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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

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.

Fri 11: Dulcie May Moreno @ The Old Library, Auckland Castle, Bishop Auckland. 1:00pm. £8.00.
Fri 11: The Jazz Quartet + Stratosphonic @ Tynedale Rugby Club, Corbridge. 7:00pm. £15.00. A Rotary Club of Hexham event. The Jazz Quartet (Jude Murphy & co), Stratosphonic (blues/rock).
Fri 11: Joe Steels Trio @ The Pele, Market Place, Corbridge NE45 5AW. 7:30pm. Free.
Fri 11: Crooners @ Tyne Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Monday, December 18, 2017

Strictly Smokin’ Big Band with Scarlet Street @ Gosforth Civic Theatre - December 16

(Review by Russell)
Many years ago Gosforth Civic Hall hosted big-name jazz concerts including appearances by Jay McShann, Red Norvo and other visiting Americans. Now, in the twenty-first century, the leafy NE3 venue is known as Gosforth Civic Theatre and a regular series of jazz gigs forms part of a packed schedule of events. In recent years with Christmas on the horizon Tyneside’s Strictly Smokin’ Big Band has established a tradition of playing two sell-out concerts and 2017 wasn’t going to be any different. Yes, a new venue, but with the same result – Friday and Saturday nights…SOLD OUT!
The band attired in lounge suits and evening gowns, the audience not quite haute couture, more a ragbag of glitter and glam, dodgy Christmassy jumpers, and jeans and t-shirts. The SSBB’s usual drummer Guy Swinton wasn’t available so MD Michael Lamb gave Ian Wynd a call. Now that was a good call! The band assembled on GCT’s stage and the vocalists – all five of them! – would later stand on the floor (and a step ladder!), in front of the ensemble.

We Three Kings opened the show introducing the horns of Messrs Paul Gowland, Steve Summers and Jamie Toms, not forgetting guitarist Pawel ‘Pav’ Jedrzejewski. Immediately noticeable was the sound. It was as if this was classic Basie – a low-level volume Freddie Greene (aka Pav), low-level bassist Michael Whent and Ian Wynd’s superb whispering brushes. Daring, to say the least, playing to a full hall! The band’s immense power purposely restrained, was this the template for the night?

Superstar band singer Alice Grace emerged from the wings dressed to kill. Launching into Harold Arlen’s Get Happy the fabulous Ms Grace couldn’t be heard. This was a head in hands time if ever there was one. AG sang her heart out oblivious to the inopportune ‘technical issues’ and at the end of the number received huge applause even though no one present could hear a single word!
AG’s sidekick, the one and only F’reez, appeared out front to sing the first of his numbers. Is You Is or Is You Ain’t My Baby? sang our man as, to a degree, the ‘technical issues’ persisted. The Strictly Smokin’ Big Band is, for many, pre-eminent on the local scene, and an unfortunate start wasn’t to deter this outfit. The high level of musicianship across all sections in the band is the envy of many, and, as if that wasn’t enough, it was time to welcome Scarlet Street! Alice, Jennifer Davies and ‘the girls’ did what any female barbershop quartet should do…knock ’em dead! And they did with Blondie’s One Way or Another then Man with a Sack. All good fun, this was party time!

A most welcome chart, Claude Thornhill’s Snowfall (seasonally apposite!), heard the SSBB playing some jazz and this was terrific stuff. Your reviewer spied/heard baritone anchor Laurie Rangecroft playing a few bars on a white, plastic alto saxophone! During the interval LR did indeed confirm his use of the said instrument, adding for the record that he hasn’t ever had to hock the instrument to feed a habit (Charlie Parker reference!). Band pianist Graham Don had the luxury of playing not only his keyboard but also the house upright. At the conclusion of the number, MD Michael Lamb suggested the piano was last tuned in the year that Thornhill wrote it (early forties)! A comic, but quite possibly accurate, observation!    

F’reez returned alongside Scarlet Street to Accentuate the Positive with his soulful phrasing, not in anyway similar to Mr Bing Crosby! F’reez stayed on to close the first set with the band’s Christmas Mashup.                
  
Second set. Bah humbug! time. Dancing was encouraged…oh, if you must. George Michael’s Last Christmas worked well (F’reez singing), your correspondent confessing to a little, only a little, bit of synchronised waving of hands-in-the-air. God Rest Ye Merry Trombones featured, unsurprisingly, the trombone section. A name check is in order, these guys are the business; Mark Ferris, Kieran Parnaby, Davis Barnes and John Flood. F’reez reappeared carrying a set of small ladders saying he was the butt of jokes during Friday’s concert, adding he was comfortable with his ‘masculinity’ as he stood on the ladders in an attempt to tower above his tall, talented, elegant co-vocalist Alice Grace. Much hilarity, Baby, It’s Cold Outside, it’s a winner isn’t it? Alice fabulous, and F’reez was canny good as well. Only joking! They’re a winning partnership!  

It should be taken as read that the reeds were on form, they always are. Special mention for Pete Tanton’s solo features and his section mates’ to-be-expected immaculate playing. One contribution is deserving of the highest praise, that of Ian Wynd. Drummer Wynd is no stranger to big band jazz gigs but his performance as a dep with the Strictly Smokin’ was exceptionally good.        

The pocket-sized F’reez sang Let it Snow and then the band had a blow on Apple Honey. Always a barnstormer, some BSH readers must have heard the Woody Herman band play it in concert.That must have been quite something, back in the day. Scarlet Street returned to sing a few more tunes including Slade’s Merry Christmas Everybody, the masterpiece that is Jingle Bells, followed by not one, but two encores – Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas and, with F’reez once again joining the ‘girls’, sending us off into the night singing Winter Wonderland.

The Strictly Smokin’ Big Band is one band that, if you’re yet to hear them, you must catch. Before the year is out the SSBB will be at Hoochie Coochie on December 29. And, advance notice of a big gig at Alphabetti Theatre on Saturday 17 February which will see the band working with none other than guest star Paul Booth. Saxophonist Booth hails from County Durham but has long since lived down south touring internationally for many years and as the venue’s capacity is approximately 100 book now or miss out. Tickets £10 from www.strictly-smokin.co.uk                      
Russell               
Strictly Smokin’ Big Band: Michael Lamb MD, Pete Tanton, Gordon Marshall, Dick Stacey trumpets; Mark Ferris, Keiran Parnaby, David Barnes, John Flood trombones; Jamie Toms, Paul Gowland, Steve Summers, Keith Robinson, Laurie Rangecroft reeds; Pawel Jedrzejewski guitar; Graham Don piano & keyboards; Michael Whent bass; Ian Wynd drums; Alice Grace & F’reez vocals; Scarlet Street vocals.

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