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Bebop Spoken There

Abbie Finn: "Even though there's a lot of great work being done to promote women in jazz, I still come up against some attitudes! I pulled up at a recording session with my drums in the car and the studio owner said, 'I'm sorry, this space is reserved for the drummer!'" - (Jazzwise April 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

15245 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 264 of them this year alone and, so far, 77 this month (March 25).

From This Moment On ...

March

Tue 28: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 28: Sanaz Lavasani Trio + Abbie Finn @ Black Swan, Newcastle Arts Centre. 8:00pm. £12.00 (£10.00. adv).

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: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 7:00pm.
Wed 29: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 30: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Gateshead Central Library. 2:30-4:30pm. £2.00. All welcome.
Thu 30: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. Back to 1:00pm stomp off. Free.
Thu 30: Castillo Nuevo @ Revolución de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30-8:30pm.
Thu 30: '58 Jazz Collective @ Hops & Cheese, Hartlepool. 7:30pm. Free.
Thu 30: Lindsay Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ Harbour View, Sunderland. 8:00pm.
Thu 30: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 31: Lewis Watson Quartet @ Bishop Auckland Town Hall. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 31: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 31: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 31: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm. CANCELLED! Back next week (April 7).
Fri 31: Castillo Nuevo @ Revolución de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30-8:30pm.
Fri 31: Jasmine Myra + Waclaw Zimpel @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Fri 31: The Revolutionaires @ The Shack, Boldon Colliery. 7:30pm. £10.00. The Revolutionaires' big band (horn section) line-up.
Fri 31: Andrew McCormack @ Maltings, Berwick. 8:00pm. £20.00.

April
Sat 01: The Big Easy @ St Augustine's Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm.
Sat 01: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. Tutor: Steve Glendinning - In a Minor Key. £25.00. Enrol at: www.jazz.coop.
Sat 01: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington Covered Market, Darlington DL1 5PN. 6:00pm. New venue, live jazz!
Sat 01: Boys of Brass @ Stack, Seaburn. 7:00-9:00pm.
Sat 01: Hot Club du Nord @ Pleased to Meet You, Bridge St., Morpeth. 8:00pm. £79.00. A charity fundraising event.
Sat 01: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00. RESCHEDULED to next week (Sat 08).

Sun 02: Smokin' Spitfires @ The Cluny. 12:45pm.
Sun 02: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 3:00pm.

Mon 03: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.

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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