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Bebop Spoken There

Spasmo Brown: “Jazz is an ice cream sandwich! It's the Fourth of July! It's a girl with a waterbed!”. (Syncopated Times, July, 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

17421 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 695 of them this year alone and, so far, 100 this month (Sept. 30).

From This Moment On ...

October

Fri 04: Satoko Fujii @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. £8.00. NFOJIM in assoc. w. JNE & Lit & Phil.
Fri 04: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 04: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 04: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 04: Amirtha Kidambi w. Manon McCoy @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 6:20pm. £8.00. + bf. NFOJIM in assoc. w. Gem Arts, JNE & Lit & Phil.
Fri 04: Ziv Taubenfeld/Olie Brice/Kresten Osgood + Andy Champion + Izumi Kimura & Gerry
Hemingway @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 7:20pm. £10.00. + bf. NFOJIM in assoc. w. JNE & Lit & Phil.
Fri 04: Maggie Nicols & Tim Dalling: As I Sing & Breathe @ The Tute, Ridley Terrace, Cambois NE24 1QS. 7:30pm. Free. Tickets: www.eventbrite.com. ‘Songs & Improvisations’ - Nicols, Dalling & guests.
Fri 04: Jeremy McMurray & the Pocket Jazz Orchestra @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm.
Fri 04: John Rowland Quartet @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sat 05: Maggie Nicols & Tim Dalling: Musical Boxing Training @ The Tute, Ridley Terrace, Cambois NE24 1QS. 2:30pm. Free. Tickets: www.eventbrite.com. ‘A workshop for musical improvisers’. An event in a boxing ring!
Sat 05: Lewis Watson Quartet @ Wylam Village Institute, Church Road, Wylam NE41 8AP. Doors 7:00pm. Tickets £15.00. + £1.50. bf, available from: www.gigantic.com.
Sat 05: Joseph Carville Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 05: Bright Street Big Band @ Washington Arts Centre. From 7:00pm. £12.00. Bright Street Big Band on stage at 7:30pm, preceded at 7:00pm by a swing dance taster session.
Sat 05: J.A.M. String Collective + Tara Cunningham + The Flame @ The Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 7:20pm. £10.00. + bf. NFOJIM in assoc. w. JNE & Lit & Phil.
Sat 05: Heavy Drunk @ Anarchy Brewery, Newcastle. 7:30pm. £15.00. + £1.50. bf. ‘Mississippi Delta Blues Experience’ feat. Heavy Drunk, Watermelon Slim & Leonardo Giuliani.
Sat 05: Maggie Nicols & Tim Dalling: Musical Boxing Night @ The Tute, Ridley Terrace, Cambois NE24 1QS. 7:30pm. Free. Tickets: www.eventbrite.com. Nicols, Dalling ao. An event in a boxing ring!
Sat 05: Milne-Glendinning Band @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free.
Sat 05: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00.
Sat 05: Ian Millar & Dominic Spencer @ Swarland Village Hall NE65 9JG. 8:00pm. £12.00.

Sun 06: Smokin’ Spitfires @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:45pm (12:30pm doors). £7.50.
Sun 06: Luis Verde Quartet @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00pm. £10.00.
Sun 06: Sax Choir @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 06: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 06: Catriona Bourne Quartet + Heather Ferrier + Emma Johson’s Gravy Boat @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. £10.00. + bf. NFOJIM in assoc. w. JNE & The Globe.

Mon 07: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 07: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 6:30-8:30pm. Free.

Tue 08: ???

Wed 09: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free. Wed 09: Jason Isaacs @ St James’ STACK, Newcastle. 5:00-7:00pm. Free.
Wed 09: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 09: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 09: The Tannery Jam Session @ The Tannery, Gilesgate, Hexham. 7:00-9:00pm. Free. A ‘second Wednesday in the month’ jam session.
Wed 09: Shunya, Dudù Kouate & Seb Rochford @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 8:30pm (7:30pm doors). £21.00.

Thu 10: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 10: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle NE1 7BJ. 2:00pm. £4.00. ‘Collaborations - it happened all the time’.
Thu 10: Indigo Jazz Voices w. the Little Big Band @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:45pm. £5.00.
Thu 10: Side Cafe Orkestar @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 10: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesborough. 8:30pm. With guests Donna Hewitt (sax); Bill Watson (trumpet); Graham Thompson (keys); Ron Smith (bass). Free.

Saturday, December 30, 2017

Strictly Smokin' Big Band @ Hoochie Coochie - December 29.

I'd missed the last few SSBB gigs dotted around the area so it was with much more than eager anticipation that I looked forward to this one and I wasn't disappointed.
For once, I didn't have an advance setlist which, in retrospect, wasn't such a bad thing. A setlist takes away the 'sound of surprise' and can result in the ensuing review reading more like a shopping list. So instead, I've just reflected randomly.
I don't think I've heard Alice in better voice. The gowns she'd had painted on didn't restrict her diaphragmatic breathing although it did mine. Her version of You Make me Feel so Young was the best vocal/big band number I'd heard since Sarah Vaughan appeared at Newcastle City Hall with Count Basie's band. I never thought I'd hear Sinatra's It Was a Very Good Year sung uptempo by a woman. I did last night and it worked a treat. These were just a couple from Ms. Grace's knock 'em dead repertoire. Time After Time, Jeepers Creepers, Get Happy and a quirky 1920s take on Don't Think Twice were just some of the other showstoppers.
Not that Alice was the only singer on parade. F'reez had kickstarted the concert with Is You Is Or Is You Ain't My Baby. I love this song, not just for the enigmatic title (surely it should have a question mark?) but the way it flows and few do it better than F'reez. The half-time section at the end never fails to give it a lift. Whatever Lola Wants from The Pyjama Game was another surprise item from our man and of course, there was the inevitable Christmassy duet with Alice to finish off with - that magnificent song of seduction - Baby It's Cold Outside.
Instrumentally the band, as always, weren't firing blanks. They were shooting from the hip to the 'hip' (apart from the guy in the gents who said to me, "Dee the not play nee Glenn Milla?")
Paul Gowland was well featured on tenor and occasionally soprano bringing home the [smoked] bacon on Groovin' Hard. The sax section chorus on this particular number was a masterclass on precision playing. The other saxes popped up from time to time with Steve Summers playing more clarinet than he usually does.
I'd seen and heard the Woody Herman Band many times over the years and, invariably, they played Apple Honey. On each occasion, they played it marginally faster than before but never as fast as what Strictly Smokin' did last night. The dancers stayed seated for this one!
Was it my imagination or the injections of London Pride that made me think the trombones were more prominent solo-wise than normally? Whatever, Messrs Barnes and Parnaby were open for business. with Kurji-Smith and Flood keeping the shelves stacked.
Leader Lamb conducted, blew trumpet and the powerhouse rhythm section never faltered.
This isn't just a band - it is THE BAND!
Lance.
Michael Lamb (md), Tom Hill, Gordon Marshall, Dick Stacey (trumpets); David Barnes, Kieran Parnaby, John Flood, Chris Kurji-Smith (trombones); Dave Kerridge, Paul Gowland, Steve Summers, Keith Robinson, Laurie Rangecroft (reeds); Graham Don (piano); Pawel Jedrzejewski  (guitar); Michael Whent (bass guitar); Guy Swinton (drums); Alice Grace, F'reez (vocals).

2 comments :

Russell said...

What a band! Alice isn't a star, she's a superstar!

Unknown said...

Yup.. 😁

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