Total Pageviews

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

16051 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 1058 of them this year alone and, so far, 12 this month (Dec. 6).

From This Moment On ...

December

Sun 10: Musicians Unlimited’s Xmas Party with Zoë Gilby Quartet @ Park Inn, Hartlepool. MU 1:00-3:00pm; Zoë Gilby Quartet 4:00-6:00pm. Tickets: £7.50.
Sun 10: Alan Law, Paul Grainger & Abbie Finn @ Darlington Market, Market Square, Darlington. 1:00pm. Free. A ‘Christmas Market’ outdoor gig. Wrap up warm!
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.

Wed 13: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 13: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 13: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 13: Bold Big Band @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. 7:30pm.
Wed 13: Giles Strong Quartet @ Alphabetti Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 14: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 14: Hot Fingers @ The Lubetkin Theatre, Peterlee. 7:00pm. £10.00.
Thu 14: After Hours Student Jazz Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free.
Thu 14: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. . Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 14: Niffi Osiyemi Trio @ Harbour View, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free.
Thu 14: Mo Scott ‘Little Mo’s Festive Appearance’ @ The Schooner, Gateshead. 8:00pm. Free.
Thu 14: Tees Hot Club w. Kevin Eland, Josh Bentham, Garry Hadfield, Adrian Beadnell @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 15: Paul Edis @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 15: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 15: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 15: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 15: Paul Skerritt @ Black Horse Inn, Crook. From 7:00pm.
Fri 15: Paul Edis: A Jazzy Christmas @ St Cuhtbert's Centre, Crook. 7:30pm. £15.00. SOLD OUT! Waiting list open.
Fri 15: Zoë Gilby Trio @ Seventeen Nineteen, Hendon, Sunderland. 7:30pm. £12.00. POSTPONED!
Fri 15: Strictly Smokin' Big Band @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 8:00pm. First night of two.
Fri 15: Darlington Big Band @ Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. £10.00. Opus 4 Jazz Club.
Fri 15: Baghdaddies @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £14.00.; £10.00.

Sat 16: Paul Edis: A Jazzy Christmas @ Sage Gateshead. 2:00pm. A Jazzy Christmas + Jambone.
Sat 16: Porritt & Barrett & Friends Xmas Special @ Cullercoats Watch House. 7:00pm. £4.00.
Sat 16: Milne-Glendinning Band @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 16: Red Kites Jazz Band @ The Staithes Café, Gateshead. 7:00pm--9:00pm.
Sat 16: Hayley's Little Big Band @ Ellingham Village Hall, Chathill. 7:30pm. £12.00., £8.00.
Sat 16: Paul Edis: A Jazzy Christmas @ Sage Gateshead. 8:00pm.
Sat 16: Strictly Smokin' Big Band @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Second night of two.

Saturday, March 10, 2018

Gerry Richardson Trio @ The Gala Theatre, Durham - March 9

Gerry Richardson (organ); Rod Sinclair (guitar) & Paul Smith (drums)
(Review by Russell/Photos courtesy of Malcolm Sinclair). 
Sold out. If it’s the Gala’s monthly Friday lunchtime jazz concert take it as read, it’s sold out.* This month’s concert featured Hammond organ master Gerry Richardson. These days the Newcastle-based organist rarely, if ever, takes the big beast on the road. Now, for ease of transportation, his instrument of choice is a Crumar Mojo; lighter, smaller and portable. Otherwise, the sound is much the same. Some of the Gala Theatre’s regular patrons were hearing the Gerry Richardson Trio for the first time – what would they make of it all?
At one point during the one hour set Richardson joked that he would usually be getting out of bed around now. A smokin’ Hammond blues-drenched session is more commonly associated with the late night jazz club gig. In the Gala’s sun-drenched studio theatre high above the Wear the trio hit the ground running with Lou Donaldson’s Alligator Boogaloo. It was noted that some of the Gerry Richardson fan club had made it to Durham, the giveaway being, albeit from a sedentary position, their desire to get down to the rare grooves hitting the floor. Bandleader Richardson’s vocal style owes something to Mose Allison and it was the American’s Everybody Cryin’ Mercy which found resonance with the present day: Everybody’s crying mercy when they don’t know the meaning of the word.
 
The Gala’s printed programme listed twelve numbers to be performed during the one hour set. It soon became clear that a couple of tunes would need to be jettisoned. Wes Montgomery’s Road Song, ’Spoon’s Money is Getting Cheaper (first released on a Stateside 45) and Oscar Pettiford’s Bohemia After Dark all made the cut, the solos shared between Richardson and long-time friend Rod Sinclair playing his trusty Telecaster. Two highlights of the set, one after the other, were two numbers written by Richardson; All About McGriff (inspired by Jimmy McGriff’s All About my Girl) and a proper, self-pitying saloon bar confessional Think I’ll Lay Waste to Myself Tonight. What a good idea!

Time was pressing which meant it was time for Paul Smith’s party piece. African Sunset (another from the pen of Richardson) featured Smith’s mesmerising drum patterns. At this juncture, a small group of pupils from Bishop Barrington School sitting in the front row sat up and took notice. The mini drum masterclass could well inspire one of these musicians of the future to clock up 10,000 hours in double quick time. It is said by some that it takes ten thousand hours in the woodshed to make it as a musician. Hey kids, it’s time to get cracking!

The Gerry Richardson Trio closed the set with Bobby Hebb’s Sunny. It was noted that some were singing along. The gospel according to the smokin’ Hammond (and its successors)! Job done.        
Russell 

* April’s concert (Friday 20) will be a guaranteed sell-out. Emma Fisk and James Birkett routinely sell-out gigs wherever they go. Book now on 03000 266 600 or miss out!  

No comments :

Blog Archive