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Bebop Spoken There

Dee Dee Bridgewater: “ Our world is becoming a very ugly place with guns running rampant in this country... and New Orleans is called the murder capital of the world right now ". Jazzwise, May 2024.

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...

Josh Weir: I love the writing on bebop spoken here... I think the work you are doing is amazing.

Postage

16408 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 16 years ago. 288 of them this year alone and, so far, 85 this month (April 30).

From This Moment On ...

May

Thu 02: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 02: The Eight Words - A Jazz Suite @ Newcastle Cathedral, St Nicholas Square, Newcastle NE1 1PF. Tel: 0191 232 1939. 7:30pm. £20.00. (£17.00. student/under 18). Tim Boniface Quartet & Malcolm Guite (poet). Jazz & poetry: The Eight Words (St John Passion).
Thu 02: Funky Drummer @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free.
Thu 02: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Ragtime piano. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 02: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm. Guest band: Mark Toomey (alto sax); Jeremy McMurray (keys) Alan Rudd (bass); Paul Smith (drums)

Fri 03: Dean Stockdale Trio @ The Old Library, Auckland Castle. 1:00pm. 8:00pm.
Fri 03: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 03: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 03: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 03: Jake Leg Jug Band @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm.
Fri 03: Front Porch Blues Band @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:30pm.
Fri 03: Boys of Brass @ Hoochie Coochie, Newcastle. 8:30pm. £5.00.

Sat 04: Jeff Barnhart’s Mr Men @ St Augustine's Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm. £10.00. Darlington New Orleans Jazz Club.
Sat 04: Jeff Barnhart @ The Vault, Darlington. 6:00pm. Free. Barnstorming solo piano!
Sat 04: NUJO Jazz Jam @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free (donations).
Sat 04: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm.

Sun 05: Smokin’ Spitfires @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:45pm. £7.50.
Sun 05: Sue Ferris Quintet plays Horace Silver @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00pm.
Sun 05: Guido Spannocchi @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 06: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.

Tue 07: Calvert & the Old Fools @ Forum Music Centre, Darlington. 5:30-7:00pm. Free. Live recording session, all welcome.
Tue 07: Jam session @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free. House trio: Stu Collingwood, Paul Grainger, Mark Robertson.
Tue 07: Suba Trio @ Riverside, Newcastle. 8:00pm (7:30pm last entry). £21.00. All standing gig.

Wed 08: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 08: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 08: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Monday, April 09, 2018

GIJF Day 3: JB’s Cats - Sage Gateshead, April 8

James Birkett (MD); Ben Lawrence (piano); Alex Thompson (alto sax, Moog synth); Lucien Guest (trumpet, flugelhorn); Nathan Lawson (guitar); Thomas Henry (guitar); Alex Shipsey (bass); Gemma Watson (drums)
(Review/photo by Russell).
For anyone with an interest in the future of jazz they should check out JB’s Cats’ annual concert on Sage Gateshead’s concourse stage. Noon Sunday, right on time, James Birkett’s Cats took Seven Steps to Heaven. The 2017-18 edition of the band comprises seven musicians; several of them are familiar faces playing in prestigious youth ensembles including Jambone and the workshop/gigging Early Bird Band, some pitch in without fear at top-flight jam sessions and some have recorded CDs – such is the busy life of the region’s up and coming jazz musicians!

The first number featured the ever-impressive Nathan Lawson on guitar, the second number of the day…WOW! Stolen Moments, absolutely brilliant, at its heart a fully-formed, mature flugelhorn solo from the diminutive Lucien Guest. This young man is something else. At the age of fifteen, perhaps sixteen, if he is thinking of going to university to study some pointless subject such as medicine or, er, physics, then the local jazz mafia needs to have a quiet word in his shell-like. Lucien has ‘JAZZ MUSICIAN’ written all over him!

Joe Zawinul’s arrangement of Little Rootie Tootie showcased a speed-of-light solo from the band’s other guitarist, Thomas Henry, Ben Lawrence’s apposite Monkish stylings and the superb voicings of the horns –Alex Thompson and Lucien Guest. Neal Hefti’s After Super teased out the subtleties, fine playing from such young musicians, and their all-too-short set concluded with a rip-roaring take on A Night in Tunisia featuring Alex Thompson’s crazy, rollercoaster Moog solo and Chick Corea’s Got a Match? Special mention for the rhythm section; bassist Alex Shipsey did the business as he always does, and the real find on this session was drummer Gemma Watson. What a great player! Gemma later confirmed that her drum teacher is Roger Hempsall…that explains a lot. This was one of the sets of this year’s Gateshead International Jazz Festival.          

Russell 
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