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Bebop Spoken There

Art Blakey: "You [Bobby Watson] don't want to play too long, because you don't know they're clapping because they're glad you finished!" - (JazzTimes, Nov. 2019)..

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

15848 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 855 of them this year alone and, so far, 53 this month (Sept. 18).

From This Moment On ...

September

Thu 21: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 21: La Malbec Orchestra @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Thu 21: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Ragtime piano. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.
Thu 21: Linsday Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ Harbour View, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free.
Thu 21: Ray Stubbs R & B All Stars @ The Schooner, Gateshead. 8:30pm. Free.
Thu 21: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 22: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 22: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 22: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 22: Brief Encounter @ Bardon Mill Village Hall, Northumberland. 7:00pm. Tickets: £10.00. adv from 07885 303166; £12.00. on the door. Chris & Veronica Perrin improvising to a screening of the 1929 'Jazz Age' silent film Piccadilly (Dir. Ewald André Dupont).
Fri 22: Paul Edis & Graeme Wilson + Three Tsuru Origami @ Jesmond United Reformed Church, Newcastle. 7:30pm. A Newcastle Festival of Jazz & Improvised Music event.
Fri 22: Crooners @ Tyne Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm.
Fri 22: Abbie Finn's Finntet @ Traveller's Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. Opus 4 Jazz Club.

Sat 23: Tyne Valley Big Band @ Tanfield Railway, Gateshead. 2:00-4:00pm. Free. A '1940s Weekend' event.
Sat 23: Jason Isaacs @ Stack, Seaburn. 3:30-5:30pm. Free.
Sat 23: Andrew Porritt & Keith Barrett @ Cullercoats Watch House, Front St., Cullercoats NE30 4QB. 7:00pm.
Sat 23: Michael Woods @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig. Country blues.

Sun 24: Musicians Unlimited @ Park Inn, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 24: More Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.

Mon 25: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Mon 25: Michael Young Trio @ The Engine Room, Sunderland. 7:00pm.

Tue 26: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.

Wed 27: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 27: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 27: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Sunday, April 15, 2018

The Postmodernaires @ Hoochie Coochie - April 15.

Ross Laing (trumpet/MD); David Gray (trombone); Johnny 'Blue Hat' Davis (tenor); Andrew Richardson (keys); Rev Parker (bass); Tom Shorten (drums); Gina Lou (vocals).
(Review by Lance).
This band don't take no prisoners - this band. They go for the jugular right from the off. and the Hoochie regulars weren't complaining - Palm Court orchestras not welcome here!
Sing, Sing, Sing somehow merged into Take Five and ended up as George Michael's Never Gonna Dance Again, This is what The Postmodernaires are all about, taking pop classics and transforming them into earlier settings which usually seem to end up as 1950s' rock and roll.
Feeling Good; I'm Losing My Senses (Megadeth?); All About the Bass. Rev Parker and Gina Lou had some nice unison moments on this one and Rev had an excellent solo on the pogo-stick bass.
Sam Smith's I'm Not the Only One featured some good trumpet. The Cardigans' Love me Love, Say That You Love Me - these are all songs that are mainly new to me but Gina Lou sings them well and, with the horns, the arrangements and a stonking rhythm section they sound good. Imelda May provided Big Bad Handsome Man and, like I'm Never Gonna Give You Up and Hold on to What We've Got, the dancers loved them.
During the interval I found myself wishing they weren't quite so full on. Most numbers begin at double forte and end up with a whole lot more fortissimos than any normal eardrum can handle. Also, Gina Lou is a great singer with lots of potential but, I think she doesn't engage with the audience enough - she obviously has the personality to do so.
Minnie the Moocher got the second set rolling, the Dervishes occupied the dance floor and everyone was hi-di-hi-ing and ho-di-ho-ing.
That good old karaoke favourite I Will Survive had a blistering solo from 'Blue Hat' who, along with Gray, repeated the solar plexus punch on The Bare Necessities - 'A tune you will remember from your childhood days' said Gina Lou - I wish! 
The set rolled on eventually pulling two encores. These saw the horns down on the dance-floor and beyond, parading and blowing like as if it was a Lionel Hampton gig. The final Hit the Road Jack had David Gray up in the posh end (the booths) blowing like a man possessed - they don't call him Showtime for nothing!
Entertaining and, maybe, a work in progress? Whatever, catch them when you can.
Lance.

2 comments :

David Gray said...

Quick correction, before this post gains traction: the vocalist for tonight was Gina Lou. Thanks for showing up today, and for the kind words!

Lance said...

Will correct asap. However, does prove my point about lack of communication between band and audience. In fact, it's the first gig I've ever been to where the spieler didn't give a name check!

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