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Bebop Spoken There

David Hadju: "It was kind of a lightning bolt [seeing a photo of a hi-fi store that's now occupied by a phone store]. Everyone had hi-fi systems, now everyone has a phone" - (DownBeat May 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

15478 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 499 of them this year alone and, so far, 120 this month (May 27).

From This Moment On ...

May 2023

Tue 30: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 30: Big Chris Barber Band @ Whitley Bay Playhouse. 7:30pm.

Wed 31: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 31: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 31: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 7:00pm.
Wed 31: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

June
Thu 01: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 01: Thursday Night Prayer Meeting @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Donations.
Thu 01: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Ragtime piano. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.
Thu 01: Jake Leg Jug Band @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Thu 01: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 02: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 02: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 02: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 02: Joseph Carville Trio @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm.
Fri 02: Claire Martin & Her Trio @ The Witham, Barnard Castle. 7:30pm. £25.00., £20.00. Feat. Jim Mullen, Alex Garnett & Jeremy Brown.
Fri 02: Guy Davis + Michael Littlefield & Scott Taylor @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. Doors 7:30pm. Blues double bill.
Fri 02: Anders Ingram @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Blind Pig Blues Club. Country blues. A 'Jar on the Bar' gig.

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.

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

Wednesday, May 16, 2018

Jazz Café Jam Session - May 15

(Review by Lance).
Once again, the Jazz Café jam session lived up to expectations - when does it not? The signs were good from the start. In Edis and Walker, we had two-thirds of Triptych on stage although there was little of that band's contemporary leanings present. Instead, with Grainger as the lynchpin, it was straight down the middle swing even if Falling in Love With Love did start off in waltz-time. You'd be so Nice to Come Home to had set the ball rolling but it was the filling in the sandwich that brought the house down. Take the A Train left the platform slower than is the norm and it looked like we were taking the scenic route until Edis refueled with an amazing left-hand tremolo that seemed to last from Penn Station to Sugar Hill way up in Harlem. His right hand wasn't idle either! Showboating, I know, but nonetheless impressive!
The first of the sitters-in was trumpet man Johnson who opened up with a Lee Morgan tune I didn't recognise and a Clifford Brown one which I did - Joyspring.
Johnson gave way, he would be back, to student duo Richardson and Savage both of whom are giving their Final Year Undergraduate Music Recital later this week. For Megan this was, I suppose, testing the water. If the judgment was to be in the form of a clapometer then start printing the certificate now making sure the H is in capitals. Her chosen test pieces were Sinead O'Connor's My Man is Gone and Prince's How Come You Don't Call me Anymore? Two very emotive pieces done here as a kind of jazz lieder.
We needed cheering up after all our lost loves had flashed by in a drowning man scenario and we got it in the form of Garel, Sykes, Pope and Mohammed. Richardson stayed at the piano as he too surely needed to shake off the depression Megan had so effectively, and brilliantly, created. Unless the examiners are going through some emotional crisis of their own the girl should walk it!
Old man sorrow was kicked out the door when Garel and Sykes blew a lively, boppy number and followed up with that perennial fave; Have You Met Miss Jones? - I think we will go on meeting her till we die, Miss Jones and I (I'm not complaining, even at 81 she's still tasty!)
Edis and Walker returned to accompany Ms. O'Neill whom we've also met several times. Kate gave us her take on Cry me a River which included a scat chorus and a frenetic finale. Always a showstopper. I Wish I Knew How it Feels to be Free concluded her set. We'd hoped she'd hang around to sing again but, when the call went out, Kate had gone.
It's usually a night to remember when Nick Gould lugs his tenor down from Edinburgh and this night was ne'er an exception.
You Stepped Out of a Dream (or was it a '62 Cortina?) - think Hank Mobley/Joe Henderson and you've got it! A Weaver of Dreams (was that a request? I wonder...) a nice tenor/bass interlude with Paul Grainger added some extra spice. Even more spice was added when Paul Gowland arrived with soprano sax to give Yardbird Suite a workout. Tenor and sop gelled.
Mohammed back on drums and a southpaw guitarist whose name I didn't catch - maybe it wasn't given - so we'll call him "Les" as he was playing an Epiphone Les Paul guitar.* He found his way around Tangerine as did Gowland. With Edis and Grainger that made four Pauls in total. If someone had said, "Take the next one Paul" it could have resulted in a bemused silence or a four-part fugue.
Trombone at The Caff usually means David Gray but 'Showtime' wasn't around. Instead, a new face appeared, Tom McDonald. Tom made an impressive debut blowing All of Me alongside big hitters Gould and Johnson. Tom hung around for Four, Paul Gowland returned and longtime absentee Matt MacKellar took over on drums. Mobley's This I Dig of You showed young Matt had lost none of his prowess on drums with an explosive solo.
As I left to take a train, Coltrane's Mr PC was a fitting finale. Originally dedicated to bassist Paul Chambers, we now had the fifth Paul - there's not that many in The Bible (I'm told!)
Lance
Paul Grainger (bass); Paul Edis (piano); Rob Walker (drums) + Ray Johnson (trumpet); Ben Richardson (piano); Megan Savage (voice); John Pope (bass); Dan Garel (alto); George Sykes (tenor); Hazem Mohammed (drums); Kate O'Neill (vocal); Nick Gould (tenor); Paul Gowland (soprano); "Les Paul" *(guitar); Tom McDonald (trombone); Matt MacKellar (drums).
*"Les Paul" is actually James Cuxson!

1 comment :

Patti said...

Ah - Weaver of Dreams ........ I have to confess that I requested this one! I'd been chatting to Nick at the bar, talking about tunes - and I happened to ask about it! He did play it beautifully! And it's not one that we hear very often at the JC.

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