat 21: Brass Fiesta @ Revoluçion de Cuba, Newcastle. 10:30pm. Free.

Sun 22: Hot Club du Nord @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:00pm. £15.00. + bf. Xmas party. SOLD OUT!
Sun 22: Red Kites Jazz @ Gibside Chapel, nr. Rowlands Gill. 1:00pm. Admission charge applies.
Sun 22: Paul Skerritt @ Hibou Blanc, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.
Sun 22: Ruth Lambert Trio @ The Juke Shed, Union Quay, North Shields. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 22: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 22: Revolutionaires @ Tyne Bar, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. Superb rhythm & blues outfit.
Sun 22: Laurence Harrison, Paul Grainger & Mark Robertson @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig. Line-up TBC.
Sun 22: The Globe Xmas Party @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. Live music (musicians TBC).
Sun 22: Ray Stubbs R & B All-Stars @ Zerox, Sandhill, Newcastle. 7:00pm (doors).

Mon 23: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 23: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Wheatsheaf, Benton Sq., Whitley Road, Palmersville NE12 9SU. Tel: 0191 266 8137. 1:00pm. Free. CANCELLED!
Mon 23: Edison Herbert Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 4:00pm. Free.
Mon 23: Jason Isaacs @ St. James’ STACK, Newcastle. 4:00-6:00pm. Free. Vocalist Isaacs working with backing tapes.
Mon 23: Milne-Glendinning Band @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.

Tue 24: Lindsay Hannon & Mark Williams @ Ernest, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 11:00am-1:00pm. Free.
Tue 24: Paul Skerritt @ Mambo Wine & Dine, South Shields. 1:00pm. Free. Vocalist Skerritt working with backing tapes.

Wed 25: Wot? No jazz!

Thu 26: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free. TBC.
Thu 26: The Boneshakers @ Tyne Bar, Ouseburn, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. The 17th annual Boneshakers’ Shindig.

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

Monday, October 16, 2017

Strictly Smokin’ Big Band with Joe Stilgoe @ Hoochie Coochie - October 15

Joe Stilgoe piano & vocals w. Strictly Smokin' Big Band.*
(Review by Russell)
The Strictly Smokin’ Big Band at Hoochie Coochie is a guarantee of top quality entertainment. Add a ‘big name’ guest to the event and you’ve got the makings of a memorable occasion. This Sunday afternoon gig - doors four o’clock, band on stage five thirty - attracted a large crowd, many of whom know a good thing when they hear it. Michael Lamb’s dynamic big band knocks spots off most with its ensemble work, the sections packed with accomplished soloists and the cherry on the top in the form of vocalists Alice Grace and F’reez. The bonus on this gig? Due to the standard of the Strictly Smokin’ Big Band’s musicianship, it was possible to secure the services of a musician of the calibre of Mr Joe Stilgoe.
Lounge suits the order of the day, the Strictly Smokin’ roared into action with Mexicali Nose. Buddy Rich’s Big Swing Face album continues to provide rich pickings (no pun intended) for the big bands of today and the guys in the SSBB helped themselves. Vocalist F’reez turned up the heat on Julian ‘Cannonball’ Adderley’s Things Are Getting Better with MD Michael Lamb leading from the front.
Vocalist Ms Alice Grace took to the stage in a shimmering evening gown to open with Honeysuckle Rose. The fabulous Ms Grace scatted like never before as the band went into overdrive. Absolutely brilliant! Adding Maroon 5’s Sunday Morning to the pad could be considered to be a masterstroke. Grace’s voice dovetailed perfectly with drummer Guy Swinton’s sensitive brushwork and a Michael Lamb trumpet solo topped it off.

The SSBB’s saxophone section stood up to play in unison on a regular feature for F’reez – I’m Just a Shy Guy – with American ex-pat trumpeter Pete Tanton in the solo spotlight. Full marks all round. Hoochie Coochie’s Sunday crowd is of the sociable kind, out to have a good time, cocktails shaken then stirred, to be savoured, but they know when they’re hearing something special and to hear the fabulous Alice Grace sing Lush Life  was one of those moments when all present held a collective breath; the flutes of Keith Robinson and Laurie Rangecroft, Jamie Toms’ considered tenor solo, the sensitive piano accompaniment of Graham Don – a truly a magical moment.

