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Bebop Spoken There

Steve Fishwick: “I can’t get behind the attitude that new is always somehow better than old” - Jazz Journal, April 15, 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!"

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 ...

November

Wed 29: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 29: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 29: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 30: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 30: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 7:30pm (7:00pm doors). Tickets: £25.00. inc. buffet. A Gatsby themed evening.
Thu 30: Jools Holland's R & B Orchestra @ Newcastle City Hall. 7:30pm.
Thu 30: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Ragtime piano. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.
Thu 30: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. Guest band night: Mark Toomey Quintet (Mark Toomey, sax; Paul Donnelly, guitar; Jeremy McMurray, keys; Peter Ayton, bass; Mark Robertson, drums). 9:00pm.

December
Fri 01: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 01: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 01: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 01: Paul Skerritt @ All Saints’ Church, Eastgate, Co. Durham. 7:00pm. Xmas Tree Fest.
Fri 01: Alligator Gumbo @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 01: Nu Sound Brass @ Billy Bootlegger’s, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free.
Fri 01: Struggle Buggy w. Jim Murray @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Blind Pig Blues Club. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.

Sat 02: Paula Jackman's Jazz Masters @ St Augustine's Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm. £10.00.
Sat 02: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. Tutor: Steve Glendinning. £25.00. Enrol at: www.jazz.coop.
Sat 02: Abbie Finn Trio @ Claypath Deli, Durham. 7:00pm.
Sat 02: Tenement Jazz Band @ John Marley Centre, Newcastle. Swing Tyne Winter Social. £8.00. + bf. Advance purchase only, no admission at the door. BYOB. Lindy hop workshop from 11:00am. £39.00.
Sat 02: Zoë Gilby Quartet @ The Masham, Hartburn Village, Stockton. 7:00pm. Feat. Noel Dennis.
Sat 02: Classic Swing @ The Nuthatch, 9 - 11 Bedford St, Middlesbrough TS1 2LL. 7:00-9:00pm. Classic Swing in trio format.
Sat 02: Paul Skerritt w. Danny Miller Big Band @ Westovian Theatre, South Shields. 7:30pm.
Sat 02: Vermont Big Band @ Whitley Bay FC. 7:30pm. £10.00. (inc. hot buffet). Tickets available from WBFC’s Seahorse pub club house.
Sat 02: Milne-Glendinning Band @ Ponteland Social Club, Northumberland. 7:30pm. £18.00 (inc. stotties & soup supper). A fundraiser for Hexham Constituency Labour Party.
Sat 02: Durham Dynamics & Basement Jazz @ Kingsgate Bar & Café, Durham Students’ Union. 7:30pm. £5.00. (£4.50. concs.). ‘Fab & Festive’. A cappella & jazz. Abba, Mariah Carey & more.
Sat 02: Tom Remon & Laurence Harrison @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sat 02: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. Xmas party night inc. buffet & special raffle. £3.00.
Sat 02: Groovetrain @ The Unionist Club, Laygate, South Shields. 9:00pm.

Sun 03: The Central Bar Quartet @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00pm. £10.00. The Central Bar Quartet plays Lou Donaldson’s Gravy Train. Featuring Jamie Toms.
Sun 03: Paul Skerritt @ Smith’s Arms, Carlton, Stockton-on-Tees. 7:00pm.
Sun 03: Johnny Hunter Quartet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Sun 03: Jam session @ The Schooner, Gateshead. 8:00pm. Free.

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!

Wednesday, December 06, 2017

Tyne Valley Big Band @ The Fox, Hexham - Dec 5

(Review/photos by Russell - final photo taken from behind his baritone sax is by John Knapton)
Modest one-room pub + big band = a fun night out. Arriving at the Fox, Hexham Jazz Club’s HQ, it appeared a furniture removals business was in the process of clearing the place. Hang on…it’s the band rearranging the room! The pub’s usual bay window stage area would become front row seats for the evening as the regular seating was requisitioned by the band, that’s the twenty three-strong Tyne Valley Big Band.
The TVBB is a super-sized big band varying in number from one gig to the next. This Hexham Jazz Club engagement mustered a mere nine reeds (of which seven were female!), a paltry six trumpets (five in the section, MD Dave Hignett out front) and, had space permitted, there would have been a keyboard player working alongside the band’s rhythm section. The Pink Panther for starters, a tune the pub’s resident non-jazz fan (stationed at the bar) sheepishly conceded was a canny tune. Dave Hignett suggested he may not like the rest of the evening! In the Mood (arr. Doc Severinsen) with a flurry of soloists including Andrea de Vere on tenor and Kelly Rose, alto. Ray Charles’ Hallelujah I Love Her So, featuring a trombone blast from Simon Hirst (heard recently with the Bold Big Band), could have been any old internet download arrangement but not this one. MD Hignett made use of an invaluable regional resource to challenge and stretch the band by playing an arrangement by a well-loved bandleader, composer and arranger, the late Ray Chester. The Chester family donated Mr Chester’s vast library of arrangements to Sage Gateshead with the express intention that it was to be made available for occasions such as this at the Fox.

Band singer Barbara Hignett made a first appearance singing Route 66 then Sway (the audience did, sway that is). Uptown Funk (Mark Ronson, Bruno Mars) went global and the TVBB plays the number with gusto. The band is nothing if not prepared to turn its hand to anything. From Ronson to Sammy Nestico’s Feelin’ Free featuring the muted trumpet section and You Gotta Try.

Alto saxophonist Sophie Speed was Feelin’ the Funk as were Hignett, Kevin Moore, guitar, and a riffing band. Becky White emerged from the reeds to shine on Birdland , Barbara Hignett returned to tell us it was a Hexham Winter Wonderland which brought a close to the evening, except for a poignant finale. Earlier this year the Tyne Valley Big Band lost a friend and fine drummer when, at the age of 45, Mark Bolderson died. Mark suggested to Dave Hignett the band should play Gospel. They did, Mark got to play it, and this evening’s concert ended with the band playing it. On Dec 9th (Saturday) in Queen’s Hall, Hexham, the Tyne Valley Big Band will be taking part along with many others, including the Tyne Valley Youth Big Band and the Tyne Valley Jazz Ensemble, in a concert to help raise funds for the Mark Jon Bolderson Percussion Foundation. Tickets are available from the Queen’s Hall – telephone 01434 652477.
Russell                                                                                                                                                       Dave Hignett MD, Ben Chinnery, Caroline Guirr, Andrew Guerin Nat Haslam, Deborah Smurthwaite (trumpets); Becky White, Kelly Rose, Heidi Griffin, Matt Walker, Andrea de Vere, Sophie Speed, Juliet Williams, John Knapton, Dianne Mays (reeds); Steve Quilliam, Simon Hirst, Dave Bradford, Nick Brodin (trombones); Kevin Moore (guitar & vocals); Michael Cunningham (bass); Jack Ruddick (drums) & Barbara Hignett (vocals)

4 comments :

Lance said...

Thanks to John Knapton for supplying full personnel.

John said...

Thanks for such a great write up Lance! We had a hoot!

Lance said...

Don't thank me John, Russell supplied the words. He's our Poet Laureate.

John said...

Thanks to Russell too, nice words!!

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