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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

15229 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 248 of them this year alone and, so far, 61 this month (March 20).

From This Moment On ...

March

Tue 21: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 21: Jam session @ Black Swan, Newcastle Arts Centre. 7:30pm. House trio: Jacob Egglestone (guitar); Jamie Watkins (bass guitar); Bailey Rudd (drums).

Wed 22: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 22: Darlington Big Band @ Traveller's Rest, Cockerton. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public). Note change of venue - this week only.
Wed 22: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 7:00pm.
Wed 22: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 23: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 4:00-6:00pm. Free.
Thu 23: NUJO Jazz Jam @ Bar Loco, Newcasatle. From 6:30pm 'til late. Free. Newcastle University Jazz Orchestra jam session. All welcome (students & non-students).
Thu 23: Kerrin Tatman + John Garner & John Pope @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Thu 23: Sunna Gunnlaugs & Julia Hülsmann @ Sage Gateshead. 8:00pm. A two-piano gig. A Sage Gateshead-JNE promotion.
Thu 23: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Ragtime piano.
Thu 23: Sleep Suppressor @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £10.00., £8.00. adv. Upstairs.
Thu 23: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 24: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 24: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 24: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 24: FILM: Mo' Better Blues @ Forum Cinema, Hexham. 7:00pm.
Fri 24: Ian Millar & Dominic Spencer @ Scarth Hall, Staindrop, Co. Durham. 8:00pm. £10.00.
Fri 24: Archipelago + Bulbils @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.

Sat 25: Vermont Big Band @ Walker Community Centre, Walker, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Fundraiser for Benfield Juniours Football Club. Hot food available, BYOB.
Sat 25: John Logan & Friends @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Rat Pack, Motown etc. 8:00pm. Free (donations).

Sun 26: Musicians Unlimited @ Park Inn, Hartlepool. 1:00pm.
Sun 26: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 26: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 3:00pm.
Sun 26: Outlines @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. JNE promotion (upstairs).

Mon 27: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.

Saturday, January 06, 2018

King Bees @ Billy Bootleggers – Jan 5

Michael Littlefield (guitar & vocals), Scott Taylor (vocals, harmonica & guitar), Dominic Hornsby (piano, guitar & vocals), Simon Hedley (double bass) & Giles Holt (drums)
(Review by Russell). 
The Downbeat, the Newcastle New Orleans Jazz Club on Forth Banks, Club-A-Gogo, and latterly Crombie’s Jazz Café. Legendary venues, stories galore (apocryphal or not), add Billy Bootleggers to the list.   
Overheard at the bar: I stumbled across this place by chance. Now I come here all the time. The place is Billy Bootleggers, an American dive bar which is packed to the rafters every time. Blues, American beers, a seat if you’re lucky, and a dance floor full of jivers and wannabe jivers in front
of the band. On stage it’s lounge suits, collars loosened, sweat dripping, this is Chicago’s South Side circa 1950 relocated lock, stock and two smokin’ blues barrels to Newcastle, England 2018.

Tonite’s band, the King Bees, fronted by Michael Littlefield and Scott Taylor, delivered the goods. Close your eyes and you were in Chicago. Littlefield’s vocal style incorporates Sonny Boy (I Don’t Know, the evening’s opening number), Otis Rush (If You Were Mine) and Louis Jordan (Caldonia).  His guitar playing,  obsessive in its quest for authenticity, Littlefield’s approach is that of the Chicago guitar greats – he isn’t interested in flashy solos. Scott Taylor is a mean harp player (frustratingly a little low in the mix) with a terrific blues voice (Big Walter Horton’s Hard Hearted Woman). Dominic Hornsby could be Otis Spann playing piano, and he played guitar, and he sang. A talented young man. Talking of talent, the towering Simon Hedley’s double bass playing cut through – a welcome change from the usual, pragmatic electric bass alternative of so many blues band bass players. A young man sat obscured behind Littlefield and Taylor. His name? Giles Holt. Occupation? Rhythm and blues drummer par excellence. Secreted in the corner, not seen all night but heard playing the drums that many can’t/don’t/won’t play. Holt’s restrained style is to die for.                       
An unexpected instrumental, the only one of the night, covered for Littlefield as he changed a rare broken string, with the band playing Don’t Get Around Much Anymore. Restrung, Littlefield and co ripped through their set list culminating in no fewer than three encores with the band referencing a legendary early sixties appearance at Newport by Muddy Waters as the King Bees played Got My Mojo Working not once but twice! And, of course, Hoochie Coochie Man.The King Bees gig around town (Billy Bootleggers is the place to hear them), be sure to check them out, they’re the business.       
Russell.

2 comments :

Stewartd said...

Spot on Russell - I was there too, and will be back next month for their residency!

Anonymous said...

I was there too. Love this venue and loved the band. Spot on when it comes to the guitarist too - nothing your average person would call flashy but as a guitarist myself, I really appreciated his style - so authentic and so tasteful.

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