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Bebop Spoken There

Wendell Brunious: "Because the blues is not 1,4 and 5 or 1,4,5,2,1. You could wake up with a flat tyre or a headache this morning, that's the blues, man" - (DownBeat, Oct. 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

15878 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 885 of them this year alone and, so far, 83 this month (Sept. 30).

From This Moment On ...

October

Tue 03: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 03: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. House trio: Michael Young (piano); Paul Grainger (double bass); Sid White (drums). CANCELLED!

Wed 04: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 04: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 04: Paul Skerritt @ Vespa Italian Bar & Steakhouse, Primrose Hill, Jarrow. From 7:00pm. To book a table - 0191 483 3355.
Wed 04: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 05: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 05: Sound the Trumpets @ King's Hall, Newcastle University. 1:15pm. Free.
Thu 05: Hot Club du Nord @ The Lubetkin Theatre, Peterlee. 7:00pm. £10.00. POSTPONED!
Thu 05: Thursday Night Prayer Meeting @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.
Thu 05: Tommy Bentz Trio + Mark Croft Duo + George Shovlin & George Lamb @ The Harbour View, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Harbour View Speakeasy's USA blues double bill + Shovlin & Lamb!
Thu 05: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Ragtime piano. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.
Thu 05: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 06: Alcyona Mick @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Fri 06: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 06: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 06: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 06: WORKSHOP: Philosophy of Arts & Entertainment @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 2:00pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Fri 06: Balo @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 6:20pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Fri 06: Paul Skerritt @ 3Sixty Champagne Lounge, Hadrian’s Tower, Newcastle. From 7:00pm. To book a table - 0191 933 8591.
Fri 06: Lexer/Mayes/Noble + Semay Wu + Miman @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 7:20pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Fri 06: Dulcie May Moreno @ The Vault, Hexham. 7:30pm. £20.00. Book in advance. Moreno with Alan Law, Paul Grainger & John Bradford.
Fri 06: Dean Stockdale Quartet @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm. 'Celebrating Oscar'.
Fri 06: Nu Brass Sounds: Big Brass Bash @ Billy Bootlegger’s, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free.
Fri 06: King Bees @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Blind Pig Blues Club. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.

Sat 07: WORKSHOP: Philosophy of Arts & Entertainment @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 10:15am. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Sat 07: Hot Club du Nord @ St Augustine's Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm.
Sat 07: Bugge & Niccols + Moore & Fairhall @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Sat 07: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. Tutor: Steve Glendinning - All the Things You Are. £25.00. Enrol at: www.jazz.coop.
Sat 07: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 6:00pm. Free.
Sat 07: Rie Nakajima @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 6:20pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Sat 07: Paul Skerritt @ 3Sixty Champagne Lounge, Hadrian’s Tower, Newcastle. From 7:00pm. To book a table - 0191 933 8591.
Sat 07: Boys of Brass @ Salt Market Social, Liddell St., North Shields. From 7:00pm. £9.00. + bf.
Sat 07: Samuel Blaser Trio + Toxvaerd & Zeeberg + Muramatsu & Welch @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 7:20pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Sat 07: Anth Purdy @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Sat 07: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00.

Sun 08: Zoë Gilby Quintet + Ubunye @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Line-up inc. Tony Kofi. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Sun 08: Tommy Bentz Band @ Tyne Bar, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. USA blues band.

Mon 09: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Mon 09: Cherise Adams-Burnett @ The Grove, Byker, Newcastle. 7:30pm. .

Tue 10: Abbie Finn Trio @ Forum Music Centre, Darlington. 7:30pm.

Tuesday, December 05, 2017

The Bold Big Band @ The Dun Cow, Jesmond - December 3

(Review by Russell)
The Dun Cow in Brandling Village, Jesmond, recently reopened following extensive refurbishment. The Brandling, as was, is the new watering hole of students and anyone else who lives in the area and, indeed, further afield. An open plan public house with a conservatory extension to one end, a range of beers at the bar, just the place for a quiet Sunday evening drink.     
Bebop Spoken Here accepted an invitation to attend the inaugural performance of a new big band.
The Dun Cow’s conservatory extension transformed, for one night only, into a makeshift stage was hoping to squeeze in an eighteen-piece big band - the Bold Big Band. Five reeds, three out front, a second line of two, three trombones, the bass ’bone man in the second row, it was a little cramped! Two drummers, sharing kit and percussion duties, a guitarist at the back (heard but not seen!), and a singing bass player. Oh! And a partially obscured piano player to one side.
The Bold Big Band assembled right on time for the first of three sets. One or two familiar faces sat in the sections; Davids Hignett and Gray, trumpet and trombone respectively, Newcastle University Jazz Orchestra members, including bassist Ifede Osiyemi, and final year music students, drummer Harry Still and, heard playing tenor at a recent Jazz Café jam session, the Bold Big Band’s MD, Mr  Jimmy Jefford. About that quiet drink…make it some other time! The Bold Big Band hit the ground running, bold as, and didn’t let up all night. Spain (arr. Paul Jennings) set the standard; gloriously loud (front row seats within millimeters of the horns!), blazing solos flying around the sections, this was one mightily impressive opening! C Jam Blues, then Four (arr. Mark Taylor), step forward, no, stand up, stay where you are, there isn’t the room to go anywhere else, Ms Alexis Cairns, reeds.

The band played it loud. The audience (the place was packed) reciprocated with huge applause, a fabulous atmosphere right from the off. Bassist Ifede Osiyemi made his way to the front of stage to sing The Lady is a Tramp. More wild applause, the ladies would soon be up dancing! Buddy Rich and Herbie Hancock are in the pad of countless big bands and the Bold Big Band saw no reason not to play a couple – Big Swing Face (Mercedes Phillips, alto), then Watermelon Man. End of set one. Go to the bar, set two would soon be upon us.

No sooner had the audience caught its breath the Bold Big Band launched into the first of two big band heavyweight workouts courtesy of the Big Phat Band man, Mr Gordon Goodwin. Sing, Sang, Sung featured Ms Phillips on soprano saxophone and later the orchestra would deliver a knockout blow with a sure-fire winner from the pen of the Los Angeles-based composer, arranger and big band leader. A Beautiful Friendship had all of the many females present singing along with Ifede Osiyemi (excellent section work behind him). A wonderful moment. Jimmy Jefford lead on Mercy Mercy Mercy and the set closer, Manteca, tore it up.

Go to the bar, set three would soon be upon us. Jefford lead the way once more on Work Song. A second Big Phat Band selection – Count Bubba – highlighted the exemplary work of the sections, making it clear that this new band is going to turn heads wherever it plays. An instrumental version of This Masquerade was, perhaps, a little hurried and a vocal wouldn’t have gone amiss. Sammy Nestico’s arrangement of Just in Time brought the evening almost to a close…almost. The Bold Big Band went out, all guns blazing, on Gordon Goodwin’s The Jazz Police. The Dun Cow was up and dancing! A new band has well and truly announced its arrival on the scene. You’ll be hearing more from the Bold Big Band, that’s for sure. A truly memorable debut. 
Russell
PS: Full personnel to follow when confirmed.

1 comment :

Patti said...

And what a fabulous, storming debut this was - big band heaven in Brandling Village!

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