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Bebop Spoken There

Billy Boy Arnold: “As long as you don't think old you're good.” - DownBeat, December, 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!"

Simon Spillett: A lovely review from the dean of jazz bloggers, Lance Liddle...

Postage

16034 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 1041 of them this year alone and, so far, 73 this month (Nov. 27).

From This Moment On ...

December

Mon 04: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Mon 04: Northern Monkey Brass Band @ People’s Kitchen, Bath Lane, Newcastle. From 5:30pm. On-street gig supporting the work of the People’s Kitchen charity. Wrap up warm! Donate!
Mon 04: Michael Young Trio w Lindsay Hannon @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 7:00pm. Free.
Mon 04: James Birkett Trio @ The Black Bull, Blaydon. 8:00pm. £8.00.
Mon 04: Durham University Jazz Orchestra + Durham University Big Band @ Durham Castle DH1 3RW. 8:30pm. £6.00.; £5.00. concs; £4.00. DSM. ‘Jazzy Christmas’.

Tue 05: Customs House Big Band @ All Saints Church, Cleadon. 7:00pm. Concert in the church hall. BYOB.
Tue 05: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Michael Young, Paul Grainger, Sid White. The best free show in town!

Wed 06: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 06: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 8:00pm. Free. Note later start time, concert performance (open to the public).
Wed 06: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 07: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free CANCELLED!
Thu 07: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ Spanish City, Whitley Bay, Newcastle. 12 noon - 4:00pm. £26.00 (inc 3-course meal in in St Mary's Lighthouse Suite). SOLD OUT!
Thu 07: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Gateshead Central Library, Gateshead. 2:30pm. All welcome.
Thu 07: Thursday Night Prayer Meeting @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.Donations. Feat. Mark Sanders. CANCELLED!
Thu 07: Indigo Jazz Voices @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:45pm. £5.00. Downstairs.
Thu 07: Tees Hot Club: Just Friends @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. Guest band night w. Richie Emmerson, Ian Bosworth, Dave Archbold, Ron Smith, Mark Hawkins. 9:00pm.

Fri 08: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 08: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 08: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 08: Hayley's Little Big Band @ Woodland Village Hall, Bishop Auckland. 7:00pm. £12.00.
Fri 08: Sleep Suppressor + Redwell @ Head of Steam, Neville St., Newcastle. 8:00pm. £10.00. (£8.00. adv); £5.00. student.
Fri 08: Hot Club du Nord @ St Cuthbert's Church, Shadforth, Co. Durham.
Fri 08: Têtes de Pois + Nauta @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £12.00., £8.00.

Sat 09: Prudhoe Community Band @ Central Station, Newcastle. 10:00am - 12 noon. Charity fundraiser.
Sat 09: Durham Alumni Big Band @ Number One Bar, Skinnergate, Darlington. 1:00pm.
Sat 09: Castillo Nuevo Trio @ Revoluçion de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30pm. Free.
Sat 09: Hayley's Little Big Band @ Middleton & Todridge Village Hall, Morpeth. 7:30pm. £12.00., £6.00.
Sat 09: Paul Skerritt @ Slaley Hall, Hexham NE47 0BX. 7:30pm. From £42.00.

Sun 10: Musicians Unlimited’s Xmas Party with Zoe Gilby Quartet @ Park Inn, Hartlepool. MU 1:00-3:00pm; Zoë Gilby Quartet 4:00-6:00pm. Tickets: £7.50.
Sun 10: Am Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00-4:00pm. Free.
Sun 10: Funk Soul Sista @ Stack, Seaburn. 5:00-7:00pm. Free.
Sun 10: Beth Clarke @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 10: Hayley's Little Big Band @ Whittingham Memorial Institute, Alnwick. 7:30pm. £12.00., £10.00.
Sun 10: Tele-Port @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Line-up inc. Zhenya Strigalev.

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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