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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.

Sunday, June 10, 2018

And the MD Danced ! The Customs House Big Band with Paul Edis and Emily McDermott @ St. Cuthberts Parish Centre, Crook - June 8.

(Review & Photos by Jerry.)
A beautiful evening saw the welcome return of the Customs House Big Band to Crook for some great pizza, even better music and still no raffle prize for yours truly! I’ll keep trying! Ruth Lambert could not be there – best wishes from all us fans, Ruth – but Paul Edis and Emily McDermott were, to provide some vocals and some variety.
Bang on time (I love that!) the band launched us into a tune with a nice, clean finish (I love that, too) which I thought Peter Morgan announced as Recorda Me, but which I couldn’t find on Google when trying to check. I found the mic. a problem all night and missed many of the intros, which was irritating, and struggled to hear Emily McDermott’s vocals, which was criminal! Anyway, Paul Edis then took centre stage to conduct while the band played some of his own arrangements and compositions.

First up was Bright Mississippi, a Thelonius Monk contrafact (yes, I’ve been Googling again!) based on Sweet Georgia Brown, some bits of which I was still able to recognise. Loved it, as I do the original. Among other solos here we had the first of many from another Jambone graduate, Bradley Johnston. Great stuff! Another clean-picked solo followed on The Coast, a Jobim influenced Edis original where flute and piano (sorry, can’t name the soloists) were also prominent.
Two vocals from Emily followed – My Funny Valentine (arr. Edis) and Rome Wasn’t Built in a Day (Edis original). The aforementioned problems with the mic seemed to unsettle this promising young singer on the former and, although she was more confident on the latter, receiving “whoops” of approval, the volume still wasn’t balanced so we didn’t hear that clear, powerful voice at its best. I look forward to the next time. Last of the Edis contributions was The Narrow Escape, a “sort of cartoon theme” up-tempo number, and then Peter Morgan returned to lead the band in Halleluiah, I Just Love Her So, the closing number for the first set. This featured some nice muted trumpet, a tenor sax solo and some audience participation – clapping in time to the music at the MD’s invitation.

He had less success in the second half, trying to incite dancing, though his own nimble movements from conducting out front, up the steps to bass-tromboning with the band, set a fine example on Flight of Fancy (where trombones were to the fore but the drummer seemed to stitch it all together) and Stolen Moments. He observed that he could see people “twitching” to dance (there were feet tapping and shoulders swaying all evening, to be fair) but no-one took to the floor. As if despairing of the Crook crowd he began waltzing an imagined partner towards the door, but came back to conduct The Way You Look Tonight, which seemed to start and end with a fanfare and swung outstandingly in between.

Another missed title (a Buddy Rich number?) kept the feet tapping then a rousing drum intro launched us into A Few Good Men. Next, Why Musicians Can’t Dance (or even shuffle?) was flagged up by the MD as “our excuse” – the implied question, presumably, being “what’s yours?” Impervious to subtlety we maintained our Britishness and kept to our seats through the last number, Stomping at the Savoy (which made us twitch a lot) and the one after the last number, Stepping Out (which made us twitch even more but which had the MD in full Michael Jackson mode by the end!). Cue lots of applause then we stepped out from the wall of sound (Phil Spector is credited with inventing that but big bands got there years before him!) into a perfect sunset. It was that sort of evening! 
Photos.
Jerry.

Personnel courtesy of Peter Morgan:
Trp: Bob Temple, Paul Riley-Gledhill, Alan Catherall, Mick Hill
Trb: Dave Brocklesby, Don Fairley, Alistair Wood, Peter Morgan (MD)

Sax: Alan Marshall, Kim Skerritt, Jim McBriarty, Jamie Toms, Chris Kaberry
Pno - John Stephenson
Bass - Alan Smith
Guitar - Bradley Johnston
Vocal (for song from Paul Edis) Emily McDermott

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