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Bebop Spoken There

Branford Marsalis: "As ignorance often forces us to do, you make a generalisation about a musician based on one specific record or one moment in time." - (Jazzwise June 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

15491 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 512 of them this year alone and, so far, 133 this month (May 31).

From This Moment On ...

June

Fri 02: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 02: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 02: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 02: Joseph Carville Trio @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm.
Fri 02: Claire Martin & Her Trio @ The Witham, Barnard Castle. 7:30pm. £25.00., £20.00. Feat. Jim Mullen, Alex Garnett & Jeremy Brown.
Fri 02: Guy Davis + Michael Littlefield & Scott Taylor @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. Doors 7:30pm. Blues double bill.
Fri 02: Anders Ingram @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Blind Pig Blues Club. Country blues. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.

Sat 03: Newcastle Record Fair @ Northumbria University, Newcastle NE8 8SB. 10:00am-3:00pm. Admission: £2.00.
Sat 03: Pedigree Jazz Band @ St Augustine's Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm.
Sat 03: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. Tutor: Sue Ferris. £25.00. Enrol at: www.jazz.coop.
Sat 03: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 6:00pm. Free.
Sat 03: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00.
Sat 03: Papa G's Troves @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.

Sun 04: Smokin' Spitfires @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:45pm.
Sun 04: Central Bar Quintet @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00-4:00pm. £5.00. The Central Bar Quintet plays Sonny Rollins' Saxophone Colossus. Featuring Lewis Watson.
Sun 04: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 3:00pm.
Sun 04: Struggle Buggy + Michael Littlefield @ Tyne Bar, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. Acoustic blues.
Sun 04: Swinging at the Cotton Club: Harry Strutters' Hot Rhythm Orchestra @ The Fire Station, Sunderland. 7:30pm.
Sun 04: Richard Jones Trio @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Sun 04: Jam No. 18 @ Fabio's Bar, Saddler Street, Durham. 8:00pm. Free. All welcome. A Durham University Jazz Society event.

Mon 05: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.

Tue 06: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 06: Jam session @ Black Swan, Newcastle Arts Centre. 7:30pm. House trio: Stu Collingwood (piano); Paul Grainger (double bass); Sid White (drums).

Wed 07: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 07: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 07: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 7:00pm.
Wed 07: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 08: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 08: Easington Colliery Brass Band @ The Lubetkin Theatre, Peterlee. 7:00pm. £10.00.
Thu 08: Faye MacCalman + Blue Dust Archive @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Thu 08: Dilutey Juice + Ceramic @ The Ampitheatre, Sea Road, South Shields. 7:00pm. Free. A South Tyneside Festival event.
Thu 08: Lara Jones w. Vigilance State @ Lubber Fiend, Blandford Square, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Thu 08: Michael Littlefield @ the Harbour View, Roker, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Country blues.
Thu 08: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Monday, January 22, 2018

Bradley Johnston @ The Fire Station, Sunderland - Jan 21

Bradley Johnston (guitar)
(Review by Russell).
Snow, a non-weather related disruption to the Metro network, the half-hour journey from Newcastle to Sunderland promised to be fraught with difficulties. Oh, ye of little faith! A convenient train pulled into the station…all aboard! And off to Sunderland we go! The Fire Station the destination, and the reason for making the trip? Bradley Johnston, jazz guitarist in residence.
The Fire Station, a recently renovated building adjacent to Sunderland Empire, has reopened as a place to meet, eat, drink and, on a Sunday evening, listen to Bradley Johnston play jazz guitar. The High St West site is developing into a cultural hub with dance, theatre and music on the agenda. At present, the bar and kitchen are open for business with all parts of the building scheduled to be fully operational by 2019. In advance of Johnston’s arrival, the bar manager cordoned-off a raised corner section to enable the Wearside-based guitarist to set up without disturbance or delay.
Professional, looking the part for this sort of engagement, Brad started on time – we expect nothing less from our well-schooled musician ‘taking care of business.’ Three leisurely sets, the intervals an opportunity to catch up with friends, the repertoire spot on for the occasion, BJ has ‘got a gig going’ albeit on Wearside rather than the West Coast! It was a GASbook list of composers; Duke, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Harold Arlen, Ray Noble, Rodgers and Hart, Gershwin and more. The running order,  was, more or less, as follows – Wave, My Funny Valentine, They Can’t Take That Away From Me, an extra helping of Jobim with The Girl from Ipanema, Have You Met Miss Jones? All of this and many  more, the patrons for the most part not listening (what’s new?), although, credit where it’s due, one or two did listen perhaps wondering ‘How does he do that?’ Indeed, how does Brad do it? Masterful playing, one number running into another, an ‘on the fly’ medley. Joe Pass did it, and Martin Taylor does it, so too Bradley Johnston.

A switch to six string acoustic for a couple of numbers which included Lennon and McCartney’s In My Life worked well, but it wasn’t long before Brad took up his Ibanez once more to play The Very Thought of You, A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square, a return to ACJ with One Note Samba, a few bars of Georgia, I’m Beginning to See the Light and Over the Rainbow – it’s easy when you know how and Bradley Johnston definitely knows how it’s done.

The Fire Station’s cask beers are likely to attract the attention of members of CAMRA and foodies should take a look at the menu which is available until seven o’clock. Brad chatted to friends, said hello to fellow musician Alan Marshall and he appears to have struck up a good relationship with the Sunday evening staff.

Brad played through the house PA which was more than adequate, his sound projecting easily to all parts of the spacious room. Many features from the building’s days as a fire station have been retained – buckets and helmets adorning the (original) tiled walls, but sadly no fireman’s pole! The prospect of musicians arriving on stage in a most unconventional manner would have been worth turning up for! No matter, we turned up to hear jazz guitar. Another acoustic guitar interlude – the  Lennon and McCartney songbook offers up endless riches – as Brad played And I Love Her.

Joe Pass aka Bradley Johnston played You Turned the Tables on Me – oh, for Ella to walk in. Ray Noble’s Cherokee did several laps of the room, Rollin’s Doxy overtaking on the blind side, Duke’s Satin Doll, you’d pay good money to hear this stuff and here in Sunderland it’s for free. Farmer’s Trust (comp. Pat Metheny) closed a third and final set exactly on time at nine o’clock. Do support Brad’s residency, it’s about time Wearsiders had a regular jazz gig to go to. 
Russell.   

1 comment :

Anonymous said...

[They're] probably gonna spin you some line about jazz
How [they love] Dizzy and Chet
But John and Paul hanging up on [their] wall
That's about as jazz as [they get].
Paul Heaton.

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