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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

15260 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 279 of them this year alone and, so far, 92 this month (March 29).

From This Moment On ...

March

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. Due to phenomenal demand, extra tickets released - gig now in the theatre. Book at: www.bishopaucklandtownhall.org.uk
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: Jambone @ Sage Gateshead. 7:00pm. Free (book online). A YMP! event in the Northern Rock Foundation Hall.
Sat 01: Jude Murphy & Dan Stanley @ Prohibtion Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.
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.

Tue 04: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 04: Jam session @ Black Swan, Newcastle Arts Centre. 7:30pm. House trio: Bradley Johnston (guitar); Paul Grainger (double bass); Abbie Finn (drums).

Wed 05: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 05: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 05: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 7:00pm.
Wed 05: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Saturday, January 06, 2018

Northern Monkey Brass Band @ Gala Theatre, Durham – Jan 5

Graham Hardy (trumpet), Ben Chinnery (trumpet), Jamie Toms (tenor saxophone), David Gray (trombone), Jason Holcomb (trombone), Phil Rosier (tuba), Adam Sinclair (snare drum) & Brendan Murphy (bass drum)
(Review by Russell). 
Durham is riding the wave. Jazz can be found, and heard, at every turn. Within a slide trombone of Durham Cathedral regular promotions occur at Dunelm House, Empty Shop, the Gala Theatre and at many enterprising independent venues around town. Last year’s inaugural DJazz: Durham Jazz Festival proved hugely popular. An annual county-wide brass festival attracts thousands, Ushaw is on the jazz map thanks to its festival and concert series, Bishop Auckland Town Hall presents jazz on a monthly basis, St Cuthbert’s in Crook offers regular sessions, and Darlington boasts no fewer than three thriving clubs and an established festival. It, therefore, came as no surprise that a sellout gig launched the Gala Theatre’s 2018 monthly lunchtime concert series.

Trumpeter Graham Hardy’s Northern Monkey Brass Band is, to quote the band’s publicity: a deeply funky collective of the finest drum and brass players in the North East of England. The ‘collective’ is a ‘who’s who’ of the jazz scene. The Gala’s patrons were in for a treat. The Northern Monkey Brass Band dispersed casually to the left, right and behind the audience. Promoter Paul Edis read out the usual parish notices and then, to the surprise of those yet to hear the NMBB, the horns, one by one evoked the spirit of Buddy Bolden, a sound carrying across the Mississippi River (more realistically the River Wear down below). Hardy’s Loose in the Banana Patch segued into The A Team as band members slowly assembled in front of the capacity audience – horns blazing with the incomparable rhythm boys, snare master Adam Sinclair and bass drum demon Brendan Murphy, marching to the New Orleans beat.

The Rebirth, the Dirty Dozen, the Youngbloods, America’s finest, in part the inspiration for the Horn Dogs, later to become known as the Northern Monkey Brass Band. Flash (see it’s a brass fantasy!) followed by The Sly Capuchin (comp. G. Hardy), Water of Tyne (comp. trad) with the band opening in respectful manner until the second liners kicked N’Awlins’ ass. At this point, if anyone didn’t get it, perhaps they should have been looking for their nearest country and western gig. Another G Hardy tune, the lip-smackin’ Monkey Blood, then Iko Iko compelling one or two to dance surreptitiously in the standing-room-only shadows. The Northern Monkey Brass Band is a band comprising soloists of repute deferring to the collective sound until they’re let off the leash for a blast and this Gala gig heard loud and clear from the irrepressible David Gray, not once, not twice, but several times. DG’s trombone sidekick Jason Holcomb wasn’t to be outdone, Jamie Toms on tenor ripped it up on The tune with no name whose working title will suffice until someone (it could be you!) thinks of a better title and Phil Rosier stepped forward, literally, on Funky Pie to coax more than a tune from his tuba. A party piece for sure. Of course, there was an encore (Theme from Star Wars) and Graham Hardy has more of this stuff lined-up during a big, bold ‘n’ brassy 2018. 
Russell                                                       

1 comment :

Patti (on F/b) said...

Funkydoodles - this band is tops - I couldn't make it to this gig, but must see 'em again soon!

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