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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 ...

Fri 09: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 09: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 09: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 09: Castillo Nuevo @ Revolución de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30-8:30pm.
Fri 09: Emma Rawicz @ Sage Gateshead. 8:00pm.

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.

Sunday, December 10, 2017

House of the Black Gardenia @ Billy Bootleggers - Dec 9

(Review by Russell)
A third gig of the day for your correspondent. Arriving at Billy Bootleggers during the interval sometime around ten thirty, the joint was jumpin’. The basement juke joint on Nelson Street has rapidly established itself as the place to hang out, be seen, dance, drink beer (American, buddy) and hear the best dirt-kickin’ roadhouse blues, jazz and hokum east of the Mississippi.
The beer flowing (Shipyard Brewing Company, Portland, Maine), standing (and dancing) room only all night long, the House of the Black Gardenia were about to begin their second set. Frontwoman, the fabulous Bobbi Charleston, strapped on her washboard, the boys in the band ready to go, Blue Drag then Viper Mad. The band, all waistcoats and braces, stepped right out of Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath to play some of the best stuff you’re ever likely to hear. Detached, dead-eye characters on the stand looked on as the revellers danced the night away. Bassist and sousaphonist Neil Hopper didn’t blink, similarly, guitarist Michael Littlefield (frontman with the King Bees) stared, vacantly, into the middle distance, looking not unlike an ‘other world’ Manouche.

 The HotBG horns wailed right side of stage. Piecing clarinet from a strictly smokin’ Keith Robinson attempted to make itself heard, Aussie trumpeter Richard Burns blew and blew, later confiding that he couldn’t hear a darn thing. Good, just as it should be! What a gig! To our left, somewhere on the floor, Ben Imrye rattled the 88s, drummer Kit Haigh wasn’t sighted all night, hidden as he was, way down in the engine room hole – Billy Bootleggers is one hell of a tight juke joint!

Make no mistake, Bobbi Charleston is the focal point. Star quality, great vocals and, if there is such a thing, a washboard virtuoso. Charleston exclaimed I Wish I Could Shimmy Like My Sister Kate as a dance floor full of budding Kates shimmied the night away. Baby Don’t Tear My Clothes pleaded Ms Charleston. A gentleman would never consider doing such a thing, would he? The HotBG is as good as it gets and Billy Bootleggers just can’t get enough of ’em. Weed Smoker’s Dream closed a brilliant performance. The next time House of the Black Gardenia hit your local dive bar be there, a good time is guaranteed.                        
Russell.

Bobbi Charleston (washboard & vocals), Richard Burns (trumpet), Keith Robinson (clarinet & tenor saxophone), Keiran Parnaby (trombone), Michael Littlefield (guitar & vocals), Ben Imrye (keyboards & vocals), Neil Hopper (double bass & sousaphone) & Kit Haigh (drums)  

1 comment :

Patti said...

Mr Be Bop Spoken Here reviewer has surpassed himself here - an ace review of an even 'acer' gig. This was a storming session - a fabulous atmosphere in the joint to start with, and a hotter than hades lowdown and dirty jazz band! The joint was jumping!

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