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Bebop Spoken There

Art Blakey: "You [Bobby Watson] don't want to play too long, because you don't know they're clapping because they're glad you finished!" - (JazzTimes, Nov. 2019)..

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

15867 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 874 of them this year alone and, so far, 72 this month (Sept. 25).

From This Moment On ...

September

Mon 25: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Mon 25: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 7:00pm.

Tue 26: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.

Wed 27: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 27: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 27: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 28: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 28: Alice Grace Quartet @ King's Hall, Newcastle University. 1:15pm. Free.
Thu 28: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Gateshead Central Library, Gateshead. 2:30pm. All welcome.
Thu 28: Faye MacCalman + Snape/Sankey @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Thu 28: Zoe Rahman @ Jesmond United Reformed Church, Jesmond, Newcastle. 7:30pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Thu 28: '58 Jazz Collective @ Hops & Cheese, Hartlepool. 7:30pm.
Thu 28: Speakeasy @ Queen's Hall, Hexham. 7:30pm. £15.00. A Southpaw Dance Company presentation. Dance, audio-visuals, Count Basie, Benny Goodman, swing dancers etc.
Thu 28: Mick Cantwell Band @ Harbour View, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Ace blues band.
Thu 28: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 29: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 29: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 29: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.

Sat 30: John Pope Quintet + Late Girl + Shapeshifters @ Bobik's, Jesmond, Newcastle.
Sat 30: Papa G's Troves @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.

OCTOBER

Sun 01: Smokin' Spitfires @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:45pm.
Sun 01: Dulcie May Moreno sings Portrait of Sheila @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00pm. £10.00. Moreno sings Sheila Jordan with Giles Strong, Mick Shoulder & John Bradford.
Sun 01: Middlesbrough Jazz & Blues Orchestra @ Saltburn Community Hall. 2:00pm.
Sun 01: The Easy Rollers @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. £13.70., £11.55.
Sun 01: Brand/Roberts/Champion/Sanders @ Blank Studios, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Sun 01: Papa G's Troves @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 02: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Mon 02: FILM: Wattstax; 50th Anniversary @ Forum Cinema, Hexham. 8:00pm.

Saturday, December 16, 2017

Mo Scott – She’s Our Pride and Joy @ The Jazz Café - Dec 15

Mo Scott (vocals), Dave Dryden (guitar), Neil Harland (bass) & Paul Smith (drums)
(Review by Russell) 
Christmas party time at the Jazz Café! The promise of ‘free festive nibbles’ attracted the interest of Bebop Spoken Here, and, if our luck was in, there was the prospect of pulling a cracker. The sweet little angel atop the Christmas tree, Mo Scott, assembled her A-Team line-up, and, without fanfare, ripped into T-Bone Shuffle and Hound Dog.
Tyneside’s Empress of the Blues and her men in black played a blinder from the off; guitarist Dave Dryden is one hell of a musician. It struck your reviewer that Scott doesn’t countenance working on a gig with other than the very best of blues guitarists. Dryden, Gary Dunn, and for many years, Rod Sinclair, to name but three, all top drawer. Bassist Neil Harland is a busy working musician, and, as and when he’s available, Mo readily secures his services. Teesside-based drummer Paul Smith is equally busy and his presence in the engine room ensured a memorable night of rhythm and blues, Tex-Mex and more was in store.
Scott sang Ry Cooder’s Never Make Your Move to Soon with Dryden playing his powder-blue Strat (one of three guitars the man from Stokesley had with him on the night), there would be more from Ryland Peter Cooder later. Much tittering at the

mention of Little Willie John, but full attention when Mo got the Fever…the man who had great success with Fever and Need Your Love So Bad could call himself whatever he damn-well liked! More Tex-Mex Ry Cooder (Across the Borderline), then SRV. Dave Dryden’s take on Stevie Ray Vaughan (and later Hendrix) is quite an experience. Striking out on Cold Shot with SRV’s trademark Texas shuffle this alone was worth the price of admission. The Mo Scott Christmas party wouldn’t be complete without a Muddy Waters’ number, so, we got Blow Wind Blow.

What followed was the blues highlight of the year. Red House, for ever associated with J. Hendrix, featured Dryden’s brilliant guitar playing and Mo’s frenzied Come on! exaltation. Hendrix at his best (the absence of psychedelia), Dryden a master musician. Long before the end of the one hour first set they were up partying dancing to Mo Scott’s fast-paced selection of tunes, Knock on Wood and many other dance floor fillers keeping them on their feet.

An interval festive feast, a raffle (!), and an unexpected bonus downstairs as Julija Jacenaite sang a few tunes, simply for her own satisfaction, once more accompanied by pianist Alan Law (a short review of their earlier set is appended to this posting).

Mo loves Ray Charles so Let the Good Times Roll kept the party going as the second set got under way. The Neville Brothers, Bonnie Raitt (River of Tears), then more SRV. Pride and Joy, oh yes! A truly magnificent version of Vaughan’s signature tune. Mo Scott – she’s our pride and joy. Vocalist, bandleader, raffle meister, Scott took a breather as the boys launched into an ostensibly unusual, if not incongruous, choice of material. Billy Cobham’s high-energy jazz-fusion workout Red Baron hit new heights of virtuosity; Dryden shredding with taste (an oxymoron?), Harland, a towering funking presence, Smith’s killing snap on the snare.

Middle period Stones (Miss You), King Floyd (that’s King, not Pink), All Along the Watchtower (Jimi Hendrix’s version) produced more brilliant guitar playing from Dryden, Mo was clearly enjoying it all as she called out to Sonny Boy, Help Me. It was fast approaching midnight but the audience wasn’t going to let Mo go without an encore. The Empress of the Blues took it home on Route 66.

Julija Jacenaite (vocals) & Alan Law (piano)

Earlier in the evening in the Jazz Café’s downstairs bar Lithuanian-born, Tyneside-resident vocalist Julija Jacenaite selected a few standards to sing accompanied at the piano by Alan Law. Misty with Jacenaite wringing out every last drop of emotion, a rollercoaster Love Me or Leave Me, a lengthy, note-filled take on One Note Samba, then due to a slightly late start to their set, Jacenaite and Alan Law concluded matters with JJ’s ever-expressive rendition of Angel Eyes.

During the interval of Mo Scott’s gig a trip to the downstairs bar found Jacenaite and Law playing to a couple of barflies. Two numbers were heard during the interval; first, All of Me then an interesting arrangement of Mood Indigo.                  
Russell

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