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Bebop Spoken There

Billy Boy Arnold: “As long as you don't think old you're good.” - DownBeat, December, 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!"

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 ...

December

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!

Wed 06: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 06: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 8:00pm. Free. Note later start time, concert performance (open to the public).
Wed 06: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 07: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free CANCELLED!
Thu 07: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ Spanish City, Whitley Bay, Newcastle. 12 noon - 4:00pm. £26.00 (inc 3-course meal in in St Mary's Lighthouse Suite). SOLD OUT!
Thu 07: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Gateshead Central Library, Gateshead. 2:30pm. All welcome.
Thu 07: Thursday Night Prayer Meeting @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.Donations. Feat. Mark Sanders. CANCELLED!
Thu 07: Indigo Jazz Voices @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:45pm. £5.00. Downstairs.
Thu 07: Tees Hot Club: Just Friends @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. Guest band night w. Richie Emmerson, Ian Bosworth, Dave Archbold, Ron Smith, Mark Hawkins. 9:00pm.

Fri 08: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 08: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 08: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 08: Giles Strong Quartet @ The Old Library, Auckland Castle. 1:00pm. £7.00.
Fri 08: Hayley's Little Big Band @ Woodland Village Hall, Bishop Auckland. 7:00pm. £12.00.
Fri 08: Sleep Suppressor + Redwell @ Head of Steam, Neville St., Newcastle. 8:00pm. £10.00. (£8.00. adv); £5.00. student.
Fri 08: Hot Club du Nord @ St Cuthbert's Church, Shadforth, Co. Durham.
Fri 08: Têtes de Pois + Nauta @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £12.00., £8.00.

Sat 09: Prudhoe Community Band @ Central Station, Newcastle. 10:00am - 12 noon. Charity fundraiser.
Sat 09: Durham Alumni Big Band @ Number One Bar, Skinnergate, Darlington. 1:00pm.
Sat 09: Castillo Nuevo Trio @ Revoluçion de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30pm. Free.
Sat 09: Hayley's Little Big Band @ Middleton & Todridge Village Hall, Morpeth. 7:30pm. £12.00., £6.00.
Sat 09: Paul Skerritt @ Slaley Hall, Hexham NE47 0BX. 7:30pm. From £42.00.

Sun 10: Musicians Unlimited’s Xmas Party with Zoe Gilby Quartet @ Park Inn, Hartlepool. MU 1:00-3:00pm; Zoë Gilby Quartet 4:00-6:00pm. Tickets: £7.50.
Sun 10: Am Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00-4:00pm. Free.
Sun 10: Funk Soul Sista @ Stack, Seaburn. 5:00-7:00pm. Free.
Sun 10: Beth Clarke @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 10: Hayley's Little Big Band @ Whittingham Memorial Institute, Alnwick. 7:30pm. £12.00., £10.00.
Sun 10: Tele-Port @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Line-up inc. Zhenya Strigalev.

Mon 11: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 11: Interim Final Recitals @ Newcastle University. Details TBC.

Tue 12: Stu Collingwood Organ Trio @ Forum Music Centre, Darlington. 7:00pm. £10.00.

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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