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Bebop Spoken There

Branford Marsalis: "As ignorance often forces us to do, you make a generalisation about a musician based on one specific record or one moment in time." - (Jazzwise June 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

15491 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 512 of them this year alone and, so far, 133 this month (May 31).

From This Moment On ...

June

Sat 03: Newcastle Record Fair @ Northumbria University, Newcastle NE8 8SB. 10:00am-3:00pm. Admission: £2.00.
Sat 03: Pedigree Jazz Band @ St Augustine's Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm.
Sat 03: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. Tutor: Sue Ferris. £25.00. Enrol at: www.jazz.coop.
Sat 03: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington. 6:00pm. Free.
Sat 03: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00.
Sat 03: Papa G's Troves @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.

Sun 04: Smokin' Spitfires @ The Cluny, Newcastle. 12:45pm.
Sun 04: Central Bar Quintet @ Central Bar, Gateshead. 2:00-4:00pm. £5.00. The Central Bar Quintet plays Sonny Rollins' Saxophone Colossus. Featuring Lewis Watson.
Sun 04: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 3:00pm.
Sun 04: Struggle Buggy + Michael Littlefield @ Tyne Bar, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free. Acoustic blues.
Sun 04: Swinging at the Cotton Club: Harry Strutters' Hot Rhythm Orchestra @ The Fire Station, Sunderland. 7:30pm.
Sun 04: Richard Jones Trio @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Sun 04: Jam No. 18 @ Fabio's Bar, Saddler Street, Durham. 8:00pm. Free. All welcome. A Durham University Jazz Society event.

Mon 05: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.

Tue 06: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 06: Jam session @ Black Swan, Newcastle Arts Centre. 7:30pm. House trio: Stu Collingwood (piano); Paul Grainger (double bass); Sid White (drums).

Wed 07: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 07: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 07: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 7:00pm.
Wed 07: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 08: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free. CANCELLED! BACK ON JUNE 15.
Thu 08: Easington Colliery Brass Band @ The Lubetkin Theatre, Peterlee. 7:00pm. £10.00.
Thu 08: Faye MacCalman + Blue Dust Archive @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Thu 08: Dilutey Juice + Ceramic @ The Ampitheatre, Sea Road, South Shields. 7:00pm. Free. A South Tyneside Festival event.
Thu 08: Lara Jones w. Vigilance State @ Lubber Fiend, Blandford Square, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Thu 08: Michael Littlefield @ the Harbour View, Roker, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free. Country blues.
Thu 08: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 09: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 09: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 09: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 09: Castillo Nuevo @ Revolución de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30-8:30pm.
Fri 09: Emma Rawicz @ Sage Gateshead. 8:00pm.

Sunday, May 20, 2018

Alex Hitchcock Quintet @ the Jazz Café – May 17

Alex Hitchcock (tenor sax); James Copus (trumpet & flugelhorn); Will Barry (piano); Jay Davis (drums); Conor Chaplin (bass)
(Review by Steve H/Photo courtesy of Ken Drew) 
This was the third time in a week that  I had attended a Jazz North East gig. The first two, Deep Cabaret and Malby, Bonnet & Darrifourcq, although completely different in content, were both absolutely superb. Could the last in the triumvirate match the variety and quality of its predecessors? I am very happy to report that it did so and in spades. Although possibly the most conventional of the three, the jazz being of the ‘straight ahead’ type,  the enthusiasm and the calibre of both the music and the performers made it another night to remember.
All five were marvellous, from Hitchcock's very first tenor solo, Gift Horse, onwards.

Will Barry on electric piano was fabulous and I would really love to hear him on a ‘proper’ piano such as a concert grand. Conor Chaplin, a frequent visitor to Tyneside, most recently with Laura Jurd’s Dinosaur, was brilliant particularly considering he was deputising for regular bass player Joe Downard (apparently he was on his stag night).
Drummer Jay Davis kept things rockin’ all night and also contributed some very impressive solos. Although not wanting to single anyone out in such a fine quintet, James Corpus on trumpet and flugelhorn simply blew the audience away. If there is a more exciting and finer trumpeter currently on the circuit, I would be amazed. However, having praised all the soloists it was actually in the ensemble playing that I found the music most enjoyable. The tunes, all original, were catchy and well crafted. Hitchcock came over as a very charming and affable fellow when introducing the numbers.
Two deserve a special mention because of their backstory.  Wojciech is named after a Polish tobacco salesman who kept on delivering shots of top quality vodka to the band during a show in Krakow. After the gig he took them to a club and at some point revealed to the band a revolver on one hip and a full magazine on the other.
Being a Brentford fan, Hamburg 2010 was a little more problematic, as it references Fulham’s UEFA cup final appearance in 2010 and in particular their fullback at the time John Pantsil who had a curious habit of doing a lap of honour before and after the game regardless of the result. As it happens, the Cottagers lost the final so I was still able to enjoy the tune. I did mention to Alex after the gig that if I had known he was a Fulham fan I wouldn’t have come to the gig which would have been more fool me for I would have missed a thoroughly entertaining and top class evening.

Steve H.

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