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Bebop Spoken There

Abbie Finn: "Even though there's a lot of great work being done to promote women in jazz, I still come up against some attitudes! I pulled up at a recording session with my drums in the car and the studio owner said, 'I'm sorry, this space is reserved for the drummer!'" - (Jazzwise April 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

15245 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 15 years ago. 264 of them this year alone and, so far, 77 this month (March 25).

From This Moment On ...

March

Tue 28: Paul Skerritt @ The Rabbit Hole, Hallgarth St., Durham DH1 3AT. 7:00pm. Paul Skerritt's (solo) weekly residency.
Tue 28: Sanaz Lavasani Trio + Abbie Finn @ Black Swan, Newcastle Arts Centre. 8:00pm. £12.00 (£10.00. adv).

Wed 29: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 29: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 29: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 7:00pm.
Wed 29: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.

Thu 30: Gateshead Jazz Appreciation Society @ Gateshead Central Library. 2:30-4:30pm. £2.00. All welcome.
Thu 30: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. Back to 1:00pm stomp off. Free.
Thu 30: Castillo Nuevo @ Revolución de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30-8:30pm.
Thu 30: '58 Jazz Collective @ Hops & Cheese, Hartlepool. 7:30pm. Free.
Thu 30: Lindsay Hannon: Tom Waits for No Man @ Harbour View, Sunderland. 8:00pm.
Thu 30: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman's Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.

Fri 31: Lewis Watson Quartet @ Bishop Auckland Town Hall. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 31: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 31: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 31: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm. CANCELLED! Back next week (April 7).
Fri 31: Castillo Nuevo @ Revolución de Cuba, Newcastle. 5:30-8:30pm.
Fri 31: Jasmine Myra + Waclaw Zimpel @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm.
Fri 31: The Revolutionaires @ The Shack, Boldon Colliery. 7:30pm. £10.00. The Revolutionaires' big band (horn section) line-up.
Fri 31: Andrew McCormack @ Maltings, Berwick. 8:00pm. £20.00.

April
Sat 01: The Big Easy @ St Augustine's Parish Centre, Darlington. 12:30pm.
Sat 01: Play Jazz! workshop @ The Globe, Newcastle. 1:30pm. Tutor: Steve Glendinning - In a Minor Key. £25.00. Enrol at: www.jazz.coop.
Sat 01: Abbie Finn Trio @ The Vault, Darlington Covered Market, Darlington DL1 5PN. 6:00pm. New venue, live jazz!
Sat 01: Boys of Brass @ Stack, Seaburn. 7:00-9:00pm.
Sat 01: Hot Club du Nord @ Pleased to Meet You, Bridge St., Morpeth. 8:00pm. £79.00. A charity fundraising event.
Sat 01: Rendezvous Jazz @ Red Lion, Earsdon. 8:00pm. £3.00. RESCHEDULED to next week (Sat 08).

Sun 02: Smokin' Spitfires @ The Cluny. 12:45pm.
Sun 02: 4B @ The Exchange, North Shields. 3:00pm.

Mon 03: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.

Friday, September 28, 2018

Strictly Smokin' Big Band @ The Millstone - September 27

(Review by Russell)
A final rehearsal session before the band's big day in Greater Manchester. It doesn't come much more prestigious than a Sunday lunchtime engagement at Wigan Jazz Club, a club renowned for its promotion of classic big band jazz. 

This Strictly Smokin' Millstone set was played as if in concert mode, a bit like a Premier League footballer training during the week at match day intensity. The first team, with the exception of a couple of absentees (Alice Grace was on the treatment table), ripped through several of the numbers that will hit Wigan. 

A pint of the world's best beer - Big Lamp's Prince Bishop - at hand, it was standing room only in the upstairs function room as MD Michael Lamb raised his baton. The Girl from Ipanema arranged for big band by local hero Paul Booth with featured solos from Jamie Toms, tenor, and the SSBB's leader, the band was 'strictly smokin''. Mike Abene's Knarf for the '63 Maynard Ferguson band heard first, Keith Robinson's fiery alto sax, and then Pete Tanton's forceful trumpet blast. Abene's arrangement of Benny Golson's Whisper Not for Ferguson's '67 outfit set up solo opportunities for tenor man Paul Gowland, Lamb, trumpet, and Jamie Toms' contrasting, 'no hurry' tenor work. 

No Alice Grace tonight. Our poorly superstar being confined to barracks gave her friend Jennifer Davies a rare opportunity to sing with the band. Mean to Me sang Jen. Hey Alice, you'd better watch out! Only kidding, then again...

Ecaroh - that's Horace Silver, to you - is a winning tune with Pav Jedrzejewski's hypnotic riff echoing through the sections (Lamb, trumpet, Chris Kurgi-Smith, trombone, Robinson, reeds), Wigan will like this one. 

And they'll love Dr Feelgood! Jen knocked 'em for six, a bluesy belter with Pav digging deep and dirty and a collector's item to boot...Gordon Marshall stepping up to the soloist's plate! MD Lamb noted the band's applause (alongside that of the audience) for our depping vocalist: That must have been decent, even the band was clapping!

The London Suite (parts II & III) linked the SSBB's recent Hoochie Coochie gig in that part one of the above suite was heard at Warren T's Pilgrim Street establishment...a circle squared. Steve Summers never delivers anything other than first-rate solos and the band's take on Round Midnight found Summers (later to blow his EWI) in fine form on the alto sax feature.     

Jen Davies returned one more time to send us on our way, and the Strictly Smokin' to Wigan, singing The One I Love Belongs to Sombody Else. A cracking session, Wigan is sure to go well, and in a couple of weeks or so the SSBB will be back on home ground rocking them in the pews at St J's and St B's (that's St James' and St Basil's Church, Fenham, Newcastle). Make a note of the date - Thursday October 18. 

Special mention for Ian Wynd. Last heard with the Strictly Smokin' at the band's 2017 Gosforth Civic Theatre Christmas shows, our depping drummer read some fiendishly difficult parts and made it look easy. Michael Lamb, and the absent Guy Swinton, would be the first to acknowledge Wynd's efforts.  
Russell. 
Strictly Smokin' Big Band: Michael Lamb, MD, Pete Tanton, Gordon Marshall, Dick Stacey (trumpets); Chris Kurgi-Smith, Mark Ferris, Chris Gray, John Flood (trombones); Jamie Toms, Paul Gowland, Steve Summers, Keith Robinson, Laurie Rangecroft (reeds); Pawel Jedrzejewski (guitar); Mike Bowman (keyboards); Michael Whent (bass guitar); Ian Wynd (drums); Jennifer Davies (vocals)    


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