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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

Wed 06: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 06: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 8:00pm. Free. Note later start time, concert performance (open to the public).
Wed 06: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 07: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free CANCELLED!
Thu 07: Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ Spanish City, Whitley Bay, Newcastle. 12 noon - 4:00pm. £26.00 (inc 3-course meal in in St Mary's Lighthouse Suite). SOLD OUT!
Thu 07: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Gateshead Central Library, Gateshead. 2:30pm. All welcome.
Thu 07: Thursday Night Prayer Meeting @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.Donations. Feat. Mark Sanders. CANCELLED!
Thu 07: Indigo Jazz Voices @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:45pm. £5.00. Downstairs. CANCELLED!
Thu 07: Tees Hot Club: Just Friends @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. Guest band night w. Richie Emmerson, Ian Bosworth, Dave Archbold, Ron Smith, Mark Hawkins. 9:00pm.

Fri 08: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 08: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 08: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 08: Giles Strong Quartet @ The Old Library, Auckland Castle. 1:00pm. £7.00.
Fri 08: Hayley's Little Big Band @ Woodland Village Hall, Bishop Auckland. 7:00pm. £12.00.
Fri 08: Sleep Suppressor + Redwell @ Head of Steam, Neville St., Newcastle. 8:00pm. £10.00. (£8.00. adv); £5.00. student.
Fri 08: Hot Club du Nord @ St Cuthbert's Church, Shadforth, Co. Durham.
Fri 08: Têtes de Pois + Nauta @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £12.00., £8.00.

Sat 09: Prudhoe Community Band @ Central Station, Newcastle. 10:00am - 12 noon. Charity fundraiser.
Sat 09: Durham Alumni Big Band @ Number One Bar, Skinnergate, Darlington. 1:00pm.
Sat 09: Castillo Nuevo Trio @ Revoluçion de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30pm. Free.
Sat 09: Hayley's Little Big Band @ Middleton & Todridge Village Hall, Morpeth. 7:30pm. £12.00., £6.00.
Sat 09: Paul Skerritt @ Slaley Hall, Hexham NE47 0BX. 7:30pm. From £42.00.

Sun 10: Musicians Unlimited’s Xmas Party with Zoe 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.

Saturday, August 25, 2018

Virtuoso Jazz Trio @ The Gala, Durham - August 24

George MacDonald (clarinet); James Birkett (guitar); Bruce Rollo (double bass)
(Review by Russell/Photos courtesy of Brian Ebbatson)
As an advertisement for this weekend's Ushaw Jazz Festival a lunchtime concert at the Gala Theatre featuring genial George MacDonald and friends James Birkett and Bruce Rollo - themselves affable types - proved to be just the tonic as prescribed by our mutual friend Dr. Jazz.
The Gala's monthly jazz concert invariably attracts a capacity audience and this appearance by the Virtuoso Jazz Trio wasn't about to buck the trend. All seats occupied, Mr. MacDonald said they would begin with two tunes written by George Gershwin...one up to the VJT with the first note yet to be played! 
But Not For Me, then Somebody Loves Me - splendid. MacDonald and Birkett seated, Rollo standing to their left, the trio's easy going, obvious musical compatibility shone through. Canadian ex-pat MacDonald, a long-serving, founder member of the Northern Sinfonia knows his jazz onions and it was with relish that he launched head-long into a swift take on After You've Gone

MacDonald is a Benny Goodman man who takes great delight in recounting the story of the American's rise to fame following a year-long, coast to coast tour with invaluable radio broadcasts along the way. As BG arrived in Los Angeles the queues went around the block, just as they did eighty years later here in Durham with fans eager to hear the VJT. Stompin' at the Savoy and Flying Home evoked something of Goodman mania as our bandleader challenged guitarist Birkett and bassist Rollo to keep up. They did...but only just! 

'And now a bossa nova', said MacDonald. A good guess would be Jobim - yes, Wave. 'We have to play some Cole Porter' our man continued, and, as sure as night follows day, we got it - Night and Day, that is. The clarinetist's setlist is never less than the epitome of taste and he knows how to pace matters. We knew that another two or three numbers would take us up to the hour so a thrilling finale opened with It Don't Mean a Thing, continued with A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square and reached a crescendo with a hot 'n' crazy I Got Rhythm. The rhythm boys - Birkett and Rollo - had their moments in the Gala's spotlight, yet, somehow, the Canadian octogenarian rightly occupied centre stage. Afterwards, Mr. MacDonald chatted happily with members of the audience saying to one perhaps he and his Virtuoso Jazz Trio bandmates would make a return visit in twenty years...don't bet against it!      
Russell

1 comment :

Lance said...

George MacDonald is playing a duo set with pianist Ken Irvine at St. George's Church, Morpeth this afternoon (August 25).
The hour-long set begins at 3pm and is preceded by a strawberry Tea at 2:30pm.
Details in today's listings.

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