F’reez returned to show us he was That Kind of Guy with David Barnes’ trombone solo over a New Orleans’ snare drum rhythm of which Dr John would approve. On Purple Porpoise Parkway (comp. Tom Kubis) closed out the first set (the first of three) with the band on a vamp, the tenor saxophone of Paul Gowland making itself heard, then being joined by Steve Summers’ soprano saxophone for a good-natured joust before being taken home by bass ’bone man John Flood.

I’m dudin’ up my shirt front sang the main man. The ‘main man’ being Mr Joe Stilgoe. Irving Berlin, Fred and Ginger, Top Hat…who could ask for anything more? Joe Stilgoe sat at the second of two Nord keyboards telling an adoring crowd that we were Puttin’ on the Ritz name-checking as he was doing so not Gary Cooper but Bradley Cooper and finding time to reference a Kardashian. Yes, an impressive opening to Joe Stilgoe’s first (and the SSBB’s second) set of the afternoon! Stilgoe did what many artists have a habit of doing…making last-minute changes to an agreed running order! This didn’t phase the SSBB one bit. Stilgoe featured several tunes from New Songs for Old Souls. The pianist-singer’s easy-going manner connected with an on-side crowd. How to Fall in Love had a familiar ring to it. A companion with ears sang Goody, Goody. Yes, Johnny Mercer’s lyrics would fit alright!  The band shared the limelight with Stilgoe on Rainbows in My Tea Cup. Yes, Stilgoe the composer featured but so too Kieran Parnaby (trombone), Steve Summers playing soprano and an in harmony reeds section which, on this number only, included Matthew Forster on bass clarinet. It can be reported that Matt has recently returned to Tyneside having made his living elsewhere for a good few years. Matt – bass clarinet and tenor saxophone – will prove an excellent addition to the local scene. Stilgoe came up with a killer piano intro to Nothing’s Changed with a finger-snapping crowd for accompaniment. This second set whizzed by, a third would soon be upon us.           
       
Hoochie Coochie was buzzing, Warren on the tanned and lovely Ipanema decks. A ‘hello’ to all and sundry, the joint was busy. On a day like this where else would a jazz fan want to be? The Hoochie Coochie bar staff were on the ball, beers efficiently dispensed across a bar top canopy of cocktails.

Set three, two or three cocktails later, the dancers were enticed onto the floor. Stilgoe and the band hit the ground running on I Like This One and kept up the momentum on Nobody Cares Like Me, a further cut from New Songs for Old Souls. The composer was perfectly content to hear the boys in the band make a contribution to this and other numbers; Keith Robinson and Laurie Rangecroft on flutes and Steve Summers and Jamie Toms wielding liquorice sticks. Callum Au’s arrangement for big band of Jeepers Creepers featured the patient Graham Don. Mr D played a blinder prompting a clearly impressed Stilgoe to declare: I don’t know why I’ve been booked for this gig! Stilgoe’s Roll stirred up an exotic funky gumbo featuring Stilgoe, piano, brief solos from across the band and it’s hats off to the trumpet section for nailing it (as they did all night) – Messrs Lamb, Tanton, Tom Hill and Dick Stacey.

Stilgoe sang Cole Porter’s In the Still of the Night accompanying himself at the piano. The silence was remarkable. It was a couple of hours and several cocktails into the gig and had anyone been so clumsy as to drop the proverbial pin it would have been a crashing interruption. A highlight, no question about it. The Hoochie Coochie audience wanted more. Stilgoe sang Sunny and everyone went home happy. Mark it down as another Strictly Smokin’ Hoochie Coochie winner.
Russell
*Strictly Smokin’ Big Band: Michael Lamb MD, Pete Tanton, Tom Hill, Dick Stacey trumpets; David Barnes, Kieran Parnaby, John Flood, Mark Ferris, trombones; Jamie Toms, Paul Gowland, Keith Robinson, Steve Summers, Laurie Rangecroft, Matthew Forster  saxophones; Pawel Jedrzejewski guitar; Graham Don keyboards; Michael Whent bass; Guy Swinton drums; Alice Grace vocals; F’reez vocals

1 comment :

Anonymous said...

Absolutely brilliant gig. JoeStilgoe was a revelation to me and the band as always was outstanding

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